Climate Change

Rationale: Obliquity, or the tilt of the Earth's axis, varies between 22.1° and 24.5° over a period of approximately 41,000 years, directly influencing seasonal contrast.

Rationale: The Keeling Curve is a continuous record of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, started by Charles David Keeling in 1958.

Rationale: Melting ice exposes darker land and ocean surfaces beneath, which absorb more solar radiation, leading to further warming—a classic positive feedback loop.

Rationale: Milutin Milankovitch mathematically calculated the variations in eccentricity, obliquity, and precession that drive long-term climatic shifts and glacial cycles.

Rationale: Oceans absorb about 30% of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, forming carbonic acid and decreasing seawater pH, known as ocean acidification.

Rationale: CFCs and certain synthetic halocarbons have extremely high global warming potentials, thousands of times greater than CO2 pound for pound, though present in smaller concentrations.

Rationale: Deep ice cores trapped in polar ice sheets preserve trapped air bubbles spanning hundreds of thousands to over 800,000 years, offering a direct archive of ancient atmospheres.

Rationale: Radiative forcing quantifies the net energy imbalance of the Earth-atmosphere system in Watts per square metre (W/m²).

Rationale: Guy Stewart Callendar argued that fossil fuel burning was releasing CO2 and warming the planet, marking an early milestone in modern climate change science.

Rationale: Large volcanic eruptions (e.g., Pinatubo, Krakatoa) inject sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, forming sulfate aerosols that reflect sunlight and cool the Earth for a few years.

Rationale: Stratospheric aerosols increase planetary albedo by scattering incoming shortwave solar radiation, exerting a net cooling effect on global climate.

Rationale: The Kyoto Protocol (1997) operationalized the UNFCCC by committing industrialized countries and economies in transition to limit and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Rationale: Permafrost stores vast amounts of ancient organic matter. As global temperatures rise, thawing permafrost decomposes and releases methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Rationale: The energy supply sector, driven by coal, natural gas, and oil combustion for power and heat, is the largest source of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Rationale: The Anthropocene reflects the geological epoch where human activity has become the dominant driver of global environmental and climatic change.

Rationale: CCS involves capturing carbon dioxide emissions from sources like power plants and storing them securely underground in depleted oil reservoirs or saline formations.

Rationale: El Niño is characterized by the weakening of trade winds and the spread of warm surface waters toward the eastern Pacific, heavily disrupting global weather patterns.

Rationale: Net zero emissions are achieved when anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions released globally are balanced by anthropogenic removals over a specified period.