scholarly journals Eunice Foote, John Tyndall and a question of priority

2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Greenhouse Effect ◽  
American Woman ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
American Science ◽  
Contemporary Perspective ◽  
John Tyndall ◽  
Simultaneous Discovery ◽  
Proper Analysis

In 1856, an American woman, Eunice Foote, discovered the absorption of thermal radiation by carbon dioxide and water vapour. That was three years before John Tyndall, who is generally credited with this important discovery—a cornerstone of our current understanding of the greenhouse effect, climate change, weather and meteorology. Tyndall did not reference Foote's work. From a contemporary perspective, one might expect that Tyndall would have known of her findings. But it appears that he did not, raising deeper historical questions about the connections and relationships between American and European physicists in the mid nineteenth century. The discovery is seen as a significant moment in physics generally and in climate science in particular, and demands a proper analysis. This paper explores the argument about priority, and the issues that the episode highlights in terms of simultaneous discovery, the development of science in America, gender, amateur status, the reputation of American science in Europe and the networks and means of communication between researchers in America and Europe in the 1850s.

Recent Record Growth in Atmospheric CO2 Levels

2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger J. Francey
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Greenhouse Effect ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Trace Gases ◽  
Atmospheric Co2 ◽  
Past Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
Rate Of Growth ◽  
Co2 Levels

Environmental Context.Excessive levels of carbon dioxide are accumulating in the atmosphere, principally from burning fossil fuels. The gas is linked to the enhanced greenhouse effect and climate change, and is thus monitored carefully, along with other trace gases that reflect human activity.The rate of growth of carbon dioxide has increased gradually over the past century, and more rapidly in the last decade. Teasing out fossil emissions from changes due to wildfires and to natural exchange with plants and oceans guide global attempts in reducing emissions.

Hazy clouds: Making black carbon visible in climate science

2021 ◽  
pp. 135918352199486
Author(s):  
Vasundhara Bhojvaid
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Diesel Emissions ◽  
The Indian Ocean

In 1995, a multimillion-dollar experiment – the Indian Ocean Experiment – discovered a dark mass of polluting air hovering above the Indian subcontinent. This mass of air was termed a cloud and found to be composed of a high amount of black carbon that was judged to be the second biggest threat to climate change after carbon-dioxide. In this article, an attempt is made to trace the life of black carbon by documenting its changing forms since the experiment. It emerges that the changing forms allow for the movement of air – smoke from traditional cookstoves and vehicular diesel emissions in India lead to the formation of the cloud – and reveal how an ethnography of air can be undertaken.

Émile Zola and the Literary Language of Climate Change

2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 362-373
Author(s):  
Johannes Ungelenk
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Theoretical Foundation ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Emile Zola ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Second Empire ◽  
John Tyndall ◽  
Different Gases

On 7 February 1861, John Tyndall, professor of natural philosophy, delivered a historical lecture: he could prove that different gases absorb heat to a very different degree, which implies that the temperate conditions provided for by the Earth's atmosphere are dependent on its particular composition of gases. The theoretical foundation of climate science was laid. Ten years later, on the other side of the Channel, a young and ambitious author was working on a comprehensive literary analysis of the French era under the Second Empire. Émile Zola had probably not heard or read of Tyndall's discovery. However, the article makes the case for reading Zola's Rougon-Macquart as an extensive story of climate change. Zola's literary attempts to capture the defining characteristic of the Second Empire led him to the insight that its various milieus were all part of the same ‘climate’: that of an all-encompassing warming. Zola suggests that this climate is man-made: the economic success of the Second Empire is based on heating, in a literal and metaphorical sense, as well as on stoking the steam-engines and creating the hypertrophic atmosphere of the hothouse that enhances life and maximises turnover and profit. In contrast to Tyndall and his audience, Zola sensed the catastrophic consequences of this warming: the Second Empire was inevitably moving towards a final débâcle, i.e. it was doomed to perish in local and ‘global’ climate catastrophes. The article foregrounds the supplementary status of Tyndall's physical and Zola's literary knowledge. As Zola's striking intuition demonstrates, literature appears to have a privileged approach to the phenomenon of man-induced climate change.

Climate Change and Ocean Acidification

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith S. Weis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Ocean Acidification ◽  
Greenhouse Effect ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth

What causes global warming or climate change? The burning of fossil fuels emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which results in the greenhouse effect—less heat can be re-radiated away from the earth, thus raising the temperature of the atmosphere and ocean. In the past...

scholarly journals Construction of an experimental apparatus to simulate the greenhouse effect and global warming for educational use

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 427-431
Author(s):  
Paulo Renda Anderson ◽  
Carlos Mergulhão Júnior ◽  
Moacy José Stoffes Junior ◽  
Cléver Reis Stein
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Greenhouse Effect ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Pressure Sensors ◽  
Experimental Apparatus ◽  
Atmosphere Temperature ◽  
Temperature And Pressure ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2

This article describes the construction of a complete experimental apparatus to simulate the greenhouse and global warming for educatioal use. These demonstrations are fundamental for people understand the importance of greenhouse effect to keep that life continues on earth and, know about climate change and the causes of global warming. For development of this devise we used an Arduino UNO, temperature and pressure sensors, and low cost products. The experimental results showed that the average atmosphere temperature increases with the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2). Moreover, this apparatus can be used in classroom to demonstration these important global phenomena.

The Problem

2021 ◽  
pp. 11-54
Author(s):  
Eelco J. Rohling
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Energy Balance ◽  
Greenhouse Effect ◽  
Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Global Average ◽  
Average Temperature ◽  
Regional Impacts ◽  
Business As Usual

This chapter frames the problem of climate change. It opens with a brief overview of Earth’s energy balance and the greenhouse effect and then outlines the root causes of the problem along with key controls in the climate system that determine its responses. This is followed by an introduction of spatial variability and fluctuations through time in the expressions of climate change, which are key to understanding regional impacts. Such geographic and temporal variations do not invalidate the existence of the global average temperature increase, but merely cause fluctuations around the global average. Finally, the chapter shows that achieving the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C warming limit will require the removal of 260–1030 billion tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The low-end estimate applies to best-case scenarios and the high-end estimate to scenarios where business-as-usual (as in the past two decades) emissions are allowed until 2030 or beyond.

Climate-forced changes of bio-productivity of Belorussian terrestrial ecosystems

2019 ◽  
pp. 77-88
Author(s):  
S. A. Lysenko
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Precipitation Amount ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Vegetation Period ◽  
Climatic Trend ◽  
Vegetation Growth ◽  
Current Century ◽  
The Impact

The spatial and temporal particularities of Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI) changes over territory of Belarus in the current century and their relationship with climate change were investigated. The rise of NDVI is observed at approximately 84% of the Belarus area. The statistically significant growth of NDVI has exhibited at nearly 35% of the studied area (t-test at 95% confidence interval), which are mainly forests and undeveloped areas. Croplands vegetation index is largely descending. The main factor of croplands bio-productivity interannual variability is precipitation amount in vegetation period. This factor determines more than 60% of the croplands NDVI dispersion. The long-term changes of NDVI could be explained by combination of two factors: photosynthesis intensifying action of carbon dioxide and vegetation growth suppressing action of air warming with almost unchanged precipitation amount. If the observed climatic trend continues the croplands bio-productivity in many Belarus regions could be decreased at more than 20% in comparison with 2000 year. The impact of climate change on the bio-productivity of undeveloped lands is only slightly noticed on the background of its growth in conditions of rising level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

scholarly journals It’s Our Fault: A Global Comparison of Different Ways of Explaining Climate Change

Human Ecology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Schnegg ◽  
Coral Iris O’Brian ◽  
Inga Janina Sievert
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Local Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Global Comparison ◽  
Local Phenomenon ◽  
World Regions ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Specific Factors

AbstractInternational surveys suggest people increasingly agree the climate is changing and humans are the cause. One reading of this is that people have adopted the scientific point of view. Based on a sample of 28 ethnographic cases we argue that this conclusion might be premature. Communities merge scientific explanations with local knowledge in hybrid ways. This is possible because both discourses blame humans as the cause of the changes they observe. However, the specific factors or agents blamed differ in each case. Whereas scientists identify carbon dioxide producers in particular world regions, indigenous communities often blame themselves, since, in many lay ontologies, the weather is typically perceived as a local phenomenon, which rewards and punishes people for their actions. Thus, while survey results show approval of the scientific view, this agreement is often understood differently and leads to diverging ways of allocating meaning about humans and the weather.

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