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Related Concept Videos

Climate Change04:34

Climate Change

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The certainty of climate change remains a public controversy despite the consensus among approximately 97% of active climate researchers, who not only agree that the Earth’s climate is changing but also state that this change is intensified by human activity, predominantly carbon emissions 1. The disconnect between the public and the experts is partly due to poor understanding of the mechanisms involved in climate change as well as the differences among essential concepts such as weather...
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Climate Change08:14

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Melting Land and Sea Ice
ExpandNOTE: This activity is a simulation of land- and sea-ice melting and their effects on water levels.
First, label one graduated cylinder as 'Sea Ice' and the other graduated cylinder as 'Land Ice.' Hypotheses: the experimental hypothesis might be that the land ice melting will cause the water level to rise more than the melting sea ice. The null hypothesis would be that there will be no difference in the change in water level between the two containers.
Add 10 ice...
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Global Climate Change01:50

Global Climate Change

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Throughout its ~4.5 billion year history, the Earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling. However, the current drastic increase in global temperatures is well outside of the Earth’s cyclic norms, and evidence for human-caused global climate change is compelling. Paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climate conditions, provides ample evidence for human-caused global climate change by comparing recent conditions with those in the past.
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What is Climate?01:16

What is Climate?

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Climate refers to the prevailing weather conditions in a specific area over an extended period. As the saying goes, “Climate is what you expect. Weather is what you get.” Climate is influenced by geographic factors, such as latitude, terrain, and proximity to bodies of water.
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Conditions on Early Earth02:06

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Around 4 billion years ago, oceans began to condense on earth while volcanic eruptions released nitrogen, carbon dioxide, methane, ammonia, and hydrogen into the primordial atmosphere. However, organisms with the characteristics of life were not initially present on earth. Scientists have used experimentation to determine how organisms evolved that could grow, reproduce, and maintain an internal environment.
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Here, a protocol is presented to visualize climate data as generative art.
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Updated: Jan 19, 2026

Climate Change: Ice Melt, Greenhouse Gas, and Species Range Activities - Concept
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Climate Change: Ice Melt, Greenhouse Gas, and Species Range Activities - Concept

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A round Earth for climate models.

Michael J Prather1, Juno C Hsu2

  • 1Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-3100 mprather@uci.edu.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|September 11, 2019
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Climate models assuming a flat Earth atmosphere overlook significant solar energy absorption. Accounting for a spherical atmosphere reveals a global heating increase, impacting climate simulations and aerosol effect calculations.

Keywords:
climate modelingsolar radiationspherical atmospheres

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Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jan 19, 2026

Climate Change: Ice Melt, Greenhouse Gas, and Species Range Activities - Concept
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Global Warming and Climate Change
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Area of Science:

  • Climate Science
  • Atmospheric Physics
  • Radiative Transfer

Background:

  • Sunlight is a primary driver of Earth's weather, climate, chemistry, and biosphere.
  • Current climate models often simplify atmospheric geometry, assuming a flat atmosphere.
  • Improvements in solar heating codes have focused on spectral absorption and cloud fraction, neglecting atmospheric shape.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of a spherical atmosphere assumption on climate modeling.
  • To quantify the additional solar energy intercepted and global heating caused by a spherical atmosphere.
  • To re-evaluate aerosol radiative effects within a spherical atmospheric framework.

Main Methods:

  • Comparison of solar energy absorption in flat versus spherical atmospheric models.
  • Calculation of global and regional heating differences.
  • Analysis of aerosol radiative forcing in a spherical geometry.

Main Results:

  • A spherical atmosphere intercepts 2.5 W⋅m-2 more sunlight, causing a 1.5 W⋅m-2 global heating increase.
  • This heating difference is comparable to preindustrial-to-present radiative forcing changes, potentially affecting model skill.
  • Regional heating errors, especially at high latitudes, are several times larger in flat models.
  • Aerosol cooling effect is reduced by 10-14% in a spherical framework due to increased incident and reflected sunlight.

Conclusions:

  • The assumption of a flat atmosphere in climate models is a significant oversight.
  • Incorporating a spherical atmosphere improves accuracy in climate simulations and radiative forcing calculations.
  • Simple model adjustments can address these oversights, though some inconsistencies may persist.