Presentation on the occasion of World Environment Day 2014

1. WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 2014
5th June 2014

2. This presentation contains:
• Theme for this year
• Slogan for this year celebrations
• Small Islands Developing States
• Sea level rise – a reality
• Global warming
• Green house effect
• Green house gases
• Causes for green house gases
• Effects of global warming
• What we can do….

3. World Environment
Day ('WED')
- June 5 every year
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

5. • Theme for World Environment Day this
year is focusing on
'Small Islands and Climate Change‘
• The official slogan for the year 2014 is
'Raise Your Voice Not The Sea Level’
• Host country celebrations are in Barbados

7. WED Theme, 2014
Small Islands and Climate Change

9. List of SIDS
• Currently, the United Nations Department of
Economic and Social Affairs lists 52 small
island developing states.
• These are broken down into three geographic
regions:
• (1) the Caribbean
• (2) the Pacifica
• (3) Africa, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean and
South China Sea (AIMS)

10. SEA LEVEL RISE – not at all a
joke

14. Flooded Road in LA - Storm surge on a
Louisiana highway shows the affects of rising
sea levels.

16. Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed signs a document in Girifushi, Maldives,
on October 17, 2009 during a cabinet meeting held 20 feet below water that calls
on all countries to cut down their carbon dioxide emissions ahead of a U.N. climate
change conference.
Maldives

19. Tuvalu

29. Why temperature rise ? ? ?
Atmospheric Layers

30.  How does a greenhouse work?
•

31. GREEN HOUSE

32. Source: http://www.andor.com/printpage.asp?app=331.

33. Where Does the Heat Go?

Net Heat Input to Earth
System
(Levitus et al., GRL, 2004)
84% -- absorbed by the Oceans!
Amount of Heat Absorbed by Parts of Earth Climate System
Over Past 40 Years

34. VIDEO

35. Greenhouse gases
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected that global surface
temperature is likely to rise 1.1 to 6.4 °C (2.0 to 11.5 °F) by 2100
• Our ever increasing addiction to electricity from coal burning power plants
releases enormous amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
• Water vapour (H2O)
• Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
• Methane (CH4)
• Nitrous Oxide (N2O)
• Ozone (O3)
• CFCs
• Video

36. Sea level rise: Fraser Valley scenarios
A fine balance

37. Composition The Atmosphere contains a large amount of different
gases:
Gas Mole fraction
Nitrogen (N2) 0.78
Oxygen (O2) 0.21
Water vapour
(H2O)
0.04 to < 5x10-3;
4x10-6 — strat
Argon (Ar) 0.0093
Carbon Dioxide
(CO2)
370 x 10-6 (Date
2000)
Neon (Ne) 18.2 x 10-6
Ozone (O3) 0.02x10-6 to
10x10-6
Helium (He) 5.2 x 10-6
Methane (CH4) 1.7 x 10-6
Gas Mole fraction
Krypton (Kr) 1.1 x 10-6
Hydrogen (H2) 0.55 x 10-6
Nitrous Oxide (N2O) 0.32 x 10-6
Carbon Monoxide (CO) 0.03 x 10-6 to
0.3 x 10-6
Chlorofluorocarbons 3 x 10-9
Carbonyl Sulphide (COS) 0.1 x 10-9

39. Contributors for emission

40. Green house Gases

41. Green house gases - sources

42. Effects of higher concentration of
Greenhouse gases
• Change in rain pattern
• Change in agricultural yeild
• Heating of the ground
• Melting of ice and snow
• Evaporation of water
• Land slides
• Climate changes / increase in Extreme climate events / change in weather
pattern
• Melting of polar ice caps
• Increase in sea level / Rise in tides
• Flooding in coastal areas
• Ocean Acidification
• Changes in flora and fauna
• Species becoming endangered/extinct
• Heavy drought
• Spread of disease
• Loss of habitat

43. Chakaltaya Glacier, Andes, Bolivia
1996 2009

44. Loss of natural habitat

45. MELTING GAUMUKH GLACIER

46. MELTING GAUMUKH GLACIER

47. Why is the melting of Greenland’s ice sheet
that big a deal?
Once the ice starts to melt at the surface, it
forms lakes that empty down crevasses to the
bottom of the ice. You get rivers of water
underneath the ice. And the ice slides towards
the ocean.”

48. How much ice is on Greenland ?

49. Global Sea Levels

50. Altimeter Record of Sea Level Rise Over Past 15 Years

52. Oceanographic information
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (United States Department of
Commerce) NOAA's Center for Operational
Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-
OPS) is the authoritative source for accurate,
reliable, and timely data on tides, water levels,
currents and other oceanographic information

53. • The mean sea level trend is 2.06 millimeters/year with a 95% confidence interval of +/- 0.60 mm/yr
based on monthly mean sea level data from 1950 to 2008 which is equivalent to a change of 0.68
feet in 100 years.
• Source : National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Govt

54. • The mean sea level trend is 0.79 millimeters/year with a 95% confidence interval of +/- 0.11 mm/yr
based on monthly mean sea level data from 1878 to 2008 which is equivalent to a change of 0.26
feet in 100 years.
• Source : National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Govt
•

55. Mean Sea Level Trend
The mean sea level trend is 1.71 millimeters/year with a 95% confidence interval of +/- 0.36 mm/yr
based on monthly mean sea level data from 1939 to 2007 which is equivalent to a change of 0.56 feet
in 100 years.
Source : National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Govt

56. The rise in sea levels is linked to three primary factors,
all induced by this ongoing global climate change:
Thermal expansion of sea water:
Melting of glaciers and polar ice caps:
Ice loss from Greenland and West Antarctica:

57. • Consequence of sea level rise:
• How high it will go ?
• Some of the inundation already happened

58. Focusing on Kerala ……..
• Potential impacts
– Salinity intrusion into aquifers and wetlands
– Sun stoke / Heat stroke
– Re-occurrence of deceases once eradicated

59. What next – what we can do
• Produce more fuel-efficient vehicles
• Reduce vehicle use
• Improve energy-efficiency in buildings
• Develop carbon capture and storage processes
• Increase solar power
• Decrease deforestation/plant forests
• Improve soil carbon management strategies

60. Measures to Minimise Greenhouse Gases
• GREEN/ECO-FRIENDLY TECHNOLOGY.
• ALTERNATE/RENEWABLE ENERGY.
• PROPER DISPOSAL OF WASTE MATERIAL
• LAND-USE CHANGE.
• CARBON-SINK.
• AFFORESTATION.
• CONSERVATION OF FORESTS.