Climate Change

Question 1

Climate definition

Answer 1

the statistics of weather prevailing in a location

Question 2

Climatic variability:

Answer 2

shorter term departures from average climate

Question 3

Climate change

Answer 3

long term changes to those statistics

Question 4

What type of hazard is climate change

Answer 4

context hazard that alters the magnitude and frequency of existing hazards (e.g storms), or human vulnerability (e.g through sea level rise)

Question 5

Scale of weather

Answer 5

hours days months

Question 6

Type of weather

Answer 6

wet and dry season

Question 7

Climate variability type

Answer 7

ENSO 2-7 yrs

NAO

Question 8

Climate variability scale

Answer 8

Months and decades

Question 9

Climate change type

Answer 9

Global warming, cooling

Question 10

Climate change scale

Answer 10

decades, centuries

Question 11

What is El Nino

Answer 11

Named after the period it occurs at ( every 2-7 yrs Christmas), its the increase temperature change of the ocean

Question 12

Example of El Nino in action in the Pacific

Answer 12

Warm surface waters off the coast of Peru led to reduced fish harvests in some years

Question 13

Southern Oscillation

Answer 13

the cycle of varying strength of atmospheric pressure.

Question 14

Southern Oscillation in normal years

Answer 14

high pressure in the central pacific, low pressure to the West (Australia)

Question 15

Sothern Oscillation in some years

Answer 15

low pressure in the central pacific, high pressure in Australia

Question 16

ENSO occurence

Answer 16

Pacific Ocean: change in interaction between ocean and atmosphere

Question 17

ENSO process

Answer 17

1) warm water from the western Pacific Ocean flows eastward
2) warming of the central and eastern Pacific.
3)lead to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns
4) weakening of trade winds and increased rainfall in the eastern Pacific and drought in the western Pacific

Question 18

ENSO driven by …

Answer 18

quantity of heat stored in the upper layers of the Pacific Ocean

Question 19

ENSO Western Pacific impacts

Answer 19

Droughts e.g. China 1877-78

Wildfires (Australia, SE Asia e.g. 1997-98 = 5,000,000 ha of forest lost)

Question 20

ENSO Eastern Pacific impacts

Answer 20

Floods in Peru (1997-98)

• 500,000 homeless
• Utility damage: US$ 2.6 billion
• Collapse fishing industry

Question 21

MEI

Answer 21

Multivariative ENSO Index is the is a measure of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate phenomenon that is based on several key atmospheric and oceanic variables

More El Niño years since 1980.

Question 22

2023

Answer 22

1/4 of the year -increase activity and warmth

Question 23

Mitigation for ENSO

Answer 23

• Predictions improved considerably – several months in advance
• Early warning & action
• Peru 2015: declared 60 day state of emergency & spent 20 million USD on flood and drought prevention (e.g. built reservoirs, insurance, Red Cross actions)

Question 24

Improvements

Answer 24

*understanding of ENSO dynamics and likelihood

• understanding of ENSO signatures and how they unfold into socio-economic impacts
• Uncertainty over how ENSO may be affected by future climate change

Some studies suggest impacts will be more intense “Super El Niño”

Some predict that an extreme ENSO will happen more often