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  • In 2018, I got to walk across the surface of a receding glacier in Iceland. From where

  • I stood, I could see a patch of snow and ice off in the distance -- the last remnants of

  • another glacier that had since melted away.

  • That ice-speckled area was all that remained of 800 year old Okjokull, or the Ok glacier,

  • which was officially declared dead in 2014 by Icelandic geologist Oddur Sigurðsson.

  • It once spanned an area as large as 38 square kilometers

  • In 2019, the loss of Okjokull was commemorated with a plaque on the site of the former glacier.

  • It's the first monument dedicated to a glacier lost to human-induced global warming.

  • Looking after our planet and all its dynamic ecosystems and landscapes -- including glaciers

  • -- is everyone's job. We know rising temperatures are correlated with rising carbon dioxide

  • in the atmosphere, and the amount of carbon dioxide generated by our day to day actions

  • can have an effect on the other side of the world

  • But while individual actions matter, who is emitting carbon dioxide is highly unequal.

  • About half of total US emissions in 2019 were direct emissions from corporations, coming

  • from sources like power plants and oil and gas production facilities. So they also have

  • responsibility to share the burden

  • Knowing who or what is emitting carbon dioxide is only part of understanding climate change.

  • We also study who emissions affect and the geographical impacts of a warming planet.

  • Climates are complex, so I don't have all the answers, but there's a lot we can learn.

  • I'm Alizé Carrère, and this is Crash Course Geography.

  • INTRO

  • Even with a problem as complicated as climate change, we can start with a picture. Like

  • this picture of Muir Glacier in Alaska from 2004.

  • Pictures and maps can show us where land masses, oceans, and geographical features are located,

  • which is spatial information that we kinda take for granted

  • The Earth is dynamic, and we have to remember that both pictures and maps are really snapshots

  • of a particular time. So if we compared this image to past ones of the same area, we'd

  • see how it's changed and we could explore why change is happening here

  • A photo taken in 1941 from the exact same spot as the recent photo shows an entirely

  • different landscape. The glacier was much bigger. After looking at lots of old and new

  • photographs, current glaciological surveys, and the geologic record, we know glaciers

  • around the world, in places like Alaska, the Swiss Alps, and Mount Kilimanjaro, have shrunk

  • dramatically. Muir Glacier is just one example

  • To get deeper into the "why," we know that ice and snow melt faster as air temperatures

  • get warmer. But glaciers also depend on how much precipitation they get each year -- if

  • less snow accumulates, glaciers lose more ice on their bottom edge than they can replace

  • at the top. That precipitation comes from the hydrosphere, and its regional patterns

  • can depend on temperature and wind patterns over distant oceans.

  • So mountain landscapes have changed as climate patterns have changed, which ties back to

  • the global energy budget and insolation and the beginning of the Earth. It's a complicated problem.

  • The termsclimate changeandglobal warming”  are often used interchangeably.

  • But even though these phenomena are closely related, there is a difference between them.   

  • Climate change is the change in average weather patterns in a region over a long period of

  • time. These changes can be natural or anthropogenic, meaning human induced

  • And when I say long, I mean each climate period can last for several decades or longer. For

  • example, there was a Little Ice Age that happened from 1300 to 1850 CE. Mountain glaciers expanded

  • worldwide and mean annual temperatures dropped by 0.6 degrees Celsius in the Northern Hemisphere.

  • That's a five hundred and fifty year climate pattern, which then changed to a different one.

  • On the other hand, global warming is the increase in the average surface temperature of our

  • planet. In our current period of global warming, there's been a well-documented rise of average

  • temperatures around the globe since the Industrial Revolution in the 17 and 1800s. 

  • So when scientists or leaders talk aboutglobal warming”, they're almost exclusively referring

  • to this recent warming, which comes from human activities that increase greenhouse gases

  • emissions, like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. They trap solar energy, so

  • more heat is held in the atmosphere.  

  • That additional energy is changing not only the average temperature, but also climate

  • processes within the atmosphere and oceans. These include more extreme storms, heat waves,

  • droughts, changing regional temperature and precipitation patterns that cause vegetation

  • zones to shift, and glaciers to melt -- which results in sea level rise and changing coastlines.

  • Essentially, when the planet gets warmer, climates change

  • We know the Earth has had many different climates thanks to paleoclimatologists, who study past

  • climates through proxy data, or data that provide clues about the past

  • Comparing multiple proxies gives us a more complete picture of what happened and helps

  • us anticipate the changes we need to prepare for.

  • For example, they use tree rings that show dry and wet years, fossilized bugs that tell

  • us about moisture and temperature levels of bygone ecosystems, or deep-sea sedimentary

  • records that reveal the ocean's past.

  • Like, the deep-sea sedimentary record shows that the Earth overall had one of two extreme

  • climates and glaciers advanced and retreated across the Earth at least 28 times during

  • the past 2.6 million years

  • We can see that when glaciers advance and the climate is colder, glaciation occurs and

  • sea levels drop. And when the climate is warmer, glaciers retreat, and sea levels rise, ushering

  • in an interglacial period. Which is what we're in right now.

  • One of the most useful kinds of proxy data for atmospheric conditions and how climates

  • changed year to year are ice core data. From ice, we can extract the chemical composition

  • of past atmospheres. Using special drills, paleoclimatologists have extracted long tubes

  • of ice from ice sheets and alpine glaciers all over the world, and estimated climates

  • going back at least 400,000 years. Let's go to the Thought Bubble.

  • On the top is fresh snow that fell this year and the year before and the year before thatUnderneath

  • is the snow that fell when Marco Polo travelled the Silk Road and beneath that when the Buddha

  • gained enlightenment

  • And the deepest layers were laid down long before recorded history

  • The very bottom of ice sheets in places like Greenland and Antarctica have snow that fell

  • before the beginning of the last ice age, 115,000 years ago or more

  • Just like snow on a sidewalk can get compressed by boots into sheets of slippery icethe

  • snow on ice sheets is compacted into huge solid masses

  • And buried in each layer of ice is evidence of past atmospheric conditions: tiny air bubbles,

  • which act like time capsules

  • Once an ice core is moved from the field to the labscientists use isotope dating to

  • tell whether the carbon dioxide in those frozen bubbles was released from burning materials

  • like wood or coal in the lithosphereor if it was airborne during a nuclear explosionor

  • if it was part of the natural cycling of carbon

  • Paleoclimatologists have collected polar ice core samples and analyzed historical air bubbles

  • from Greenland and Antarcticatropical glaciers in the mountains of the Andes and Kenyaand

  • mid-latitude glaciers in the Alps and Himalayas

  • When all these data are lined up, scientists can compare them with each other and see atmospheric

  • trendswhich in turn shows climate change over thousands of years

  • Analysis shows that it can take just a few decades to change from colder to warmer climate

  • patterns

  • That might not sound fast, but when you're a 4.5 billion year old planet like the Earth,

  • that's nothing

  • Thanks, Thought Bubble. By analyzing proxy data like bubbles in ice cores, we know the

  • Earth's climate has changed significantly many times. As geographers, let's go deeper

  • into why these drastic changes happen.  

  • Based on that proxy data, paleoclimatologists hypothesize that climates change because of

  • any combination of several driving forces.  

  • First, past climates could've changed because of orbital causes -- like changes in the shape

  • of the Earth's orbit, its tilt on its axis, and the time of year when the Sun is closest

  • to the Earth. Like calculations by the mathematician Milutin Milankovitch show that lots of glacial

  • cycles occur every million years.

  • Second, volcanic activity can release enormous amounts of volcanic dust into the stratosphere.

  • Strong winds spread that dust around the world, darken the skies, and reduce the amount of

  • insolation that can reach the surface, which lowers temperatures

  • This is related to the albedo effect, or the amount of sunlight a surface reflects back

  • into space. Volcanic dust and even the color of surfaces change Earth's albedo. White

  • surfaces, like ice, reflect the Sun's energy, creating a cooling effect. So when there's

  • less ice, the opposite happens -- darker surfaces absorb sunlight and warm the surface of the Earth.

  • Similarly, when something big like an asteroid strikes, it can cause animpact winter”.

  • Like volcanic activity, a big impact throws dust and debris into the air, blocking out

  • insolation and lowering temperatures. Such an impact may have caused the extinction of

  • the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

  • Another reason that climates change is when continents and oceans get rearranged. Like

  • when the Isthmus of Panama formed, it broke the connection between the Atlantic and Pacific

  • Oceans which re-directed ocean circulation and created the Gulf Stream. This changed

  • how moisture and ocean currents moved around the globe, which as we know contributes to

  • climate patterns.  

  • And finally, climates change when greenhouse gases in the atmosphere change. We know from

  • ice core data that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere decreased when glaciers formed

  • during ice ages and increased during interglacial periods.  

  • However, what's happening now is unlike anything in the past

  • We're in an interglacial period now, and glaciers are melting faster than ever before in the

  • geologic record. Average annual global temperatures have risen between 0.3 degrees C and 0.6 degrees

  • C and sea level has risen between 10 and 25 cm during the past 100 years.

  • And in 2016, global atmospheric carbon dioxide levels passed the 400 parts per million mark,

  • which is higher than at any time in the past million years. More carbon dioxide increases

  • the amount of heat trapped in the lower atmosphere, enhancing the natural greenhouse effect that

  • makes life possible. So our climates are entering new patterns.  

  • If this upward trend in global temperatures was caused by natural processes alone, geographers

  • would consider it natural climate change. But, like I said, what's happening now is

  • unlike anything we've ever seen on Earth

  • So scientists have used multiple lines of evidence like tree ring and ice core data,

  • glacial retreat and sea level rise, isotope dating, changes in atmosphere, and changes

  • in weather phenomena to study the climate. And they've concluded that there is a greater

  • than 95% probability that human activities -- like burning fossil fuels, industrialization,

  • modern agriculture, and deforestation -- have caused most of the Earth's warming since

  • the mid-20th century. We are experiencing anthropogenic global warming

  • But not all areas will be affected equally by global warming and modern climate change.

  • While materially rich countries are the main producers of greenhouse gas emissions, materially

  • poorer countries will bear most of the impacts -- like becoming climate refugees, people

  • being forced to flee their homes for safer places.

  • Thousands of low-lying islands and coastal cities face a threat of rising sea levels

  • by the end of the  21st century, when sea levels are predicted to have risen 26 to 77

  • centimeters. That's pretty significant considering over half of the world's people live within

  • 100 kilometers of a coastline.

  • For example, located halfway between Australia and Hawaii, Kiribati has 33 atolls that sit

  • less than 2 meters above sea level, and average only a few hundred meters wide. The government

  • of Kiribati is planning a 2-phasemigration with dignityand has purchased several

  • thousand acres of land in Fiji, as a potential resettlement location for its 102,000 residents

  • But "migration with dignity" isn't an option for all countries and communities. For some

  • places, adaptation is the only option, like building sea walls or raising streets and

  • homes. And for some that will mean moving to higher elevations after the flooding without

  • government support for the process.

  • Flooding from sea level rise is just one of many changes that we can anticipate. Other

  • places, for example, will experience drier conditions with the potential for droughts,

  • heat waves, and wildfires. The current ways the Earth's climate is changing because of

  • global warming will affect all of us as individuals, so it's our collective responsibility to pay

  • attention and take action

  • Here's the thing about human-induced climate change: knowing that we humans are the main

  • cause means it's also in our power to try and stop it! We still have a small window

  • of time to work together and aggressively reduce our emissions to save communities around

  • the world from disaster.

  • To do that, our individual choices can make a difference, but we also have to hold corporations

  • and governments responsible for the policies and large-scale emissions that affect our

  • atmosphere and climate. This will ensure safer, healthier, and more biodiverse futures for

  • the next generations who inherit our planet.

  • I know the problem of global warming may sound overwhelming -- you're not alone. But from

  • decades of science, we know what the problem is and what the solutions are. It's now

  • just about finding ways to successfully integrate them into society.

  • In future episodes, we'll continue to examine how geography can help us work on the problems

  • that pop up where climate change intersects with society. This has been the focus of my

  • research for the last several years and even though it's an urgent area of work, it's

  • also incredibly motivating and exciting to be a part of finding the solutions.

  • Many maps and borders represent modern geopolitical divisions that have often been decided without

  • the consultation, permission, or recognition of the land's original inhabitants. Many geographical

  • place names also don't reflect the Indigenous or Aboriginal peoples languages. So we at

  • Crash Course want to acknowledge these peoples' traditional and ongoing relationship with

  • that land and all the physical and human geographical elements of it.

  • We encourage you to learn about the history of the place you call home through resources

  • like native-land.ca and by engaging with your local Indigenous and Aboriginal nations through

  • the websites and resources they provide.

  • Thanks for watching this episode of Crash Course Geography which is filmed at the Team

  • Sandoval Pierce Studio and was made with the help of all these nice people. If you want

  • to help keep all Crash Course free for everyone, forever, you can join our community on Patreon

In 2018, I got to walk across the surface of a receding glacier in Iceland. From where

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What is Climate Change? Crash Course Geography #14

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    香蕉先生 に公開 2022 年 06 月 23 日
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