Climate change at different temporal and spatial scales

• Main Author: Mercier, Denis
• Other Authors: Laboratoire de géographie physique : Environnements Quaternaires et Actuels (LGP), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 (UPEC UP12)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Sorbonne Université (SU), Denis Mercier
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: [SHS.GEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Geography; Climate change; Longyearbyen
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03205983; https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119817925.ch1

International audience Contemporary climate change refers to the period from 1850 to the present day and covers the period from the industrial revolution to the digital revolution. This chapter presents spatial distribution of Arctic warming for the period 1961–2014 for the cold season and warm season. It also presents temporal distribution of air temperature warming at Longyearbyen. Greenhouse gas emissions represent a major disruption in the evolution of the climate compared to pre-industrial natural evolution. Major periods of volcanic activity in the Earth's geological past, such as the one that allowed the Deccan traps in India to form, have resulted in climatic changes that have caused major environmental crises. The chapter illustrates the major components of the Earth's radiation budget, which is simplified by an average solar energy input of 342 watts per square meter to the Earth's surface.