by Joe Morris
I came across an interesting article about climate change/global warming in the December 2019 issue of the magazine, Astronomy. It was discussing something called Rossby Waves, a weather/climate phenomenon in Earth’s atmosphere. In relation to this phenomenon, the article contained a good description of why global warming is leading to colder winters in the US. The idea that global warming is leading to colder winters may seem counterintuitive. After all, the whole idea of climate change is that the Earth is getting warmer, isn’t it? That is true, but the temperature increase is only the average across the globe. However, the Earth’s climate is extremely complicated, and, therefore, temperature rises in one region may lead to cooling in other regions.
Which brings us to this article. The author points out that because of the Earth’s axial tilt, different regions of the Earth receive different amounts of energy from the sun. Furthermore, because ice is more reflective than land or oceans, i.e., it reflects sunlight and absorbs less energy, the arctic regions soak up less heat than the equator. Therefore, the poles should be about 45F colder than they are now, and the equator about 25F warmer, rendering more parts of the Earth uninhabitable.
The earth’s climate and weather system prevents this from happening by a circulation of air that occurs from the warmer tropics to the cooler poles and then back again. This circulation serves as a climate moderator. The Earth’s rotation further influences the atmosphere to become divided into equatorial, midlatitude, and polar regions, each separated by the famous jet streams.
This is where climate change comes in. As the ice at the polar caps melt due to warming from climate change, the polar regions become even warmer because there is less ice to reflect the sun’s rays. Therefore, the equator-to- pole flow balance is upset and the equatorial to polar circulation decreases and becomes more unstable. One consequence is that the jet stream that separates the polar region from the midlatitude region can come further south, bringing with it colder air. This is the so-called polar vortex that we’ve been experiencing in recent years.
So, when someone, particularly one who may be a climate change skeptic, makes the comment, “proof that climate change is a hoax is that our winters are becoming colder,” you know the truth. This also illustrates that climate change effects are more complex and far-reaching than just warming. Many of these impacts may seem counterintuitive, and it takes science to decipher them.
I also find it interesting that the author titled this article “Watching Rome Burn.” Fiddles, anyone?
Last Updated on 12/27/2019 by Marc Slonim