Exploration of Climate Change, Feedback Loops, and The Polar Jet Stream

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Recommended: The role of human activity in climate change

Introduction “Climate change is real. It is human-caused. We’re seeing the effects now.” (Romm, 2014). Climate change is an important issue the public is aware of, but do not see how their individual responses can have an impact on such a large global issue. Changing people’s temporal habits and attitudes about climate change will be a challenge. As the impacts of anthropogenic climate change are felt more often in our daily lives, people around the world will begin to adjust their temporal habits for greater sustainability of the natural environment we solely depend on for our survival. Since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) first report in 1990, the international community has known “emissions resulting from human activities are substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and nitrous oxide.” (IPCC, 1990). The emissions put into the atmosphere by human actions will further the greenhouse effect that results in a warmer planet. This paper will examine how global warming may impact the Polar Jet Stream seen in fig.1, while exploring feedback loops that may or not be further destabilizing the band of high winds in the upper atmosphere that drives weather systems. Figure 1. Artistic rendition of a typical jet stream path during winter and summer months with related jet stream wind speeds. Higher upper level wind speeds occur in the winter, because Polar temperatures are colder creating a large temperature difference. (“Jet streams”, 2013). Weather vs. climate The difference between weather and climate is important to understand when thinking about the Polar jet stream, because it does drive weather systems. Climate is th... ... middle of paper ... ...al Geographic. 08 May 2014 http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/el-nino. “Jet Streams.” 2013. North Carolina State University. https://www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu/edu/k12/.JetStreams. Balog, James. 2012. “Chasing Ice.” Published by Exposure. Film/Movie. google : www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/news/.../extremes_000.doc. Hansen, James. 2014. “climate change.” NPR Radio. ☺ IPCC Working Group I. 1990. “Policymakers Summary.” IPCC. https://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/far/wg_I/ipcc_far_wg_I_spm.pdf. Romm, Joseph. 2014. “CLIMATE CHANGE 101: AN INTRODUCTION.” Years of Living Dangerously. http://yearsoflivingdangerously.com/science/blog/climate-change-101-introduction/. Tedesco, M et al. 2013. “Greenland Ice Sheet.” Arctic Report Card. http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/greenland_ice_sheet.html World Meteorological Organization. “Extreme Weather in parts of the world 2014.“

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