Exploring Historical Climate Data and Greenhouse Gases

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This chapter delves into historical temperature trends, uncertainties in measurements, and notable climate changes in Earth's past, including the Cretaceous period. It discusses the accelerated rate of modern climate change compared to historical shifts, utilizing paleoclimate studies and isotope ratios to estimate past water temperatures. The narrative also explores the role of greenhouse gases, clarifying their natural presence and impact on trapping heat, with a focus on key gases like water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane.

The Earth's climate keeps changing, largely due to the effects of human activity, and we haven't been doing enough to slow things down. Indeed, over the past year, global temperatures have been higher than ever, and higher than most climate models have predicted. Many of you have probably seen plots like this. Today's guest, Gavin Schmidt, has been a leader in measuring the variations in Earth's climate, modeling its likely future trajectory, and working to get the word out. We talk about the current state of the art, and what to expect for the future.

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Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/05/20/276-gavin-schmidt-on-measuring-predicting-and-protecting-our-climate/

Gavin Schmidt received his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from University College London. He is currently Director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and an affiliate of the Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia University. His research involves both measuring and modeling climate variability. Among his awards are the inaugural Climate Communications Prize of the American Geophysical Union. He is a cofounder of the RealClimate blog.

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