The physical basis of climate change
Abstract:
The Earth's climate system is controlled by radiative energy fluxes, latent and sensible heat transfer as well as constituent exchange among the compartments of the Earth system. Man-made activities such as the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere alter the natural cycles inducing climatic change whose impacts nowadays emerge in our every-day lives. Here, we will review the basic concepts of how the Earth's climate system works and what the current challenges are when it comes reliable quantifying the man-made perturbations, the efficiency of mitigation measures, and the quality of climate projections. Topics to be covered are the following:
- The Earth energy balance
- Radiative forcing and climate sensitivity
- Biogeochemical cycles
- The anthropogenic perturbation
- Observation and modelling concepts in support of climate action