1. Geog 410: APPLIED CLIMATOLOGY

2. THE EARTH SYSTEM
ATMOSPHERE
HYDROSPHERE
CRYOSPHERE
GEOSPHERE
BIOSPHERE

3. THE CLIMATE SYSTEM

4. CLIMATE VERSUS WEATHER
Choose which one hurts less.

5. The Atmospheric Sciences include meteorology and climatology.
Climatology: The study of atmospheric condition over periods of time (average, variation, and extremes)
Methods are meteorological but results are geographical.

6. Brief History
In ancient Greek culture, climate means “slope” in Greek.
(incline of the earth’s axis)
400BC “airs, Waters, and Places” by Hippocrates
Middle of 15th century (age of discovery, sea voyages, and development of new trading areas) started descriptive reports of climates outside of Europe
17th century, Instruments are invented to measure atmospheric conditions and scientific analysis of the atmosphere begin:
Galileo-thermometer 1593
Torricelli-barometer 1643
Boyle-basic relationship between pressure and volume in a gas
18th century, extensive data collection and description of regional climate began
19th century, explanation of phenomena through the study of the physical processes
Temperature and precipitation are the most widely recorded and longest records
Central England: 325 yrs; Europe and United States: 200 years; most weather stations is less than 100 years
1817 von Humboldt constructed the first map using isotherms (lines of equal air temperature)
1885 balloons became widely used to monitor upper atmosphere (radiosondes)
Important event: “the National Climate program Act’ signed into law in Sept 1978 stated :to establish a national climate program that will assist the nation and the world to understand and respond to natural and man-induced climate processes and their implications.
(the first element was “assessment of the effect of climate on the natural environment, agricultural production, energy supply and demand, land and water resources, transportation, human health, and national security;
The second element was “to improve the understanding of climatic processes, natural and human-induced, and the social, economic, and political implications of climatic change)
IPCC report of 2007 won Nobel Prize with Al Gore

7. Areas of Climatology
Physical Climatology: study energy exchanges and physical processes
Dynamical climatology: atmospheric motion and exchanges that lead to and result from that motion
Synoptic Climatology: relate local and regional climate to atmospheric circulation

8. Methodology: descriptive, statistical, mathematical and synoptic
Scale: microclimatology, mesoclimatology, macroclimatology
Areas of Applied climatology:
Biophysical (food-agricultural and fisheries, water-disasters and resources, energy-fossil fuels and renewable resources)
Socioeconomic (health-bioclimatology and comfort, community-air pollution and recreation, industry and trade-commerce, construction, services, and transportation)

9. How Big Is Climate?

10. Temporal Aspects of Climate:
Climate Variability
Climate Change

12. LA Civic Center (USC Campus) Annual Mean Temperature (1878-2007)
Degrees F
Year
Data: NOAA NWS (Los Angeles/Oxnard)
Bill Patzert/JPL

13. CA Warming Due To:
• Land Use (60%)
• Greenhouse Gas
Warming (40%)
California
Temperature
Changes (°F)
331 Met. Stations

14. California’s Extreme Makeover

15. CLIMATE AND SOCIETY
Climate As a Resource
Climate As a Hazard

16. “How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.” – Arthur C. Clarke

17. Tide Gauge Observations
3.2 mm/year
2.0 mm/year
~ 8 inches
(20 cm)
0.8 mm/year
= 16,000 cubic miles!!!
Average Rate ~ 1.8 mm/year
(67,000 cubic km)
[Church and White, 2006]

18. The once-wide sand strip, swept away by waves and rising seas.
Sea Level Rise
Malibu’s “sandbagged” Broad Beach.
The once-wide sand strip, swept away by waves and rising seas.

19. WHAT CAUSES CLIMATE CHANGE?

21. Very well. Give the
heretic back his
research funding.
OK! I believe mankind
causes global
Warming!

22. To overturn the world economy based on the
musings of a few idiot leftist scientists is just
stupid, that’s what Global Warming is all about.
-Rush Limbaugh-

23. Global Warming Guaranteed