Recent Climate Change Research

Scientists continually study and monitor the effects of greenhouse gases emitted through industrialization and transportation—namely electricity and heat, agriculture, vehicles, forestry, and manufacturing. Greenhouse gases are causing an increase in global temperatures and triggering climate change. The technologies and research methods employed toward this end are steadily improving. Climatologists analyze prehistoric evidence of periods in which climate change occurred, analyze current trends, and create models that can predict future conditions.

Paleoclimatology

One way climatologists and other scientists analyze climate change on Earth is to compare current conditions with conditions that existed during ancient and prehistoric eras. For example, in 1835, prominent scientist Louis Agassiz, after having listened to a number of theories offered by his peers that the world’s glaciers were likely retreating, developed a hypothesis that there was once an Ice Age, during which the massive glaciers that cover the North Pole actually covered most of North America and Europe.

As Agassiz’s theory gained popularity in the nineteenth century, another scientist, Svante Arrhenius, offered another groundbreaking idea. In 1895, Arrhenius theorized that the Ice Age was caused by a drop in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, which in turn triggered a dramatic drop in global temperatures. Arrhenius also offered a warning that few people took seriously until almost one century later: that the emissions caused by industrialization could eventually trigger another shift in climate.

The theories offered by Agassiz and Arrhenius are examples of paleoclimatology. In this scientific field, researchers analyze evidence of past events of climate change. This evidence is found in a number of areas. For example, paleoclimatologists may examine the rings inside trees, which can reveal periods of prolonged drought. Other studies entail the analysis of layers of sedimentary rock (rock that broke from igneous, metamorphic, or other sedimentary rocks to form new deposits). Scientists also study sediment at the bottom of the ocean or beneath lakes and swamps. Such sediment can provide clues about the climates in which they were formed millions of years ago. They also can reveal much about the origins of the sediment and, therefore, how far it was carried by ancient glaciers or volcanoes.

One of the most useful types of paleoclimatological evidence is the ice core. Ice core samples are long, cylindrical samples that are removed from glaciers by boring downward from a certain area. The core samples that are removed contain gas bubbles, pollen, sediment, and other compounds and elements from hundreds, thousands, and even millions of years ago. Ice core samples help scientists obtain a simple, vertical timeline of different periods of climate change in Earth’s ancient history.

Comparative Studies

To analyze the climate changes in Earth’s history (and to analyze more recent changes), scientists conduct comparative studies. In some cases, comparative studies might entail the analysis of climate conditions in a single region through millennia. Climatologists may examine sedimentary basins for evidence of climate temperatures during a particular era and compare the findings with recent and current conditions. This type of study can help scientists develop models that catalog climatological changes in time and help predict conditions.

Other types of studies involve the comparative analysis of paleoclimatological evidence from several areas around the globe. One such study entailed the compilation of data in the subpolar northern Atlantic regions and the warmer Pacific waters. Using computer models, scientists constructed a profile of the temperature changes that occurred during one of the warmer periods in Earth’s history: the middle Pliocene epoch (about 3.5 million years ago). Based on this evidence, paleoclimatologists and other scientists have generated forecast models for climate changes.

A third type of comparative climate change study entails the analysis of similar systems in different parts of the world. Scientists might focus on rainforests in South America and Southeast Asia, collecting data that can provide an illustration of the sensitivities of such forested areas to dramatic and gradual temperature changes. Similarly, climatologists have conducted comparative studies of the sensitivity of rivers and coastal areas with periods of significant temperature shifts.

Methods of Studying Climate Change

Scientists utilize a number of technologies to study climate change. These technologies have evolved steadily, particularly in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century. Among these technologies are remote sensors, which are systems that target a region from a distance.

Remote sensors are used to detect temperature and thermal pockets near the surface or in the water, to detect dense particle clouds in the atmosphere, and to detect other environmental conditions. Some examples of remote sensors are active and passive radars, thermal imagers, and spectral scanners. Many later developments in remote sensing have enabled technologies to penetrate cloud cover, study the ocean floor, and scan targets at all times of day and in most weather conditions. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), such as drones, can also be outfitted with remote-sensing devices and global-positioning system (GPS) software in order to create sophisticated, accurate maps and three-dimensional models.

In addition to providing clearer images of a target and gaining access to previously daunting targets, advanced remote sensors are providing larger amounts of data. Scientists compiling the voluminous data are aided by the ongoing evolution of computer modeling systems. This evolution in computer modeling is particularly evident in the amount of data that can be gathered, compiled, assessed, and incorporated into computer models. Computer modeling can, in turn, provide detailed conceptualizations of past examples of climate change and can predict regional and global climate change trends. As data accumulated, researchers began using machine-learning algorithms, an advanced form of artificial intelligence, to better forecast extreme weather events and to predict their severity and duration, as well as to assess existing global climate models.

Satellite-Based Climate Studies

A significant development in the field of climate change study is the use of satellite-based sensors. Unlike aerial, ground-based, and shipboard remote sensors, satellite-based radars, thermal scanners, and infrared and other sensors can perform scans of considerably larger target areas.

Satellite-based sensors began operation in the 1960s, but in later decades, satellite systems underwent significant upgrades. Modern satellite sensors can detect and quantify carbon monoxide levels, atmospheric temperature shifts, water vaporization rates, changes in sea level or Antarctic ice growth, and other detailed climatological information.

For example, studying the aerosols (gaseous suspensions of fine liquid and solid particles) in the atmosphere is an important aspect of climate change research. Satellites can be highly useful in this regard because they can scan broad areas of the atmosphere at multiple angles. However, some sensors have had difficulty in scanning aerosol depth. In 2007, scientists developed a corrective measure. By creating a new algorithm to calculate aerosol depth and by then applying it to remote sensors that are designed to scan a wide range of land areas, scientists have scanned aerosol depths with greater precision than before.

Another major innovation for the study of climate change is the geographic information system (GIS), a network of satellites developed to generate detailed maps of the ground surface. However, as the study of climate change has grown as a scientific discipline, more scientists are turning to GIS to map such trends as coastal erosion and the retreat of vegetation. The sum of observations that satellites have gathered of Earth's surface since the launch of such technology in 1960 allow scientists to accurately and objectively provide evidence of the changes the planet has experienced. In 2022, Will Colgan, a glaciologist studying the Greenland Ice Sheet, compared the improvements in satellite technology to the difference in a 1990 Ford Fiesta and a 2020 Tesla Model F. Because the ICESat-2—the satellite collecting data used in their study—is capable of transmitting around one gigabyte of data each day and tracking monthly changes in the Earth's gravitational field, the researchers were able to conclude the dire nature of the Greenland Ice Sheet. According to their data, even if all fossil fuel burning ceased in 2022, the sheet would still shed 110 quadrillion tonnes of ice.

Climate Change Networks

Developments in climate change research include the formation of climate change networks. These groups comprise scientists, advanced students, government officials, business leaders, and others who are interested in playing a role in understanding and preventing (where possible) climate change.

Climate change network participants share global data, take part in seminars and webinars, and collaborate on research projects. The U.S. Forest Service, for example, runs the Climate Change Resource Center (CCRC). The CCRC, part of a larger network of U.S. and global climate change research groups, also produces a wide range of scholarly papers on such subjects as vegetation distribution, air pollution, and innovations in sensor technologies. The United Nation's Global Adaptation Network (GAN) and the Climate Action Network (CAN) are just two of hundreds of organizations committed to tackling climate change in the twenty-first century.

Climate change networks also are found at major universities and at nonprofit organizations. The University of New Hampshire’s Climate Change Research Center, for example, offers undergraduate and graduate students a number of grant programs for climate change studies. The nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute conducts research on climate policy costs, energy market viability, and other topics. This group also has an information-sharing forum for its members.

In 2015, at the United Nations Climate Conference, 196 parties plus the European Union signed the Paris Climate Agreement, which went into effect in 2016. The agreement was an international treaty that covered climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. One of the main goals of the treaty was to mitigation climate change so that the earth's temperature would not rise more than 2 degrees Celcius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), but ideally not higher than 1 1/2 degrees Celcius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). This would be accomplished by lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Each country was tasked with developing their own plan for how they would tackle emissions. As of 2023, 195 parties and the European Union had ratified the agreement. Though the United States backed out of the agreement in 2020, they rejoined in 2021.

Climate change networks represent the continuing evolution of climate change research, as they integrate the latest in technology and research practices into the global information system. These innovations help researchers, government decision makers, business leaders, and private citizens alike understand in greater detail (and with greater speed) any changes in the environment and how those changes contribute to regional and global climate change.

Principal Terms

aerosol: a gaseous suspension of fine liquid and solid particles

geographic information system (GIS): a network of satellite mapping technologies that can capture detailed images of the land surface

ice core: long, cylindrical sample of ice bored from glaciers that provides evidence of ancient climate conditions

paleoclimatology: study of climate conditions in Earth’s ancient and prehistoric past

sedimentary rock: rock that has broken from igneous, metamorphic, or other sedimentary rocks to form new deposits

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