8. The sun emits a total power of 4*10 26 watts, a billionth of which arrives at the top of the atmosphere. The climate system responds to changes in the solar emissions ( solar forcing ), the relative position of the sun and the Earth ( orbital forcing ), the radiative properties of the atmosphere ( greenhouse gases, aerosols, dust ), and the Earth’s surface ( land use ). In addition variability is further introduced by the energy distribution processes of the climate system ( internal forcing ).
25. Change in average global temperature over the last 80 Ma. The temperature curve of Crowley and Kim (1995) is modified to show the effect of the methane discharge at 55 Ma (Zachos et al. 2003, Zachos et al. 2005) and the Early Pliocene warming (Ravelo et al. 2004). The future rise in temperature expected from energy use projections shows the Earth warming back into the ‘greenhouse world’(from AGCS 2008). Palaeocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM)
35. One hydrological line is separating Taiwan from Hualien to Hsinchu into wet and dry regions. > 2000 mm (78%) > 2000 mm (65%) < 0 % (75%) Wetter Drier
36. Extraction of surface water for the water usage in Taiwan has been diminished from 150x10 8 m 3 in late 1970 to about 120x10 8 m 3 in 1990s, a 17% shortage of average annual demand (~180x10 8 m 3 ) . Groundwater has been forced to significantly increase to meet the overall water demand through years. 42% 31% 4% Groundwater Surface water
52. 2008 number of melting days anomaly (e.g., the 2008 melting days minus the 1979–2007 average). Red areas in Northern Greenland correspond to those areas where extreme melting occurred and new records were set. White color corresponds to no melting. (EOS, 2008/10/7)
53. Large fracture/opening in the drained lake bed on the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet. (Science, 2008) Scientists walk along the edge of a large canyon formed by many years of meltwater stream flow across the surface of the Greenland ice sheet. The lines along the wall of the canyon show the stratigraphic layers of ice and snow laid down over the years. (Photo by Sarah Das, WHOI, 2008)
54.
55. The first evidence of a volcanic eruption from beneath Antarctica's most rapidly changing ice sheet has been reported. The volcano on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet erupted 2000 years ago (325BC) and remains active. (Nature, 2008) BAS Twin Otter in flight during the aerial survey. (Credit: Carl Robinson-British Antarctic Survey)
FAQ 2.1, Figure 1. Atmospheric concentrations of important long-lived greenhouse gases over the last 2,000 years. Increases since about 1750 are attributed to human activities in the industrial era. Concentration units are parts per million (ppm) or parts per billion (ppb), indicating the number of molecules of the greenhouse gas per million or billion air molecules, respectively, in an atmospheric sample. (Data combined and simplified from Chapters 6 and 2 of this report.)