Climate Change

Within the lifespan of the present generation, global climate is expected to change more radically than at any time over the past several thousand years. The primary cause of this is increasingly recognised as being due to human activities in altering the composition of the atmosphere, particularly as a consequence of interfering with long wave radiative transfers as a result of increasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. How big and how rapid the climatic changes resulting from this are likely to be are of acute concern for the entire global community and are the subjects of major research efforts world-wide. This module addresses the causes and consequences of climate change. It examines how various techniques enable a longer term perspective on climate to be obtained. It examines how past and present climatic fluctuations can be seen to have social, economic and political consequences which technological advances have not eliminated and may even have exacerbated. The implications of modelling-based projections of the enhanced greenhouse effect for Ireland and other parts of the world will be analysed, as will options to mitigate future global warming.