Climate Change: Geophysical Foundations and Ecological Effects

535 Pages·2011·59.454 MB·English

by  Juan Blanco, Houshang Kheradmand (eds.)

CLIMATE CHANGE – 
GEOPHYSICAL 
FOUNDATIONS AND 
ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS 

Edited by Juan Blanco and  
Houshang Kheradmand
Climate Change – Geophysical Foundations and Ecological Effects
Edited by Juan Blanco and Houshang Kheradmand

Published by InTech
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First published August, 2011
Printed in Croatia

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Climate Change – Geophysical Foundations and Ecological Effects,
Edited by Juan Blanco and Houshang Kheradmand
p. cm.
ISBN 978-953-307-419-1
free online editions of InTech
Books and Journals can be found at
www.intechopen.com

Contents

Preface IX
Part 1 Climate Variability 1
Chapter 1 Chemistry-Climate Connections –
Interaction of Physical, Dynamical,
and Chemical Processes in Earth Atmosphere 3
Martin Dameris and Diego Loyola
Chapter 2 Time Correlation Laws Inferred
from Climatic Records: Long-Range
Persistence and Alternative Paradigms 25
Maria Lanfredi, Tiziana Simoniello,
Vincenzo Cuomo and Maria Macchiato
Chapter 3 The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum: Feedbacks
Between Climate Change and Biogeochemical Cycles 43
Arne Max Erich Winguth
Chapter 4 Temporal Variability of
Rain-Induced Floods in Southern Quebec 65
Assani Ali Arkamose, Landry Raphaëlle,
Quessy Jean-François and Clément Francis
Chapter 5 Detecting of a Global and Caribbean Climate Change 81
Nazario D. Ramirez-Beltran, Joan Manuel Castro
and Oswaldo Julca
Chapter 6 Climate Changes of the Recent Past in the
South American Continent: Inferences
Based on Analysis of Borehole Temperature Profiles 113
Valiya M. Hamza and Fábio P. Vieira
Chapter 7 Climate Change Impacts on
Atmospheric Circulation and Daily
Precipitation in the Argentine Pampas Region 137
Olga C. Penalba and María Laura Bettolli
VI Contents

Chapter 8 Holocene Vegetation Responses to
East Asian Monsoonal Changes in South Korea 157
Sangheon Yi
Chapter 9 Climate Signals from 10Be Records of Marine
Sediments Surrounded with Nearby a Continent 179
Kyeong Ja Kim and Seung-Il Nam
Chapter 10 Drought Analysis Based on SPI and SAD Curve for
the Korean Peninsula Considering Climate Change 195
Minsoo Kyoung, Jaewon Kwak, Duckgil Kim,
Hungsoo Kim and Vijay P. Singh
Part 2 Changes in Fauna and Flora 215
Chapter 11 Review of Long Term Macro-Fauna
Movement by Multi-Decadal Warming
Trends in the Northeastern Pacific 217
Christian Salvadeo, Daniel Lluch-Belda,
Salvador Lluch-Cota and Milena Mercuri
Chapter 12 Global Heating Threatens
the `I`iwi (Vestiaria coccinea), Currently a
Common Bird of Upper Elevation Forests in Hawaii 231
Anthony Povilitis
Chapter 13 Possible Effects of Future Climate Changes
on the Maximum Number of
Generations of Anopheles in Monsoon Asia 247
Shunji Ohta and Takumi Kaga
Chapter 14 Climate Change and Shifts in the
Distribution of Moth Species in Finland,
with a Focus on the Province of Kainuu 273
Juhani H. Itämies, Reima Leinonen and V. Benno Meyer-Rochow
Chapter 15 Effects and Consequences of
Global Climate Change in the Carpathian Basin 297
János Rakonczai
Chapter 16 Climate Change Impact on
Quiver Trees in Arid Namibia and South Africa 323
Danni Guo, Renkuan Guo, Yanhong Cui,
Guy F. Midgley, Res Altwegg and Christien Thiart
Chapter 17 Changes in the Composition of a
Theoretical Freshwater Ecosystem Under Disturbances 343
Ágota Drégelyi-Kiss and Levente Hufnagel
Contents VII

Chapter 18 The Use and Misuse of Climatic Gradients
for Evaluating Climate Impact on Dryland Ecosystems -
an Example for the Solution of Conceptual Problems 361
Marcelo Sternberg, Claus Holzapfel, Katja Tielbörger,
Pariente Sarah, Jaime Kigel, Hanoch Lavee, Aliza Fleischer,
Florian Jeltsch and Martin Köchy
Part 3 Changes in Alpine and Boreal Landscapes 375
Chapter 19 Climate-Driven Change of the Stand Age
Structure in the Polar Ural Mountains 377
Valeriy Mazepa, Stepan Shiyatov and Nadezhda Devi
Chapter 20 Mountains Under Climate and Global Change Conditions –
Research Results in the Alps 403
Oliver Bender, Axel Borsdorf, Andrea Fischer and Johann Stötter
Chapter 21 Are Debris Floods and Debris Avalanches
Responding Univocally to Recent Climatic Change –
A Case Study in the French Alps 423
V. Jomelli, I. Pavlova, M. Utasse, M. Chenet,
D. Grancher, D. Brunstein and F. Leone
Chapter 22 Glaciers Shrinking in Nepal Himalaya 445
Samjwal R. Bajracharya, Sudan B. Maharjan and Finu Shrestha
Chapter 23 Subglacial and Proglacial
Ecosystem Responses to Climate Change 459
Jacob C. Yde, Teresa G. Bárcena and Kai W. Finster
Chapter 24 Why Do We Expect Glacier Melting
to Increase Under Global Warming? 479
Roger J. Braithwaite
Chapter 25 Estimation of the Sea Level Rise
by 2100 Resulting from Changes in the
Surface Mass Balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet 503
Xavier Fettweis, Alexandre Belleflamme, Michel Erpicum,
Bruno Franco and Samuel Nicolay

Preface

Climate is a fundamental part of the world as we know it. The landscape and 
everything on it are determined by climate acting over long periods of time (Pittock 
2005). Therefore, any change on climate will have effects sooner or later on the world 
around us. These changes have happened before in the past, and they will likely 
happen again in the future. Climate variability can be both natural or anthropogenic 
(Simard and Austin 2010). In either case, the change in the current climate will have 
impacts on the biogeophysical system of the Earth. As all human activities are built on 
this system, our society will be impacted as well. As a consequence, climate change is 
increasingly becoming one of the most important issues, generating discussions in 
economy, science, politics, etc. There is no discrepancy among scientists that climate 
change is real and it has the potential to change our environment (Oreskes and 
Conway 2010), but uncertainty exists about the magnitude and speed at which it will 
unfold (Moss et al. 2010). The most discussed effect of global warming is the increase 
of temperatures, although this increase will not be homogeneous through the seasons, 
with the winters expected to warm up significantly more than the summers. In 
addition, changes in precipitation are also expected, that could lead to increase or 
decrease of rainfall, snowfall and other water‐related events. Finally, a change in the 
frequency and intensity of storm events could be possible, although this is probably 
the most uncertain of the effects of global warming. These uncertainties highlight the 
need for more research on how global events have effects at regional and local scales, 
but they also indicated the need for the society at large to assume a risk‐free approach 
to avoid the worse effects of climate change in our socio‐economical and ecological 
systems (IPCC 2007).  
Humans have been dealing with risk‐related activities for a long time. For example, 
when buying a car or home insurance, the discussion is not about whether the adverse 
effects will happen or not, but on how to reduce its effects and recover and if they 
happen. In many countries, having car insurance is compulsory to drive a car, even if 
only a small percentage of drivers suffer car accidents compared to the total number of 
cars. In addition, the most risky manoeuvres (i.e. excessive speed, not stopping on red 
light, etc.) are banned to reduce the risks of accidents. Similarly, developing policies 
and practices that reduce and minimize the risks and effects of climate change are