Greenhouses, hot water bottles, cycles and the future of New Zealand climate

Author(s):  
W.P. De Lange

The Greenhouse Effect acts to slow the escape of infrared radiation to space, and hence warms the atmosphere. The oceans derive almost all of their thermal energy from the sun, and none from infrared radiation in the atmosphere. The thermal energy stored by the oceans is transported globally and released after a range of different time periods. The release of thermal energy from the oceans modifies the behaviour of atmospheric circulation, and hence varies climate. Based on ocean behaviour, New Zealand can expect weather patterns similar to those from 1890-1922 and another Little Ice Age may develop this century.

Author(s):  
Professor John Swarbrooke

The fact that open ocean covers two-thirds of the surface of our planet dramati- cally illustrates the importance of the marine environment to life on Earth. But the importance of the oceans goes far beyond their sheer size for it is the oceans that largely determine our climate for the weather around the world is heavily influenced by what happens in our seas. ‘Weather patterns are primarily controlled by ocean currents which are influenced by surface winds, temperature, salinity, the Earth’s rotation and ocean tides....Ocean currents bring warm water and rain from the equator to the poles and cold water from the poles towards the equator’ (www.greentumble.com, 2016). Every schoolchild knows that the sun evaporates water from the sea which then become clouds that then produces almost all of the rain and snow which falls on every land mass in the world. The oceans also absorb heat from the sun and from human activities; this heat is then carried to the land in those places where the prevailing winds blow from the sea to the land. At the same time, the oceans play a vital role in the carbon cycle by absorbing carbon dioxide that is in the air.


2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krista M. McKinzey ◽  
Wendy Lawson ◽  
Dave Kelly ◽  
Alun Hubbard
Keyword(s):  

Radiocarbon ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Nesme-Ribes ◽  
Andre Mangeney

To understand better the Earth's climate, we need to know precisely how much radiation the Sun generates. We present here a simple physical mechanism describing the convective processes at the time of low sunspot activity. According to this model, the kinetic energy increased during the Maunder Minimum, causing a decrease of the solar radiation that was sufficient to produce a little Ice Age.


2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Pfister ◽  
R. Brázdil

Abstract. The paper is oriented on social vulnerability to climate in Switzerland and in the Czech Lands during the early 1770s. Documentary sources of climate related to man-made archives are discussed. Methods of temperature and precipitation reconstruction based on this evidence as well as climate impact analyses are presented. Modelling of Little Ice Age-type Impacts (LIATIMP) is applied to highlight climate impacts during the period 1750–1800 in the Swiss Plateau and in the Czech Lands. LIATIMP are defined as adverse climate situations affecting grain production, mainly in terms of rainy autumns, cold springs and rainy harvest-periods. The most adverse weather patterns according to this model occurred from 1769 to 1771 causing two, in the case of the Czech Lands even three successive harvest failures. The paper addresses the social and economic consequences of this accumulation of climatic stress and explores how the authorities and the victims dealt with this situation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 137 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Mrgic

The paper aims to present narrative sources from the late phase of ‘Little Ice Age’ period for a part of the Southeastern Europe, which is still poorly investigated. In the lack of solid evidence, obtained by geo-sciences (dendrochronology, sediment and pollen analysis, records of instrumental measurements, etc.), the text relies on documentary ‘proxies’ derived from several chronicles and short notes. These accounts – from Dalmatian cities of Split and Makarska, Ottoman metropolis of Sarajevo, Franciscan monasteries in Kreševo (Bosnia) and in Šarengrad (Srem, after Habsburg re-conquest) – are unevenly distributed in time and geographical space, far from the quality of ‘weather diaries’, which existed elsewhere in Europe of this period. Nonetheless, the preserved sources verify in their own manner cumulative changes occurring throughout the region: people observed changes not only in high frequency of change of seasonal temperature and precipitation patterns and the scale, but more significantly, there was coupling of extreme weather events and heavy disturbances of weather patterns. Franciscan writers in Makarska and Kreševo repeatedly wrote how weather features and course of seasons were untimely, unexpected, sudden and detrimental, ‘suis temporibus non correspondens’, and how particular agricultural works could not be performed ‘ut moris est’, at the usual, traditional schedule, due to the weather perturbances. Adriatic summers turned extremely hot and dry, with long periods without any rain, while data from Šarengrad corroborate results obtain in the historical climatology for Hungary on the severity of winters and long period of frozen Danube River. Mulla Basheski’s records from Sarajevo yield information on Miljacka River flood events, in connection to both climate condition and land-use patterns. This paper is foremost an attempt to draw attention to research possibilities for the Western Balkans, and there are more documentary, narrative and archival sources to be further investigated, with collaborations among geoscientists and historians.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nico Mölg ◽  
Christian Huggel ◽  
Thilo Herold ◽  
Florian Storck ◽  
Simon Allen ◽  
...  

<p>The deglaciation since the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA, ~1850) has given way to >700km² of “new” landscape in Switzerland. Glacial lakes are a conspicuous feature of this new landscape – with relevance for natural hazards, hydropower and landscape planning. In this study, we compiled an inventory of glacial lakes for Switzerland for the year 2016. Using existing data, we investigated the evolution of glacial lakes in Switzerland for six time periods since the LIA. Additionally, we compiled information constituting a basis for hazard assessment for all ice-contact lakes in 2016 and all lakes >0.5 ha, i.e. surface outflow, dam type and material, and lake freeboard.</p><p>We found that a total of 1230 lakes formed over the period of ~170 years, 982 still existing in 2016. The largest lakes are >0.4 km² (40 ha) in size, while the majority (>90%) are smaller than 0.01 km². Annual increase rates in area and number peaked in 1946-1973, decreased towards the end of the 20<sup>th</sup> century, and reached a new high in the latest period 2006-2016. For a period of 43 years, we compared modelled overdeepenings from previous studies to actual lake genesis. For a better prioritisation of formation probability, we included glacier-morphological criteria such as glacier width and visible crevassing. About 40% of the modelled overdeepened area actually filled with water. The inclusion of morphological aspects clearly aided in linking a lake formation probability to a modelled overdeepening.</p><p><img src="https://contentmanager.copernicus.org/fileStorageProxy.php?f=gnp.d3501255f60064578601161/sdaolpUECMynit/12UGE&app=m&a=0&c=a53c560cf096fb15e526d1d230f3d1bf&ct=x&pn=gnp.elif&d=1" alt="" width="381" height="225"></p><p>Fig. 1: Glacial lake distribution in Switzerland and its evolution over time. </p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Heidi Anne Roop

<p>This research aims to improve understanding of synoptic climate systems influencing southern New Zealand and document changes in the intensity and frequency of these systems beyond the historical record by analyzing a 1,350-year annually laminated sediment sequence recovered from Lake Ohau, South Island, New Zealand (44.234°S, 169.854°E). Climatological patterns originating in both the tropics (El-Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO)) and in the Antarctic (Southern Annular Mode (SAM)) influence year-to-year variability in New Zealand’s climate (e.g. temperature and precipitation). However, the range of natural variability of these systems in the southwest Pacific over time is poorly known because the instrumental record is short (~100 years). The high-resolution record from Lake Ohau offers a unique opportunity to investigate changes in regional hydrology and climate, and to also explore connections to large-scale climate patterns over the last millennium.  Hydrodynamic and hydroclimatic processes that influence and control the production, transport, and deposition of sediment within the Lake Ohau catchment are examined and constrained in order to develop a robust climate record. A key aim is to determine the role that meteorology and climate play in controlling sediment flux. The physical properties and facies of a 5.5-meter-long Lake Ohau sediment core are analyzed using thin-sections, high-resolution X-radiographs scans, and particle-size analyses. Time-series analysis is used to establish links between varve facies, hydroclimate variability and regional synoptic climate types over the instrumental record. Utilizing this climate-proxy relationship, inflow conditions are reconstructed over the last 1,350 years and compared with regional temperature reconstructions to generate a Western South Island paleo-atmospheric circulation index. Relationship between this paleocirculation index and other proxy reconstructions show significant variability in the relative forcing of tropical (ENSO) and Southern Hemisphere highlatitude (SAM) synoptic climate drivers on New Zealand and southwest Pacific climate.  Overall, this work demonstrates that: a) the laminated sediments from Lake Ohau are varves and the formation of the annual stratigraphy is strongly controlled by lake hydrodynamics, in particular, thermal lake stratification; b) sediment stratigraphy reflects changes in austral warm period (December-May) inflow, enabling a highresolution reconstruction of hydroclimate over the last 1,350 years and; c) the generation of a paleocirculation index for the Western South Island points to significant changes between northerly or southerly dominated atmospheric conditions in southern New Zealand, particularly over the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1385-1710 AD). During this time, the strength of tropical teleconnections weakened and a strong negative phase SAM persisted. Comparison with high-resolution regional proxy records from Antarctica and the Central Pacific point to significant regional coherence with a strong negative phase SAM acting as a primary driver of the onset of Little Ice Age conditions across the South Pacific.</p>


2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Pfister ◽  
R. Brázdil

Abstract. The paper is oriented on social vulnerability to climate in Switzerland and in the Czech Lands during the early 1770s. Documentary sources of climate related to man-made archives are discussed. Methods of temperature and precipitation reconstruction based on this evidence as well as climate impact analyses are presented. Modelling of Little Ice Age-type Impacts (LIATIMP) is applied to highlight climate impacts during the period 1750–1800 in the Swiss Plateau and in the Czech Lands. LIATIMP are defined as adverse climate situations affecting agricultural production, mainly in terms of rainy autumns, cold springs and rainy harvest-periods. The most adverse weather patterns according to this model occurred from 1769 to 1771 causing two, in the case of the Czech Lands even three successive harvest failures. The paper addresses the social and economic consequences of this accumulation of climatic stress and explores how the authorities and the victims dealt with this situation.


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