Frontiers in Decadal Climate Variability
Frontiers in Decadal Climate Variability

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2016-07-22

Total Pages: 92

ISBN-13: 0309444640

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Many factors contribute to variability in Earth's climate on a range of timescales, from seasons to decades. Natural climate variability arises from two different sources: (1) internal variability from interactions among components of the climate system, for example, between the ocean and the atmosphere, and (2) natural external forcings, such as variations in the amount of radiation from the Sun. External forcings on the climate system also arise from some human activities, such as the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and aerosols. The climate that we experience is a combination of all of these factors. Understanding climate variability on the decadal timescale is important to decision-making. Planners and policy makers want information about decadal variability in order to make decisions in a range of sectors, including for infrastructure, water resources, agriculture, and energy. In September 2015, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop to examine variability in Earth's climate on decadal timescales, defined as 10 to 30 years. During the workshop, ocean and climate scientists reviewed the state of the science of decadal climate variability and its relationship to rates of human-caused global warming, and they explored opportunities for improvement in modeling and observations and assessing knowledge gaps. Frontiers in Decadal Climate Variability summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Decade-to-Century-Scale Climate Variability and Change
Decade-to-Century-Scale Climate Variability and Change

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1998-12-24

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 0309060982

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Society today may be more vulnerable to global-scale, long-term, climate change than ever before. Even without any human influence, past records show that climate can be expected to continue to undergo considerable change over decades to centuries. Measures for adaption and mitigation will call for policy decisions based on a sound scientific foundation. Better understanding and prediction of climate variations can be achieved most efficiently through a nationally recognized "dec-cen" science plan. This book articulates the scientific issues that must be addressed to advance us efficiently toward that understanding and outlines the data collection and modeling needed.

Thriving on Our Changing Planet
Thriving on Our Changing Planet

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2019-01-20

Total Pages: 717

ISBN-13: 0309467578

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We live on a dynamic Earth shaped by both natural processes and the impacts of humans on their environment. It is in our collective interest to observe and understand our planet, and to predict future behavior to the extent possible, in order to effectively manage resources, successfully respond to threats from natural and human-induced environmental change, and capitalize on the opportunities â€" social, economic, security, and more â€" that such knowledge can bring. By continuously monitoring and exploring Earth, developing a deep understanding of its evolving behavior, and characterizing the processes that shape and reshape the environment in which we live, we not only advance knowledge and basic discovery about our planet, but we further develop the foundation upon which benefits to society are built. Thriving on Our Changing Planet presents prioritized science, applications, and observations, along with related strategic and programmatic guidance, to support the U.S. civil space Earth observation program over the coming decade.

Global Environmental Change
Global Environmental Change

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1999-09-14

Total Pages: 621

ISBN-13: 0309174325

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How can we understand and rise to the environmental challenges of global change? One clear answer is to understand the science of global change, not solely in terms of the processes that control changes in climate and the composition of the atmosphere, but in how ecosystems and human society interact with these changes. In the last two decades of the twentieth century, a number of such research effortsâ€"supported by computer and satellite technologyâ€"have been launched. Yet many opportunities for integration remain unexploited, and many fundamental questions remain about the earth's capacity to support a growing human population. This volume encourages a renewed commitment to understanding global change and sets a direction for research in the decade ahead. Through case studies the book explores what can be learned from the lessons of the past 20 years and what are the outstanding scientific questions. Highlights include: Research imperatives and strategies for investigators in the areas of atmospheric chemistry, climate, ecosystem studies, and human dimensions of global change. The context of climate change, including lessons to be gleaned from paleoclimatology. Human responses toâ€"and forcing ofâ€"projected global change. This book offers a comprehensive overview of global change research to date and provides a framework for answering urgent questions.

Interacting Climates of Ocean Basins
Interacting Climates of Ocean Basins

Author: Carlos R. Mechoso

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-11-26

Total Pages: 359

ISBN-13: 1108492703

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A comprehensive review of interactions between the climates of different ocean basins and their key contributions to global climate variability and change. Providing essential theory and discussing outstanding examples as well as impacts on monsoons, it a useful resource for graduate students and researchers in the atmospheric and ocean sciences.

El Niño Southern Oscillation in a Changing Climate
El Niño Southern Oscillation in a Changing Climate

Author: Michael J. McPhaden

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2020-11-24

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 1119548128

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Comprehensive and up-to-date information on Earth’s most dominant year-to-year climate variation The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the Pacific Ocean has major worldwide social and economic consequences through its global scale effects on atmospheric and oceanic circulation, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and other natural systems. Ongoing climate change is projected to significantly alter ENSO's dynamics and impacts. El Niño Southern Oscillation in a Changing Climate presents the latest theories, models, and observations, and explores the challenges of forecasting ENSO as the climate continues to change. Volume highlights include: Historical background on ENSO and its societal consequences Review of key El Niño (ENSO warm phase) and La Niña (ENSO cold phase) characteristics Mathematical description of the underlying physical processes that generate ENSO variations Conceptual framework for understanding ENSO changes on decadal and longer time scales, including the response to greenhouse gas forcing ENSO impacts on extreme ocean, weather, and climate events, including tropical cyclones, and how ENSO affects fisheries and the global carbon cycle Advances in modeling, paleo-reconstructions, and operational climate forecasting Future projections of ENSO and its impacts Factors influencing ENSO events, such as inter-basin climate interactions and volcanic eruptions The American Geophysical Union promotes discovery in Earth and space science for the benefit of humanity. Its publications disseminate scientific knowledge and provide resources for researchers, students, and professionals. Find out more about this book from this Q&A with the editors.

Tropical and Extratropical Air-Sea Interactions
Tropical and Extratropical Air-Sea Interactions

Author: Swadhin Kumar Behera

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2020-11-18

Total Pages: 327

ISBN-13: 0128181575

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Tropical and Extratropical Air-Sea Interactions: Modes of Climate Variations provides a thorough introduction to global atmospheric and oceanic processes, as well as tropical, subtropical and mid-latitude ocean-atmosphere interactions. Written by leading experts in the field, each chapter is dedicated to a specific topic of air-sea interactions (such as ENSO, IOD, Atlantic Nino, ENSO Modoki, and newly discovered coastal Niños/Niñas) and their teleconnections. As the first book to cover all topics of tropical and extra-tropical air-sea interactions and new modes of climate variations, this book is an excellent resource for researchers and students of ocean, atmospheric and climate sciences. - Presents case studies on the ocean-atmosphere phenomena, including El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Indian Ocean Dipole and different Nino/Nina phenomena - Provides a clear description of air-sea relationships across the world's ocean with an analysis of air-sea relations in different time scales and a focus on climate change - Includes prospects for air-sea interaction research, thus benefiting young researchers and students

Earth's Climate
Earth's Climate

Author: Chunzai Wang

Publisher: American Geophysical Union

Published: 2004-01-09

Total Pages: 426

ISBN-13:

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Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 147. It is more than 30 years since the publication of Jacob Bjerknes' groundbreaking ideas made clear the importance of ocean-atmosphere interaction in the tropics. It is now more than 20 years since the arrival of a massive El Niño in the fall of 1982 set off a cascade of observational and theoretical studies. During the following decades, the climate research community has made exceptional progress in refining our capacity to observe earth's climate and theorize about it, including new satellite-based and in situ monitoring systems and coupled ocean-atmosphere predictive numerical models. Of equal importance. is the expanding scope ofresearch, which now reaches far beyond the Pacific El Niño and includes climate phenomena in other ocean basins. In order to cover the now global context of ocean-atmosphere interaction we have organized this monograph around five principal themes, each introduced by one or more broad overview papers. Theme I covers interaction and climate variability in the Pacific sector, with extensive discussion of El Niño-Southern Oscillation, and with the possible causes and consequences of variability on both shorter and longer timescales. Theme II is devoted to interaction in the Atlantic sector. This basin exhibits complex behavior, reflecting its geographic location between two major zones of convection as well as neighboring the tropical Pacific. Theme III reviews the recent, exciting progress in our understanding of climate variability in the Indian sector. Theme IV addresses the interaction between the tropics and the extratropics, which are linked through the presence of shallow meridional overturning cells in the ocean. Finally, Theme V discusses overarching issues of cross-basin interaction.

Abrupt Climate Change
Abrupt Climate Change

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2002-04-23

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 0309133041

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The climate record for the past 100,000 years clearly indicates that the climate system has undergone periodic-and often extreme-shifts, sometimes in as little as a decade or less. The causes of abrupt climate changes have not been clearly established, but the triggering of events is likely to be the result of multiple natural processes. Abrupt climate changes of the magnitude seen in the past would have far-reaching implications for human society and ecosystems, including major impacts on energy consumption and water supply demands. Could such a change happen again? Are human activities exacerbating the likelihood of abrupt climate change? What are the potential societal consequences of such a change? Abrupt Climate Change: Inevitable Surprises looks at the current scientific evidence and theoretical understanding to describe what is currently known about abrupt climate change, including patterns and magnitudes, mechanisms, and probability of occurrence. It identifies critical knowledge gaps concerning the potential for future abrupt changes, including those aspects of change most important to society and economies, and outlines a research strategy to close those gaps. Based on the best and most current research available, this book surveys the history of climate change and makes a series of specific recommendations for the future.