40.1 Earth’s climate. . . . . . . . . . . . .427 40.2 Climate change . . . . . . . . . . . .430 40.3 Effects of climate change . . . . . . . .433 40.4 Evidence of a changing atmosphere. . .435 40.5 The impact of climate change on Ireland 437 40.6 Initiatives to address climate change . .437 40.7 What can we do? . . . . . . . . . . .438
Why it matters
Scientists and governments are concerned about climate change. It is important to understand how climate change affects Ireland and the world.
LO 7 Earth and Space strand LO 3, 4 Nature of Science strand
When we talk about how warm it is or how wet or windy it is, we are talking about the weather. Weather conditions can change by the hour. They are the atmospheric conditions in a particular area at a particular time. Climate is different from weather. It describes patterns of weather conditions in a large area over a long period of time. If an area experiences a change in weather conditions over a long period of time, it is called climate change.
40.1 Earth’s climate
The most important factor that affects Earth’s climate is energy from the sun. The sun sends out heat and light energy. Some of this energy is reflected back into space by Earth’s atmosphere and some travels through the atmosphere where it is absorbed by the land and oceans. This causes them to warm up. Earth then radiates some of this heat energy back towards space. Gases in the atmosphere known as greenhouse gases trap some of the heat energy. These
gases act like an insulating blanket around Earth. They help to even out temperatures on Earth so that it is not too hot during the day or too cold during the night.
Atmosphere A layer of gases that surrounds Earth. It protects Earth from the sun’s harmful radiation and keeps the planet warm enough for life to exist.
Greenhouse
gases Gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, water vapour and nitrous oxide.
