LESSON #2

CLIMATE CHANGE
Mother earth has a high fever.

HO DO WE HELP IN
DECREASING HIS FEVER?
 TERMS TO MITIGATION
DEFINE: mit·i·ga·tion
noun
ADAPTATION
the action of reducing the
ad·ap·ta·tion
severity, seriousness, or
(noun)
painfulness of something.
the action or
process of
adapting or
being adapted.
CLIMATE CHANGE
cli·mate change (noun)
a change in global or regional
climate patterns, in particular a change
apparent from the mid to late 20th
century onwards and attributed largely to
the increased levels of atmospheric
carbon dioxide produced by the use of
fossil fuels.
6 ways climate change will affect
PH Cities
MAIN IDEAS
CLIMATE CHANGE IS ONE OF
THE WORLD BIG PROBLEM.
THE 21ST CENTURY WORLD
FACES MANY CHALLENGES DUE
TO CLIMATE CHANGE.
HUMANITY CAN EMBARK ON
THE COMBINED ADAPTATION
AND MITIGATION.
 MORE INTENSE EL NINO
The El Ñino phenomenon occurs when the surface of
ocean waters in the southern pacific becomes
abnormally warm. The energy created by this warming
is so great that it can create an imbalance in the weather
in different parts of the world . In Southeast Asia , it can
lead to abnormally dry conditions .
El Niño can also make other weather events like storms
highly unpredictable. Weather will have extreme highs
and lows, making it "increasingly difficult to accurately
predict weather patterns for purposes of planning and
normal business operations," says a WWF-Philippines
study.
 Sea surface temperature to rise
By the end of century, sea surface temperatures are
expected to rise by 1 to 4 degrees Celsius. This can
lead to more powerful storms because storms get
their strength from heat rising from the sea.
In the Philippines, 4 and 5 degrees Celsius spike
above the normal sea surface temperature have
been recorded. Warmer seas kill coral reefs and can
thus lead to a decline in fish catch , putting food
security in danger.
 Ocean Acidification
The shift in the pH levels of our oceans can lead to
widespread coral reef death. Because of the
imbalance , shrimps are not able to develop skins,
oysters cannot develop shells Fish larvae may not
be able to develop bones . This further endangers
food security and the livelihood of fishermen .
  

Sea levels to rise by 4 to 6 meters 

Current data show an increase in sea surface

heights. Scientists say this is due to the melting of
ice sheets in northern portions of the globe like
Antarctica and Greenland. Sea level rise by 4 to 6
meters can submerge low-lying communities like
Tacloban City which stands only 3 meters above sea
level .
 Tropical cyclones to intesify 

The creation of tropical cyclones is already being

recorded in areas where the phenomenon had never
been observed. on Nov. 8, 2013, super typhoon
yolanda( Haiyan) said tobe the strongest storms in
recorded history devasted cities in the Visayas
 Rainfall, river flow, ang flooding to
intensify 
Monsoon rainfall in the Philippines will reach new
hoghs ang lows. some parts of the country will
experience an upward trend in rainfall while other parts
will experience an intensification of drought . These two
extreme poles of weather will make it more difficult for
agriculture and aquaculture sectors which are highly
dependent on weather 
Philippines cities already experiencing unprecedented
amounts of rainfall. in Tacloban City. rainfall increase
by 257% from 1998 to 2011. more rainfall will lead to
more flooding and can trigger landslide in upland
communities
HOW MUCH WILL EARTH WARM?
To further explore the causes and effects of global
warming and to predict future warming, scientist build
climate models-computer simulations of the climate
system. Climate models are designed to simulate the
responses and interactions of the ocean and the
atmosphere, and to count for changes to the land
surface, both natural and human-induced. They
comply ith fundamental laws of physics- conservation
of energy, mass, and momentum- and account for
dozens of factors that influence Earth’s climate.
Though the models are complicated, rigorous tests
with real world data hone them into a powerful
tools that allow scientists to explore our
understanding of climate in ways not otherwise
possible.
By experimenting the models-removing greenhouse
gasses emitted by the burning of fossil fuels or
changing the intensity of the sun to see how each
influences the climate and to predict future climate.
Greenhouse gases are only part of the story
when it comes to global warming. Changes to
one part of the climate system can cause
additional changes to the way the planet
absorbs or reflect energy. These secondary
changes are called climate feedbacks, and they
could more double the amount of global
warming caused by the carbon dioxide alone.
The primary feedbacks are due to ice, water
vapor, clouds, and the carbon cycle.
SNOW AND ICE
 SNOW AND ICE
Perhaps the most ell known feedback comes from
melting snow and ice in the Northern Hemisphere.
Warming temperatures are already melting a
growing percentage of ARCTIC SEA ice, exposing
dark ocean water during the perpetual sunlight of
summer. Snow cover on land is also dwindling in
many areas. In the absence of snow and ice, these
areas go from having bright, sunlight-reflecting
surfaces that cool the planet to having dark,
sunlight-absorbing surfaces that bring more energy
into the earth system and cause more warming.
 SNOW AND ICE
Canada’s Athabasca Glacier has been shrinking
by about 15 meters per year. In the past 125 years,
the glacier has lost half it’s volume and has
retreated more than 1.5 km. As glaciers retreat, sea
ice disappears, and snow melts earlier in the spring,
the Earth absorbs more sunlight than it would if
the reflective snow and ice remained.
WATER VAPOR
 WATER VAPOR
The largest feedback is water vapor. It is a strong greenhouse gas.
In fact, because of its abundance in the atmosphere, it causes about
the two-thirds of greenhouse arming, a key factor in keeping
temperatures in the habitable range on earth. But as the temperature
warm, more water vapor evaporates from the surface into the
atmosphere, where it can cause temperatures to climb further.
The question that scientists ask is, how much water vapor will be in
the atmosphere in a warming world? The atmosphere currently has
an average equilibrium or balance between water vapor
concentration and temperature. As temperatures warm, the
atmosphere becomes capable of containing more water vapor, and
so water vapor concentrations go to regain equilibrium. Will that
trend hold as temperatures continue to warm?
The amount of water vapor that enters the
atmosphere ultimately determines how much
additional warming will occur due to the water
vapor feedback. So far, most of the atmosphere has
maintained a near constant balance between
temperature and water vapor concentration as
temperatures had gone up in recent decades. If this
trend continues, and many models say that it will,
water vapor has the capacity to double the
warming caused by the carbon dioxide alone.
CLOUDS
 CLOUDS
Closely related to the water vapor feedback is the cloud
feedback is the cloud feedback. Clouds caused cooling
by reflecting solar energy, but they also cause warming
by absorbing infrared energy (like greenhouse) from the
surface hen they are over areas that are warmer than
they are. In our current limate, clouds have a cooling
effect overall, but that could change in a warmer
environment.
Clouds can both cool the planet by(reflecting visible light
from the sun) and wsrm the planet by (absorbing heat
radiation emmited by the surface) On the balance,
clouds slightly cool the earth.
If clouds become brighter, or the geographical extent of bright color
expands, They will tend to cool the earth’s surface. Clouds can become
brighter if more moisture converges in a particular region or more or fine
(aerosols) enter the air. If fewer or bright clouds form, it will contribute to
warming from the cloud feedback.
CLOUDS like greenhouse gases, also absorb and remit infrared energy..
Low, warm clouds emit more energy than high cold clouds.
CLOUDS emit thermal infrared or HEAT. Radiation in proportion to their
temperature, which is related to altitude.
THE CARBON
CYCLE
Increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations
and warming temperature are causing changes in the
earth’s natural carbon cycle that also can feedback on
atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. For now,
primarily ocean water ,and to some extent ecosystems
on land,are taking up about half of our fossil fuel and
biomass burning emissions.This behavior slowly
global warming by decreasing the rate of
atmospheric carbon dioxide increase,but the trend
may not continue.Warmer ocean waters will hold less
disolved carbon,leaving more in the atmoshere.
 EMISSIONS SCENARIOS
Scientists predict the range of likely temperature increase by
running many possible future scenarios through climate
models.Although some of the uncertainly in climate forecasts
some from imperfect knoledge of climate feedbacks,the most
significant source of uncertainly in these predictions is that
scientists do not know what choices people will make to control
greenhouse gas emissions.
The highest estimates are made on the assumption that the entire
world ill continue using more and more fossil fuel per capita,a
scenario scientists’’call business-as-usual’’.More modest
estimates come from scenarios in which environmentally friendly
technologies such as fuel cells,solar panels,and ind energy replace
much of today’s fossil fuel combustion.