Atmosphere and Oceans

Atmosphere and Oceans

Introduction

Climate change and global warning involves changes in other variables such as rainfall patterns and the coverage of clouds and all other elements of the atmospheric system. The complexity of the problem and its multiple interactions cause changes which is measured by using models that simulate computational physics from atmosphere and oceans.

 The nature chaotic of these models makes itself have a high proportion of uncertainty.

Sea Level

According to Milne (2009) Global sea levels are currently rising as a result of the melting of the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets and thermal expansion of the world's ocean waters due to global warming. Earth is presently in an interglacial stage of an ice age. Sea levels have risen nearly 400 feet (122 m) since the last glacial maximum 20,000 years ago and about 6 inches (15 cm) in the past 100 years.

Steric sea level

Steric sea level change (Milne, 2009) basically is water level changes due to density which are caused by changes in temperature in the column of water and the result thermal expansion. Changes occurred in circulation in ocean; particularly boundaries of ocean, influence at sea level due to changes in density and geostrophic changes.

Measuring Sea Level

Gehrels (2009) explained that Mean sea level is a statistical representation of the sea surface that is usually computed by averaging all water levels over a 19-year period. MSL is used for the measurement of changes in water levels do occur over long and short time scales and in response primarily to astronomical (gravitational attraction) and forces.

Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO)

An MJO causes a warming in the lower atmosphere, and several MJO cycles can amplify the effect. The MJO is now recognized as the principal fluctuation lasting less than one year affecting variations in tropical weather.

Argo Heywood (2007) explained that an Argo uses free-drifting floats to measure the temperature and salinity of the oceans from the surface down to their operating depth of 6,500 feet (2,000 m), at the same time providing a means of tracking the movement of ocean currents. The first floats were deployed in 2000 and by September 2005 almost 2,000 floats were operational. When the project is fully operational, a total of 3,000 floats will be used, distributed throughout the world's oceans. The Argo project allows changes in temperature and salinity and the movement of ocean currents to be monitored away from the main shipping lanes (Church.et.al, 2010).

El Niño

El Niño is an atmospheric and oceanic oscillation in the tropical ...