Lesson 13.
Changes in World Climate
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Learning Competency
At the end of this lesson, the enrichment competency should
be met by the students.
Cite the causes and effects of the continuous increase in
global temperatures.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lesson, the learner should be able to
do the following:
● Define what a paleoclimate is.
● Explain the role of climate models in studying how global
climate changed throughout the years.
● Explain how global temperature fluctuations throughout
the years affect the climate.
● Describe how natural and artificial factors affect long-
term and short-term climate change.
What are the major
climate changes in
geologic history?
Can the changes in
Earth’s climate be
predicted with
absolute certainty?
Try it!
Warm-Up
Climate Variability Modelling using a Deck of Cards
You will be modeling the variability in Earth’s climate
throughout the years using a deck of playing cards.
In this activity model, each card in the deck represents a
year:
• black cards represent “cooler” average temperatures
• red cards represent “warmer” temperatures
• Jokers indicate that the global temperature is the
same as the long-term average temperature
Learn about It
Changes in World Climate
• Climate Change is the change
in Earth’s climate over a span of
years.
• Paleoclimatology is the branch
of science that deals with
climates prevalent at particular
times in the geological past.
Melting Antarctic ice caps
Learn about It
Changes in World Climate
Climatologists and geologists use
global climate models (GCMs) to
take how present-day factors
affect the climate.
• stratigraphic record
• paleontological evidences
• oxygen-isotope ratio
• growth rings A glacial till in Canada
Learn about It
Global Climate Models (GCMs)
● Stratigraphic Record is the
product of a geochemical
system consisting of geologic
setting, climate, and processes
of sediment production.
● Example: Presence of glacial
tills and scratches
Glacial till and glacial scratches
on a rock
Learn about It
Global Climate Models (GCMs)
Stratigraphic Record
● Example: Presence of glacial tills
○ Glacial till is composed of
unconsolidated sediments
which are eroded and
incorporated by a moving
glacier. Glacial till in Boeing Creek and
Shoreview Park
Learn about It
Global Climate Models (GCMs)
● Paleontological evidence
refers to the remains and
traces of organisms that once
existed or are still existing.
○ The best climate indicator
is microplankton, which
depend on water
temperature. Assorted diatoms seen through a
microscope
Learn about It
Global Climate Models (GCMs)
● Oxygen-isotope ratio
analysis is a method for
estimating past ocean
temperatures by taking a
look at the ratio of the
stable oxygen isotopes,
18O and 16O, which are
temperature-dependent in Oxygen isotope 18 decreases as
water. temperature rises.
Learn about It
Global Climate Models (GCMs)
● Growth rings indicate the
age of a tree or shells.
○ Trees are sensitive to
local climate conditions,
such as rain and
temperature.
The number of growth rings indicate
the age of a tree.
Learn about It
Global Climate Models (GCMs)
Growth rings
• Very broad rings generally
indicate a good growing year.
• Narrow rings signify a lack of
sun or water, or damage by fire.
• Off-center rings indicate Off-center growth rings
exposure to high winds on a side.
Learn about It
Evolution of the Atmosphere and Oceans
1. The Earth’s atmosphere formed initially from volcanic gases
and comet impacts during the planet’s early years.
2. CO2 and water vapor dominated the earliest composition.
3. When much of Earth cooled down, the water condensed as
rain, forming early oceans. CO2 is soluble in water, and its
atmospheric concentration decreased, leaving behind
mostly nitrogen gas.
Learn about It
Evolution of the Atmosphere and Oceans
• Great Oxygenation Event
enriched our atmosphere
with essential oxygen gas
initiated by the evolution of
photosynthetic organisms.
• Cyanobacteria are the first
oxygen-producing
organisms. Cyanobacteria in water and on shoreline, St
Margaret's Loch, Holyrood Park, Edinburgh.
Learn about It
Evolution of the Atmosphere and Oceans
• Loss of carbon dioxide
after photosynthetic
organisms evolved led to
“snowball Earth”
conditions in the
Huronian glaciation.
Loss of carbon dioxide will significantly cool
down Earth.
Learn about It
Long-term Climate Change
Major fluctuations in temperature and precipitation
happened before.
• greenhouse or hothouse periods: extremely warm
periods
• icehouse periods: extremely cold periods
Learn about It
Long-term Climate Change
Factors that caused long-term climate change:
• Positions of continents and continental drift
• Volcanism
• Uplift
• Life evolution
• Mass-extinction
Learn about It
Long-term Climate Change
Factors that caused long-term
climate change:
• Positions of continents
and continental drift
dictate ocean current
patterns and change the
latitude of landmasses.
Collisions of continents formed
the mountain ranges.
Learn about It
Long-term Climate Change
Factors that caused long-term
climate change:
• Volcanism increases the
concentration of the
atmosphere’s greenhouse
gases over time, causing
global warming.
Volcanic eruption releases
greenhouse gases.
Learn about It
Long-term Climate Change
Factors that caused long-term
climate change:
• Uplift exposes certain elements
to weathering (such as CO2).
• Large uplift events can disrupt
atmosphere circulation and
The cliffs along the edge of the Blue
form highland climates. Mountains Plateau (Australia) are
caused by tectonic uplift.
Learn about It
Long-term Climate Change
Factors that caused long-term
climate change:
• Life evolution refers to the
extinction or appearance of
certain organisms which
led to great climate
upheavals as discussed
earlier. Organisms also store carbon in the
formation of fossil fuels.
Learn about It
Long-term Climate Change
Factors that caused long-term
climate change:
• Mass-extinction events
(large numbers of species die
in a short time period) can
indicate a sudden and violent
change in climate, with long- Cretaceous extinction, the most
lasting effects. recent mass extinction event, was
caused by an asteroid.
Learn about It
Short-term Climate Change
In the past 15,000 years, the temperature has generally
increased in which temperatures have had minor fluctuations.
• Holocene maximum
• Medieval Warm Period
• Little Ice Age
Learn about It
Short-term Climate Change
• The Holocene maximum (Holocene Optimum) exhibited
warmer global temperatures which caused ancient
civilizations to thrive.
• The Medieval Warm Period (Medieval Climatic Optimum),
the unusual warmth which happened 700 to 1,200 years ago,
resulted in larger amounts of harvest which directly affected
the prosperity of human civilization.
Learn about It
Short-term Climate Change
• The Little Ice Age was
a cooling period which
occurred 200 to 600
years ago. It was
characterized by
glaciation, crop loss,
and scarcity.
Graph showing the fluctuations of temperature
in Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age
Learn about It
Short-term Climate Change
Factors that caused short-term
climate change:
• Solar fluctuations affect the
amount of energy Earth receives.
Sunspots appear on the sun every
9 to 11 years, releasing large
amounts of radiation.
Sunspots
Learn about It
Short-term Climate Change
Factors that caused short-term climate
change:
• Milankovitch Cycles refer to changes
in the tilt of Earth’s axis, the precession
cycle, and the eccentricity of the orbit.
• These cycles cause variations in
atmospheric and ocean temperatures. Earth’s precession, a part
of Milankovitch Cycle
Learn about It
Short-term Climate Change
Factors that caused short-term
climate change:
• Plinian eruptions release a
large volume of ash into the
atmosphere.
• This can stay for up to a year
and cause global temperatures Plinian eruption of Mt. Redoubt
to cool down.
Learn about It
Short-term Climate Change
Factors that caused short-term
climate change:
• Ocean currents are easily
changed (for example by the
mixing or glacial water), which
causes the climate to
subsequently change.
Melting of glaciers produce glacial
water and mixes with ocean water.
Learn about It
Short-term Climate Change
Factors that caused short-term
climate change:
• Albedo is the amount of solar
radiation reflected by the
surface. Large-scale changes in
land cover, especially of snow
and ice, affect the planet’s
energy input. Cloud effects on Earth’s radiation
Learn about It
Human-Induced Climate Change
• Human activity has increased
exponentially which has
increased the artificial factors
affecting climate, particularly
with greenhouse gas release
which has exceeded the rate
at which Earth system can
absorb them.
Factories releasing smoke into the
air
Learn about It
Human-Induced Climate Change
Evidences and Effects:
1. Ice is melting.
• Large ice shelves in Antarctica
and Canada are observed to be
breaking apart.
• Greenland’s ice sheet is melting Greenland Iceberg Fjord
quickly.
Learn about It
Human-Induced Climate Change
Evidences and Effects:
1. Ice is melting.
• Mountain glaciers worldwide
have been rapidly retreating.
• Permafrost has been observed
disappearing.
Melting permafrost
Learn about It
Human-Induced Climate Change
Evidences and Effects:
2. Organisms are significantly
responding to the warming
climate.
• Warmer weather lessens the
sugar content of the maple
tree’s sap. Maple trees’ sap collection, which will
be turned into maple syrup
Learn about It
Human-Induced Climate Change
• The Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) of United
Nations and World
Meteorological
Organization consolidates
and summarizes studies
on climate change.
Logo of IPCC, a joint project of WMO and UN
Key Points
● Earth’s climate evolves throughout the years.
● Paleoclimates offer glimpses into the climate’s origin, and what
caused them to eventually change.
● Global Climate Models (GCMs) are used to study climate in
detail. These models take present-day factors such as
atmosphere composition, ocean currents, global orbit,
topography, etc., and calculate how they affect the climate.
Check Your Understanding
Answer the following questions.
1. What body consolidates and summarizes climate change studies?
2. What factor contributes to short-term climate change caused by
changes in the tilt of Earth’s axis, the precession cycle, and the
eccentricity of the orbit
3. What do scientists use to study paleoclimate? Give at least two.
4. What are the effects of the continued increase in global
temperatures? Name at least two.
5. What are the factors affecting long-term climate change? Name at
least two.
Photo Credits
Slide 9. Glacial striation 21145 by Walter Siegmund is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via
Creative Commons.
Slide 10. Glacial till along Boeing Creek - Flickr - brewbooks by brewbooks from near Seattle, USA,
is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Creative Commons.
Slide. 13. Tree rings in Taxodium distichum wood (bald cypress) 2, by James St. John is licensed under
CC BY 2.0 via Creative Commons.
Slide 16. Cyanobacteria in water and on shoreline, St Margaret's Loch, Holyrood Park, Edinburgh by
Rosser1954 is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Creative Commons.
Slide 17. This file, Snowball Huronian.jpg, by 3depix, is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via
Creative Commons.
Photo Credits
Slides 22. Blue Mountains National Park Uplift by James St. John is licensed under CC BY 2.0 via
Creative Commons.
Slide 27. 2000 Year Temperature Comparison by anonymous is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via
Creative Commons.
Bibliography
Blue Planet Biomes. 2017. Various Articles. Accessed October 3.
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/climate.htm.
Hefferan, Kevin, and John O’Brien. 2010. Earth Materials. UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Marshak, Stephen. 2009. Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
McGuire, Thomas. 2005. Earth Science: The Physical Setting. New York: Amsco School Publications, Inc.
Petersen, James F., et al. 2013. Fundamentals of Physical Geography, 2nd Edition. United States: Cengage
Learning.
Prothero, Donald R., and Robert H. Dott, Jr. 2010. Evolution of Earth. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Tarbuck, Edward J., and Frederick J. Lutgens. 2012. Earth Science, 13th Edition. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice
Hall.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2017. Various Articles. Accessed October 3.
http://www.ipcc.ch/.
