Geological Perspectives of Global Climate Change

Gerhard, Lee C.; Harrison, William; Hanson, B.

doi:10.1306/st47737

Cited by 25 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 14 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In terms of the hierarchy of controls proposed by Gerhard et al . (2001), the differences in heat absorption between land and water as controlled by the global distribution of continents and oceans are probably first-order controls, along with the geometry of the solar system (Frakes 1979).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Global heat budget, plate tectonics and climatic change

Harris

2002

Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Harris, S.A ., 2002: Global heat budget, plate tectonics and climatic change. Geogr. Ann ., 84 A (1): 1-9.ABSTRACT. For the past 2000 Ma, the temperature of the Earth's surface has fluctuated around a mean similar to that of today, although individual locations have undergone long-term changes of 30°C at different times in different places. Water bodies absorb at least five times as much solar radiation as land surfaces, and ocean currents transport the excess heat absorbed in the tropics towards the poles. Changes in the distribution of land and sea due to plate tectonics explain the major temperature fluctuations (>25 ° C) around the globe in the last 350 Ma, and are first-order controls. Large-scale changes in ocean currents and thermohaline circulations are probably second-order controls (15-25 ° C). The Milankovitch orbital cycles are third-order controls producing variations in air temperature of the order of 10 ° C, while massive volcanic eruptions and changes in carbon dioxide are amongst the fourth-order controls producing minor perturbations (<5 ° C). The major climatic fluctuations are continuous but regional in effect and not global. Extraterrestrial factors may not cause major changes in climate when viewed from a geological perspective.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At present, about 30% of the heat absorbed in the primary heatabsorbing zone is transferred polewards. The actual distribution of land and sea will also be critical to the efficient transfer of heat (Gerhard et al . 2001).…”

Section: Plate Tectonics and The Heat Budget Of The Earthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global heat budget, plate tectonics and climatic change

Harris

2002

Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It can be considered that a number of variables determine or drive the Earth's climate in a range of short time to geologic time. There is a direct relationship between the range of absolute temperature change and the amount of time over which the drivers operate, and they simply attempt to place in perspective the various climate drivers, the effect of each driver on global climate, and the amount of time over which selected natural processes take place [19]. Climate drivers are outlined as follows [19]: (i) astronomic (solar flux, Earth/sun orbital dynamics) and plate tectonic (distribution of land/sea/ice) factors are most important over the geologic time scale; (ii) the Earth has a life-supporting climate because of its distance from the Sun and the evolution of a greenhouse atmosphere (CH 4 , water vapor, CO 2 , etc.…”

Section: Hierarchical Classification Of Climate Driversmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…the CO 2 content has decreased over the past 600 million years from 18 times the current concentration [20,21]; (iii) atmospheric variables (e.g. pressure) can greatly affect climate in the short term because meteorological conditions occur over daily and seasonal time frames [19]; and (iv) human intervention which may exist is in the same category as some other small natural drivers.…”

Section: Hierarchical Classification Of Climate Driversmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

External Forces Acting on the Earth's Climate: An Approach to Understanding the Complexity of Climate Change

Kikuchi

2010

Energy & Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change defines lifetime for CO 2 as the time required for the atmosphere to adjust to a future equilibrium state, and it gives a wide range of 5-200 years; however, a number of published data show a short lifetime of 5-15 years. This implies that anthropogenic emissions of CO 2 are sequestrated more easily than expected, suggesting it would be beneficial to look at other climate factors when making long-term predictions. Considering the magnitude and the time length (cycle), climate change can be interpreted as the result of the complex coupling of astronomic forces (e.g. the Earth's orbit and cosmic-ray flux) as well as terrestrial forces. Regarding the Earth's climate as a complex (nonlinear) system, it is necessary for the climate research community and policy makers to distinguish between variations caused by anthropogenic and natural occurrences, and the problem of how to do so arises.

show abstract

The central Andean west‐slope rainshadow and its potential contribution to the origin of hyper‐aridity in the Atacama Desert

Houston¹,

Hartley

2003

Intl Journal of Climatology

441

330

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The west slope of the central Andes exhibits a pronounced rainshadow effect. Precipitation between 15°and 27°S is dominated by summer convective activity from Amazonia, and data analysis shows that the increase in precipitation with elevation due to the rainshadow effect best fits an exponential correlation. Coupling with limited data from high elevations suggests that the correlation is accurate to 4500 m above sea level (m a.s.l.) and perhaps to 5500 m a.s.l., suggesting that increased precipitation goes unrecorded over the peaks of the western Cordillera. South of 27°S the precipitation is dominated by winter frontal sources and shows no well-defined relationship with elevation. The core zone of hyper-aridity in the Atacama Desert extends from 15 to 30°S at elevations from sea level to 3500 m a.s.l. Although the Atacama Desert has existed since at least 90 Ma, it is considered that the initial onset of hyper-aridity was most likely to have developed progressively with the uplift of the Andes as they reached elevations between 1000 to 2000 m a.s.l. coupled with the intensification of a cold, upwelling Peruvian Current between 15 and 10 Ma. Also apparent in the palaeogeographic record are subsequent fluctuations between (semi-) arid to hyper-arid conditions that were probably largely controlled by changes in orbital and oceanic forcing.

show abstract

Geological Perspectives of Global Climate Change

Cited by 25 publications

References 14 publications

Global heat budget, plate tectonics and climatic change

Global heat budget, plate tectonics and climatic change

External Forces Acting on the Earth's Climate: An Approach to Understanding the Complexity of Climate Change

The central Andean west‐slope rainshadow and its potential contribution to the origin of hyper‐aridity in the Atacama Desert

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About