Aug 29, 2019 Webinar – Climate Change: What’s natural, what’s human-caused, and how do we know?
Thursday, August 29, 2019 – 12:00-1:15 PM EDT
Presented by Dr. Erich Osterberg
It is well known that Earth’s climate changes due to natural cycles of various length: from the ice ages to El Nino. We also know conclusively that human emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide are causing the Earth’s average temperature to warm rapidly, causing glaciers to melt, sea level to rise, and storm patterns to change. Thus, the climate that we experience at any time results from some combination of natural and human causes. How do climate scientists disentangle these effects to identify the true impact of human activities on climate? We will explore this complex question through case studies focused on extreme storms in the northeast USA and glacial melting in Greenland. This research involves the use of ice cores, weather station data, and the latest global and regional-scale climate models.
This webinar is part of a series, Weathering Change: Local Solutions for Strong Communities, presented by Antioch University New England, in partnership with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). For more information, go to communityresilience-center.org.