The Global Average Temperature

1min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

If we imagined having a thermometer at literally every point in space in the atmosphere And then taking the average or is it something? Yeah, yeah, you've put your finger right on it It's literally if we had a thermometer everywhere over the surface of the earth and as you allude to Reduce that thermometer measurement to sea level because obviously for elevation is going to be colder. A dry atmosphere cools at about 10 degrees Celsius per kilometer So you can reduce temperatures to sea level That's the number that you would theoretically come up with it by the way is the only Number that is estimated in a zero-dimensional energy bounce model.

We had our fun last week, exploring how progress in renewable energy and electric vehicles may help us combat encroaching climate change. This week we’re being a bit more hard-nosed, taking a look at what’s currently happening to our climate. Michael Mann is one of the world’s leading climate scientists, and also a dedicated advocate for improved public understanding of the issues. It was his research with Raymond Bradley and Malcolm Hughes that introduced the “hockey stick” graph, showing how global temperatures have increased rapidly compared to historical averages. We dig a bit into the physics behind the greenhouse effect, the methods that are used to reconstruct temperatures in the past, how the climate has consistently been heating up faster than the average models would have predicted, and the relationship between climate change and extreme weather events. Happily even this conversation is not completely pessimistic — if we take sufficiently strong action now, there’s still time to avert the worst possible future catastrophe.

Support Mindscape on Patreon.

Michael Mann received his Ph.D. in Geology and Geophysics from Yale University. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Pennsylvania State University, with joint appointments in the Departments of Geosciences and the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute. He is the director of Penn State’s Earth System Science Center. He is the author of over 200 scientific publications and four books. His most recent book is The Tantrum that Saved the World, a “carbon-neutral kids’ book.”

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.