Climate Change: What’s natural, what’s human-caused, and how do we know?

August 29th, 2019

Presentation Slides

Q&A Podcast (49:52):

 

Related Resources:

Mechanisms of Abrupt Extreme Precipitation Change Over the Northeastern United States – journal article referenced in the presentation concerning record rainfall in the lower Northeast

Greenland 2012 recap: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/summer-2012-brought-record-breaking-melt-greenland

Arctic Report Card 2018: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/2018-arctic-report-card-visual-highlights

Collecting carbon dioxide data in the Southern Ocean: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/features/first-saildrone-circumnavigates-antarctica-seeking-carbon-dioxide

Sea Level Rise Viewer: https://toolkit.climate.gov/tool/sea-level-rise-and-coastal-flooding-impacts-viewer

Glaciology video from AMNH: https://www.amnh.org/explore/videos/earth-and-climate/archived-in-ice-rescuing-the-climate-record

Primary Productivity, showing southern Ocean, from AMNH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geR2KsF53y4

 

Webinar Description:

It is well known that Earth’s climate changes due to natural cycles of various length: from the ice ages to El Nino. We also know conclusively that human emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide are causing the Earth’s average temperature to warm rapidly, causing glaciers to melt, sea level to rise, and storm patterns to change. Thus, the climate that we experience at any time results from some combination of natural and human causes. How do climate scientists disentangle these effects to identify the true impact of human activities on climate? We will explore this complex question through case studies focused on extreme storms in the northeast USA and glacial melting in Greenland. This research involves the use of ice cores, weather station data, and the latest global and regional-scale climate models.

Presenter: Dr. Erich Osterberg

Dr. Osterberg’s overarching research objective is to understand how and why climate has changed, and identify trends and sources of air pollution. His specialty is creating long (50-50,000 years) records of climate change and air pollution by analyzing chemical markers preserved in glacier ice cores. He also studies data from weather stations and climate models to determine recent climate trends to differentiate natural cycles from human-caused changes. He is particularly interested in aspects of climate change that impact communities, including sea-level rise from melting glaciers, and the changing number and intensity of storms. He is an associate professor of earth sciences at Dartmouth College.

Upcoming Events

join our mailing list

Sign up to get updates and information about events from the Center delivered to your inbox. All fields are required.


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Center for Climate Preparedness and Community Resilience. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

Contact Us

Center for Climate Preparedness and Community Resilience

Antioch University New England
40 Avon Street
Keene, NH 03431-3516

supported By

Antioch University New England

©2024 Center for Climate Preparedness and Community Resilience.

Web design by EHW Design.