Dissertations / Theses: 'Climate Change Science'

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Evans, Christopher A. "Rural Western Australians attitudes to climate change, climate change science and governance." Thesis, Curtin University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/2535.

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Researching southwest WA farming communities attitudes to climate change (n=411) identified three typologies of ‘Acceptors’, ‘Uncertains’ and ‘Sceptics’ underpinned by extent of experience. ‘Acceptors’ valued science’s knowledge and believed climate change was a human induced threat. ‘Uncertains’ were unsure of science’s knowledge and if climate change was human induced and a threat. ‘Sceptics’ with more experience than the other two clusters did not value science’s knowledge; believed climate change was natural and not a threat.

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Passmore, Phillip Scott. "Consequences of communicating climate science online : the effects on young people's reactions to climate science." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/30021.

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This thesis reveals the potential pitfalls of relying on the Internet to communicate serious environmental issues. This exploratory research examines the consequences of aspects of the information society focusing on the effects of the Internet upon three reactions to climate communication: public understanding, perception of risk and support for climate change mitigation. It examines the implications of the rise of the information society on young people’s (18-25 year olds) consumption of media and climate science information. The information society literature emerged before the Internet, but predicted the increasing access to information that has arisen in the past two decades and its significant impacts on society and communication. An analytical framework is developed focusing on the sharing of information and the consequences of both misleading information and competition for the user’s attention. To explore the impact of the Internet upon public perception of risks posed by and their understanding of climate change, this research uses a mixed methodological approach. The qualitative approach of focus groups has been selected to establish how young people use the Internet and whether they share and actively engage with climate change information online. A quantitative approach of the experimental method has critically examined the impact of junk information (climate sceptic material) and information overload (competition for users’ attention) on reactions to climate science. The original contribution to knowledge of this thesis was the key finding that the lack of engagement with climate science online poses a more serious issue than the risk of climate sceptic information being virally shared. Simply having the information accessible is not enough when there is so much competition for users’ attention and the ease with which they can filter out climate change information.

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Padolsky, Miriam Elana. "Bringing climate change down to earth science and participation in Canadian and Australian climate change campaigns /." Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC campuses, 2006. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3214881.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2006.
Title from first page of PDF file (viewed July 21, 2006). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 253-284).

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de, Groot Caroline Sofie. "Security risks of climate change : Climate change induced conflicts in western Kenya." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-364947.

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The purpose of this paper is to examine links between climate change and conflicts. The report aims to produce relevant insights on the security risks posed by climate change in the rural pastoral area Sarambei in western Kenya. The research was conducted in spring 2018 and founded by an MFS-scholarship from Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). The research examines the hypothesis that climate change is increasing the risk of insecurity. Through qualitative methods twenty respondents living in Sarambei and five experts were interviewed. The main finding of the study is that climate change is happening, affecting the people in Sarambei and are creating conflicts through water scarcity. However, it is difficult to say that climate change is the only source for these conflicts, but instead emerges from the interaction of multiple factors.

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Abdullahi, Tassallah Amina. "Predicting diarrhoea outbreak with climate change." Master's thesis, Faculty of Science, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33615.

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Climate change is expected to exacerbate diarrhoea outbreak in South Africa, a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the region. In this study, we modelled the impacts of climate change on diarrhoea with machine learning methods. We applied two deep learning techniques, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and long-short term memory networks (LSTMs); and a support vector machine to predict daily diarrhoea cases over the different South African provinces by incorporating climate information. Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) was used to generate synthetic data which was used to augment the available dataset. Furthermore, relevance estimation and value calibration (REVAC) was used to tune the parameters of the machine learning algorithms to optimize the accuracy of their predictions. Sensitivity analysis was also performed to investigate the contribution of the different climate factors to the diarrhoea prediction model. The results of the study showed that all three ML methods were appropriate for predicting daily diarrhoea cases with respect to the selected climate variables in each South African province. The ML methods were all able to yield low and similar RMSE. However, the level of accuracy for each model varied across different experiments, with the deep learning models outperforming the SVM model. Among the deep learning techniques, the CNN model performed best when only real-world dataset was used, while the LSTM model outperformed the other models when the real dataset was augmented with synthetic data. Across the provinces, the accuracy of all three ML algorithms improved by at least 30% when data augmentation was implemented. In addition, REVAC improved the accuracy of the CNN model by more than 12% in KwaZulu Natal province. However, the percentage increase in accuracy of the LSTM model was less than 4% in Western Cape province when REVAC was used. Our sensitivity analysis revealed that the most influential climate variables to be considered when predicting outbreak of diarrhoea in South Africa are precipitation, humidity, evaporation and temperature conditions. The result of this study is important for the development of an early warning system for diarrhoea outbreak over South Africa.

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Bray, Jamieson. "Cultural Cognition and Climate Change: Communicating climate science across potential divides in Sweden." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-254959.

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Human civilization is failing in the fight to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and limit the impact of anthropogenic climate change. Whilst there are likely numerous reasons for this inertia, societal risk perception plays a fundamental role in influencing the speed and effectiveness of political and social action to address climate change. This study presents the psychological, sociological and cultural reasons for variations in the perceptions of risk amongst a group of climate change sceptics in Sweden. Highlighting cognitive barriers and characteristics associated with different ideological biases and worldviews. The paper concludes that people become more or less sceptical to climate change based on a variety of potentially intersectional issues. Whilst gender, age and wisdom all play a role, the social groups with which people identify, as well as individuals’ values and ideas of what constitutes an ideal society ultimately shape ones perception of risk in relation to climate change. The implications for the communication of climate science are discussed, revealing that any inclusive communication strategy will fail unless it is presented in a way that affirms rather than challenges one’s cultural identity.

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Anyanwu, Raymond Ndubisi. "An assessment of climate change science literacy and climate change pedagogical literacy of geography teachers in the Western Cape." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/96831.

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Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University 2015.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This survey research employed a criterion-referenced multiple-choice questionnaire to collect data from 194 FET Geography teachers in the Western Cape province to assess their level of literacy in both climate change science and climate change pedagogy, and to determine the influence of gender, age, qualification, specialisation, experience, grade mostly taught, their experience in providing instruction on climate change and the location of their school. Aspects of climate change science assessed include: climate processes and probable causes of climate change; climate change impacts; and climate change responses. Aspects of climate change pedagogy assessed include: the aims and significance of climate change education; and constructivist teaching principles and practice. The collected data was analysed using percentage frequencies to determine the teachers‟ level of literacy in climate change science and climate change pedagogy; the Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to determine the influence of the mediating variables on climate change science literacy and climate change pedagogical literacy, respectively. The results indicate that Geography teachers in the Western Cape Province demonstrated „High‟ literacy in climate change science and „Low‟ literacy in climate change pedagogy. Factors such as school location, gender, age and teaching experience were found to have a significant influence on climate change science literacy; whereas qualification, specialisation, grade mostly taught and experience in providing instruction on climate change did not. Conversely, teaching experience and grade mostly taught had a significant influence on climate change pedagogical literacy; whereas school location, gender, age, qualification, specialisation and experience in providing instruction on climate change did not. Based on these findings, it is recommended that professional development interventions in climate change pedagogy are required in order to expose Geography teachers to the aims and significance of climate change education and methods of facilitating problem-based, learner-centred instruction on climate change.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie opnamenavorsing het gebruik gemaak van ‟n kriteriumverwysing- meerkeusige vraelys om data by 194 VOO Aardrykskunde onderwysers in die Wes-Kaap provinsie te versamel om hulle vlak van geletterdheid in beide die wetenskap en pedagogie van klimaatsverandering te bepaal en om die invloed van geslag, ouderdom, kwalifikasie, spesialisasie, ervaring, graad wat die meeste onderrig is, hulle ervaring van onderrig oor klimaatsverandering en die ligging van hulle skool te bepaal. Aspekte van klimaatsverandering wat geassesseer is, het klimaatsprosesse en moontlike oorsake van klimaatsverandering, impakte van klimaatsverandering en reaksies op klimaatsverandering ingesluit. Aspekte van die pedagogie van klimaatsverandering wat geassesseer is, het die doelwitte en betekenisvolheid van opvoeding oor klimaatsverandering en konstruktivistiese onderrigbeginsels en -praktyk ingesluit. Die versamelde data is met persentasiefrekwensie geanaliseer om die onderwysers se vlak van geletterdheid in die wetenskap en pedagogie van klimaatsverandering te bepaal; die Mann-Whitney en Kruskal-Wallis toetse is gebruik om die invloed van bemiddelende veranderlikes op geletterdheid met betrekking tot die wetenskap en pedagogie van klimaatsverandering onderskeidelik te bepaal. Die resultate dui aan dat Aardrykskunde-onderwysers in die Wes-Kaap „Hoë‟ geletterdheid in die wetenskap van klimaatsverandering en „Lae‟ geletterdheid in die pedagogie van klimaatsverandering getoon het. Faktore soos ligging van die skool, geslag, ouderdom en onderrigervaring het ‟n betekenisvolle invloed op geletterdheid in klimaatsverandering gehad, terwyl kwalifikasie, spesialisasie, graad wat die meeste onderrig is en ervaring van onderrig oor klimaatsverandering nie so ‟n invloed gehad het nie. In teenstelling het onderrigervaring en graad wat die meeste onderrig is, ‟n betekenisvolle invloed op geletterdheid in klimaatsverandering gehad, terwyl ligging van die skool, geslag, ouderdom, kwalifikasie, spesialisasie en ervaring van onderrig oor klimaatsverandering nie so ‟n invloed gehad het nie. Op grond van hierdie resultate kan gesê word dat professionele ontwikkelingsingrypings in die pedagogie van klimaatsverandering nodig is om Aardrykskunde-onderwysers bloot te stel aan die doelwitte en belangrikheid van onderwys oor klimaatsverandering en metodes om probleemgebaseerde, leerdergesentreerde onderrig oor klimaatsverandering te fasiliteer.

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Laohawiriyanon, Chonlada. "From climate change to deforestation a genre of popularised science /." Phd thesis, Australia : Macquarie University, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/22696.

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Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, School of English, Linguistics and Media, 1999.
Bibliography: p. 299-305.
Introduction -- Theoretical background -- The structure of popular scientific writing on 'climate change' -- Findings of analysis of texts on population growth and deforestation -- Interaction between verbal and visuals representations -- Conclusion.
The topics of climate change, population growth, and deforestation, as discussed in publications such as New Scientist, Discover, Time, and Our Planet, exemplify contemporary writing on science for the general community. As such, it is assumed that they are presented in an objective, scientific, informative way. Furthermore, these topics illustrate what it means to write complex issues in a popular manner. Consequently, they provide an opportunity for examining at least one area of popular science as a generic phenomenon.-- Through an investigation of thirty texts (ten on each of the three topics mentioned), the consistencies and distinctive features of writing on these environmental issues are investigated, in particular using discourse tools drawn from Systemic Functional linguistics. The foremost tools are the proposals concerning GSP (Generic Structure Potential) put forward by Hasan, which provide an outline of the syntagmatic unfolding of a text ("logogenetic perspective") and the four stratal perspective that is illustrated in the work by Halliday and Hasan, in particular as such work relates wording to culture. By assessing the degree to which the thirty texts constitute a genre, and the degree to which they exhibit their own internal variations, it is also possible to clarify Halliday's notion of the 'cline of instantiation' between, at one end, the 'potential/system' and, at the other end, the instance of 'text as process'.-- The investigation reveals that the assumption of an informative, objective style in popular science journal articles actually obscures a deeper underlying activism about the future, but an activism strongly based on only Western perceptions of environmental crisis.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
ix, 305, 217 p. ill. (some col.)

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Mukheibir, Pierre. "Water, climate change and small towns." Doctoral thesis, University of Cape Town, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/4785.

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Includes abstract.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 205-223).
This thesis examines the interrelationship between “water, climate change and small towns”. The research question is framed in three parts: 1) can climate change be integrated into existing planning frameworks? 2) can small towns build resilient strategies against projected climate change impacts? and, 3) is adaptation to climate change an economic issue? It is evident that very little synergy exists between the different sectors dealing with water access. A holistic view of access and the impact of climate change does not exist in the sustainable development, urban planning and water resources management sectors. It is therefore proposed that the successful delivery of accessible water services lies with the integration of the urban planning, water resources management and climate change adaptation responses. In order to achieve this, a planning framework is introduced.

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Vandeweerdt, Clara. "Identities and issue opinions : learning from climate change." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/128631.

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Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Political Science, May, 2020
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 115-128).
In this dissertation, I explore the formation of issue-specific opinions, in particular public opinion about climate change in the United States. More specifically, I analyze whether people use social groups and identities as mental "shortcuts" in order to form an opinion about complicated political topics such as climate change. I study three identity-related factors that may drive people's opinions about particular issues: partisan media content; the interests of social in-groups; and opinion cues from fellow partisans. Overall, I find that partisan identities are likely to have important effects through the media content that they expose Americans to. Other, more direct pathways for the opinion effects of identity, however, turn out to be surprisingly weak. I find no evidence that Americans' opinions are motivated by the material interests of their in-groups; nor that Americans change their opinions to align with the consensus among their in-party members.
In chapter 2, I ask what strategies partisan media use to fit real-world events into ideological narratives. I look at whether or not they connect events to related political issues (e.g. hurricanes and climate change), and whether each side is able to fit events into its existing set of issue positions. Using natural language processing and crowd-sourcing, I analyze almost 2 million hours of radio from hundreds of talk shows. I find that in the aftermath of an event, both ideological sides give far more attention to related political issues. At the same time, there are huge gaps between the positions that liberal and conservative shows tend to take on those issues, and events they do very little to close those gaps. Events turn up the volume of the discussion, without changing its ideological tune. This way, shared experiences could be turned into polarizing factors.
Next, in chapter 3, I investigate whether people change their attitudes about societal issues when they learn that those issues affect others like them. In three pre-registered survey experiments, I find that these in-group interest cues have little to no effect on issue-specific attitudes. This is true for social groups based on gender, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation. People who closely identify with an in-group do not react more strongly to the group interest information. The findings raise new questions about exactly when and why people's group memberships in uence their political attitudes. Finally, in chapter 4, I ask whether people change their opinion when they learn the distribution of opinions among members of their own party (or of the out-party). I also compare the effect of these "mass cues" to the effect of elite cues information about politicians and their stances on an issue.
I run two preregistered survey experiments one national, and one on an Amazon Mechanical Turk convenience sample and draw two unexpected conclusions. First, I find that mass cues have no noticeable effect on opinions. When participants learn that a stance is shared by almost all members of their in-party, they do not move their own opinion closer that stance. Neither are they affected by learning about consensus among the out-party. Second, I am unable to replicate the well-established effect of elite cues. Combined with a closer inspection of the literature on cues, these findings suggests that cueing effects might be quite context-dependent
by Clara Vandeweerdt.
Ph. D.
Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Political Science

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Suk, Jonathan Evan. "Epidemic communities : climate change, emerging disease and the governance of science." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/9926.

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Scientific knowledge is often relied upon for informing crucial societal decisions. Where this knowledge is uncertain, and/or where these decision are made amidst a contexted political landscape, science tends to become the focus of intense scrutiny, as has been evident throughout the history of climate change politics. One consequence is that instead of "scientising" decision-making, science itself becomes more explicitly politicised. This thesis argues that in order to contribute to contemporary debates about the governance of science, it is essential to move beyond the question of whether or not policy-relevant scientific knowledge is credibly and to examine how scientific knowledge is made to be credible. Drawing upon the concept of co-production and other insights from Science & Technology Studies (STS), this thesis presents a detailed examination of how research into the health impacts of climate change (infectious diseases especially) gradually gained in prominence in both public health and climate change circles. Particular analytical attention is paid to an epistemic community of climate change and health (CCH) researchers, following the ways in which they interacted with global political entities such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC). Based upon in-depth interviews with actors intimately involved in CCH research, this thesis documents how the rise of CCH research influenced and was influenced by particular scientific and political contexts related to the governance of climate change as well as emerging infectious disease. The examination of a longstanding controversy surrounding CCH research reveals many socio-economic and political assumptions embedded in it, further demonstrating its contingency. However, despite that CCH research is both uncertain and contested, actors in the political world often need to know what the state-of-the-art of the field is. To examine the implications of this, the CCH controversy as treated by the assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) is explored. Although IPCC follows a complicated set of procedures aimed at ensuring scientific and political legitimacy, this thesis demonstrates that values and normative judgements are important components of scientific assessments, helping to co-construct particular science-policy orderings at the expense of alternative ones. Amidst ongoing debates about how to shore-up the credibility of climate change science and politics, this thesis argues that the way in which IPCC assessments are currently performed, as well as their tendency to present findings as "consensus", may undermine their political and scientific credibility.

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Ho, Lem Claudia. "Climate science, equity, and development : the role of international institutions in capacity building for climate change." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/42929.

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Climate change is a serious global problem that will have a disproportionate impact on developing countries. The ability of these countries to cope depends, at least in part, on the strength of their human capital and institutional capacity related to climate science. This thesis begins by examining the extent to which developing country scientists are participating in global climate science, and then evaluates international efforts to build the capacity of developing country scientists to address the climate change problem. A quantitative analysis of authorship data of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment reports (1990, 1995, 2001 and 2007) reveals that developing country scientists and institutions remain grossly under-represented – even after normalizing for a number of factors. The IPCC has recently acknowledged this ongoing problem, while the international community has resolved through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process to prioritize capacity building in developing countries. Extensive open source research and interviews with key informants at leading international organizations were used for qualitative purposes to identify, analyze, and evaluate such capacity building efforts. While several impressive initiatives were identified at the regional level, most capacity building activity was isolated and likely to be of limited effectiveness in advancing concerted global action to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The overall conclusion is that the existing international approach to building scientific capacity in the developing world to address climate change is inadequate. Several significant obstacles to achieving sustainable, long- term scientific capacity to address climate change in developing countries are explored, including: institutional barriers, financial issues, the “brain drain” phenomenon, data access and quality, technology and research resource limitations, complexities with downscaling/up-scaling of climate modeling, the interdisciplinary nature of climate change, navigating the science-policy interface, and issues related to operating across culture, language, and gender. Finally, this thesis concludes that the largely ad hoc approach to individual capacity building activities should give way to a more comprehensive, integrated, strategic approach to more effectively build scientific capacity in the developing world to meet the climate change challenge.

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Conradie, Willem Stefaan. "Conceptualising and quantifying the nonlinear, chaotic climate: implications for climate model experimental design." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16527.

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Includes bibliographical references
Uncertainty in climate system initial conditions (ICs) is known to limit the predictability of future atmospheric states. On weather time scales (i.e. hours to days), the separation between two atmospheric model trajectories, initially "indistinguishable" (compared to unavoidable uncertainties) from one another, diverges exponentially-on-average over time, so that the "memory" of model ICs is eventually lost. In other words, there is a theoretical limit in the lead time for skilful weather forecasts. However, the influence of perturbations to climate system model ICs - particularly in more slowly evolving climate system components (e.g., the oceans and ice sheets) - on the evolution of model "climates" on longer time scales is less well understood. Hence, in order to better understand the role of IC uncertainty in climate predictability, particularly in the context of climate change, it is necessary to develop approaches for investigating and quantifying - at various spatial and temporal scales - the nature of the influence of ICs on the evolution of climate system trajectories. To this end, this study explores different conceptualisations and competing definitions of climate and the climate system, focussing on the role of ICs. The influence of ICs on climate quantifications, using probability distributions, is subsequently investigated in a climate model experiments using a low-resolution version of the Community Climate System Model version 4 (CCSM4). The model experiment consists of 11 different 50-member ensemble simulations with constant forcing, and three 50-member ensemble simulations under a climate change scenario with transient forcing. By analysing the output at global and regional scales, at least three distinct levels of IC influence are detected: (a) microscopic influence; (b) interannual-scale influence; and (c) intercentennial-scale influence. Distinct patterns of interannual-scale IC influence appear to be attributable to aperiodic and quasi-periodic variability in the model. It is found that, over some spatial domains, significant (p < 0.01) differences in atmospheric variable "climatologies", taken from 60-year distributions of model trajectories, occur due to IC differences of a similar order to round-off error. In addition, climate distributions constructed using different approaches are found to differ significantly. There is some evidence that ensemble distributions of multidecadal temperature response to transient forcing conditions can be influenced by ICs. The implications for quantifying and conceptualising climate are considered in the context of the experimental results. It is concluded that IC ensemble experiments can play a valuable role in better understanding climate variability and change, as well as allowing for superior quantification of model climates.

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Larsson, Emma. "Science and Policy in the International Framing och the Climate Change Issue." Thesis, Linköping University, Department of Thematic Studies, 2004. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-2527.

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The IPCCand the FCCC are both central institutions in the international handling of the climate change issue. How these institutions frame and define the climate change issue is decisive for the action taken in response. The aim of this thesis was to analyze and describe how the climate change problem is framed and defined within the FCCC and the IPCC. Furthermore, the aim was also to examine if there are any differences between the IPCC’s and the FCCC’s framings and definitions of the climate change problem, and if so, what those differences consist of. The analysis was based on a line of documents from the IPCC and the FCCC, which were analyzed through a qualitative textual analysis.

The results of the analysis indicate that there are both similarities and dissimilarities between the institutions. The definitions of the term climate change differ in the sense that the FCCC only regards human-induced changes in climate, as climate change. The IPCC, on the other hand, includes both natural variability and human-induced changes in its definition of climate change. In the practical usage the definitions are similar, and the results indicate that the IPCC in practice has adopted the FCCC’s definition and only focuses on anthropogenic climate change. The climate change issue is by both of the institutions perceived as a greenhouse gas question, and the consequences are described as very extensive and serious. The FCCC gives advantages to mitigative responses in relation to adaptive, and also the IPCC describes mitigative responses as advantageous. Finally, the study indicates that there is a linking between the scientific and political spheres, which is extended by the fact that the FCCC’s definition of climate change creates a demand for scientific input in the decision-making process. The science and policy relationship builds upon mutual expectations of what the respective spheres can contribute with in terms of useful knowledge and policy-relevant questions.

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Shaw, Alison. "Imbued meaning science-policy interactions in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change /." Thesis, Vancouver, BC : University of British Columbia, 2005. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1051271631&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=78006&RQT=309&VName=PQD.

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Crayne, Jennifer. "Teaching Climate Change: Pressures and Practice in the Middle School Science Classroom." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/19302.

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What are middle school science teachers teaching their students about climate change? And why? This qualitative study examined the experience of middle school science teachers from western Oregon, finding that while participating teachers accept the science of climate change and express concern about it, many teachers are reluctant to make the topic a priority in their classrooms. When they do include the subject, teachers frequently address “both sides.” They also report that students have persistent doubts and misconceptions about climate change. What accounts for these trends? I argue that the way teachers address climate change is a result of complex interactions between structural pressures, emotional pressures, and cultural pressures. I conclude that, in order to promote the inclusion of sound climate science instruction in public schools, advocates of climate change education need to address challenges at all these levels: structural, emotional, and cultural.

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Blanchard, Anne. "Reflexive interdisciplinarity : Supporting dialogue on the role of science for climate change." Versailles-St Quentin en Yvelines, 2011. http://www.theses.fr/2011VERS021S.

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Cette thèse de doctorat porte sur l'interdisciplinarité mise en oeuvre dans le cadre de problématique en lien avec le changement climatique. L'interdisciplinarité a trouvé une expression très large dans la littérature, particulièrement depuis les années 1980, avec la reconnaissance grandissante des changements environnementaux planétaires et de leur nature complexe et incertaine. Dans ce contexte, cette thèse cherche à mieux comprendre comment émergent et se développent les coopérations au-delà des frontières disciplinaires. Ainsi, nous proposons, afin de faciliter leur mise en oeuvre, de relier de façon innovante l'interdisiplinarité au concept de réflexivité; la réflexivité étant comprise comme étant un questionnement et une analyse pluriels des représentations des présupposés, des motivations et des intêréts personnels et disciplinaires. Au-delà de cet objectif pragmatique, l'exploration de la question de l'interdisciplinarité permet de structurer un ensemble d'arguments critiques sur le rôle, les contributions et l'organisation des sciences du climat (au sens large) dans le contexte du changement climatique
This PhD dissertation is about interdisciplinarity for climate change: a research dynamic that has found a very broad expression in the literature, especially since the 1980s. This PhD tries to better understand how cooperations across disciplinary boundaries emerge and develop. More specifically it proposes an emphasis on reflexivity, in the sens of individual and collective scrutiny of the personal as well as disciplinary assumptions, motivations and interests, to facilitate innovative and authentic interdisciplinarity. Beyond this pragmatic objective, the exploration of interdisciplinarity for climate change allows for critical discussions on the role and organisation of science for this issue

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Sharman, Amelia. "Climate change as a knowledge controversy : investigating debates over science and policy." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2015. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3239/.

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Understanding climate change as a knowledge controversy, this thesis provides new insights into the form, value and impact of the climate change debate on science and policy processes. Based on 99 interviews in New Zealand and the United Kingdom as well as social network analysis, it provides an original contribution to knowledge by identifying previously unknown sites of knowledge contestation within the climate change debate, in addition to contributory factors, and potential solutions to, debate polarisation. It also addresses a fundamental gap in the literature regarding the impact of controversy on the production of scientific knowledge and policy decision-making. This thesis comprises five standalone papers (Chapters 2-6) which together explore climate change as a knowledge controversy using frameworks from science and technology studies, sociology and geography. Chapter 2 finds that the most central blogs within the climate sceptical blogosphere predominantly focus on the scientific element of the climate debate. It argues that by acting as an alternative public site of expertise, the blogosphere may be playing a central role in perpetuating doubt regarding the scientific basis for climate change policymaking. Chapter 3 suggests that the binary and dualistic format of labels used within the climate debate such as “denier” or “alarmist” contribute towards polarisation by reducing possibilities for constructive dialogue. Chapter 4 investigates rationales for debate participation and argues that identifying and emphasising commonalities between previously polarised individuals may serve to reduce antagonism within the climate change debate. Chapter 5 investigates the impact of controversy on the production of scientific knowledge and finds that climate scientists identify substantial impacts on their agency as scientists, but not on scientific practice. It argues that this distinction indicates that boundarymaking may be understood as a more active and explicit process under conditions of controversy. Finally, Chapter 6 introduces the concept of post-decisional logics of inaction, emphasising the role of place in determining the influence of controversial knowledge claims on climate change policymaking. These findings make explicit the underlying politics of knowledge inherent within the climate change debate, and emphasise the need for a more attentive consideration of the role of knowledge, place and performativity in contested science and policy environments.

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Pike, Stephanie N. "BATTLING AMBIGUITY: A PUBLIC GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE GREAT ¿¿¿¿HOCKEY STICK¿¿¿¿ DEBATE." Kent State University Honors College / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ksuhonors1335245672.

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Seyler, Amber Dawn. "Prove It climate change films and the skeptic /." Thesis, Montana State University, 2009. http://etd.lib.montana.edu/etd/2009/seyler/SeylerA0509.pdf.

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Thesis (MFA)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2009.
Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: William Neff. I'm here in Glacier... is a DVD attached to the thesis. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 27).

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DeWitt, Sarah Louise. "Creating space for science and celebrity in the public discussion of climate change." Thesis, Montana State University, 2006. http://etd.lib.montana.edu/etd/2006/dewitt/DeWittS0806.pdf.

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Young, Hannah Ruth. "Attributing extreme weather events in Africa to climate change : science, policy and practice." Thesis, University of Reading, 2017. http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/76110/.

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Extreme weather and climate-related events can have devastating impacts on people's lives and livelihoods in developing countries, particularly in Africa. Understanding the influence of anthropogenic climate change on extremes is key when addressing the impacts of events now and in the future. Probabilistic event attribution aims to quantify the effect on individual events by analysing changes in probabilities of their occurrences. This thesis investigates this technique and its applications in an African context. It first assesses whether robust attribution results can be produced for events in West Africa. A case study of high precipitation in 2012 concludes that the probability of such an event was likely decreased due to anthropogenic climate change. The different climate model ensembles analysed produce complementary results, but the study highlights the importance of correctly modelling the anthropogenic climate change impact on sea surface temperatures if results are to be robust in regions such as this with strong teleconnections. The application of event attribution is then studied in two key contexts relevant to addressing the impacts of extreme weather events in Africa: national adaptation policy, focussing on addressing urban flooding in Senegal, and international loss and damage policy. In both cases there were suggestions for roles these scientific results could play, but there are barriers to their inclusion at present. In Senegal little climate information is currently used in decision-making, and loss and damage policy lacks clarity around what it will address and therefore how scientific information can support this. In both cases stakeholders demonstrated limited awareness of event attribution, highlighting the need to enhance understanding to encourage further dialogue about its relevance. To this end a participatory game focussing on event attribution was developed and is shown here to be a useful tool for stakeholders to consider how results could be relevant for their decisions.

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Field, Rhian. "Public engagement with climate change through visual art : an experiential with Art-Science." Thesis, Aberystwyth University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2160/e909d884-dd1d-49b6-9567-96e2e1cd983e.

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Art has a potentially influential part to play in science communication, assisting in the process of making information more accessible and more effective. It supports education, serves as a universal language and can help us imagine and hypothesize. However, beyond the practical application of art as visual illustrator, there is something more mysterious and the possibility of a potential yet un-tapped. Art has a reputation for influencing human emotions and behaviour, although the exact mechanics of this process is presently unknown. An effective collaboration between artists and scientists might depend upon a more prescriptive approach and a meeting of minds towards clear objectives. Artists might be inclined to take up such a challenge but to what degree would scientists share their conviction? This research explores whether art and science can collaborate effectively to influence behaviour in the environment towards climate change adaptation and how this might be approached. As part of an empirical mixed method approach to field research, an experimental test-kit was developed by science-trained practicing artist Rhian Field. Experiments were set up in a selection of locations in Wales during 2014 and 2015, to explore the opportunities for the role of visual art in the face of climate change impacts and the need for adaptation. This field research, underpinned by knowledge from a broad range of disciplines, examines the factors that potentially influence public engagement with visual art within a context of climate change, and considers the opportunity for art-science within climate change adaptation.

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Osima, Sarah Emerald. "Understanding a high resolution regional climate model's ability in simulating tropical East Africa climate variability and change." Doctoral thesis, University of Cape Town, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16716.

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Includes bibliographical references
The main aim of this thesis is to investigate the potential benefits of increasing resolution in regional climate models in the simulation of climate variability and change over East Africa. This study is based on two high resolution regional climate simulations with a horizontal resolution of 50km and 10km, respectively. These represent present day climate and a projection of future climate change over East Africa. The regional climate model (RCM) used here is HIRHAM5, which is driven by the global circulation model (ECHAM5). Downscaled ECHAM5 output is used to drive the 50km HIRHAM5 simulation for the period 1950-2100, and output from this simulation is used to drive the 10km simulation for three time slices: 1980-1999, representative for present-day climate and two time slices for near future (2046-2065) and far future (2080- 2099), respectively. HIRHAM5 is evaluated with respect to the observed mean climatologies of rainfall, surface temperature and surface winds over East Africa, and representations of the observed annual cycles and inter-annual variability of rainfall and surface temperature. This study utilizes reanalysis and observational datasets: a hindcast of HIRHAM5 forced with ERA Interim, as well as two observation datasets for temperature and rainfall. Since reanalyses aim to make "best use" of all available observations by making a physically consistent representation continuous in time and space, and since there is a paucity of observations over many parts of Africa, the ERAI reanalysis is also used as a best estimate for model evaluation. Additionally, for evaluation of the bimodal nature of East Africa's rainfall, especially over Tanzania, three stations run by the Tanzania Meteorological Agency were used. The model data used in th is evaluation ranges from 1980 to 2006 iv HIRHAM5 demonstrates reasonable skill in the reproduction of observed patterns of mean climatology of rainfall, surface temperature and winds over East Africa. Moreover, the patterns of annual cycles of rainfall and surface temperature in the bimodal nature of East Africa are well represented. Furthermore, the model showed reasonable skill in the representation of the inter- annual variability and ENSO signals as suggested by the observation. Despite these strengths, HIRHAM5 shows some shortcomings. One weakness of the model is the simulation of the magnitude of a given variable over a specific region. For example, HIRHAM5 driven by ERAI underestimates rainfall and overestimates surface temperature over the entire domain of East Africa. The higher resolution HIRHAM5 (10km resolution) overestimates rainfall over high ground. The model bias could be due in part to the inadequacy of the observation networks in East Africa, represented in this thesis by the CRU and FEWS datasets. However, these two datasets draw on some different sources and neither do they have the same resolution. FEWS is a high resolution data (0.1 o ) gridded satellite-derived precipitation estimate covering the entire African continent while CRU datasets is a relatively low resolution (0.5 o ) dataset based on rain gauge monthly precipitation only; in addition , near surface temperature is also available. As no reliable wind observations exist, wind data was taken from the ERA-Interim reanalysis. The different observational datasets do not agree particularly well, which impedes evaluating the quality of the HIRHAM5 simulations, in particular the high resolution one. So while the higher resolution HIRHAM5 appears to be generally reliable, caution must be exercised in formulating conclusions from the results, especially over high ground and remote areas without adequate observation data. Under these constraints, the results suggest HIRHAM5 may be useful for assessing climate variability and change over East Africa. A weakness of the analysis presented here is that only one combination of GCM and RCM could be investigated in depth due to computer and time constraints. Therefore the results presented here, if used in application for climate change adaptation, should be considered in conjunction with a broader suite of data, such from the CORDEX programme. This has potential to increase the reliability of information about climate variability and change at a regional to local level necessary for impact assessment.

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Cagle, Lauren E. "Shaping Climate Citizenship: The Ethics of Inclusion in Climate Change Communication and Policy." Scholar Commons, 2016. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6197.

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The problem of climate change is not simply scientific or technical, but also political and social. This dissertation analyzes both the role and the ethical foundations of citizenship and citizen engagement in the political and social aspects of climate change communication and policy-making. Using a critical discourse analysis of a policy recommendations drafted by the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, I demonstrate how climate change policy documentation naturalizes a particular version of citizenship I call “climate citizenship.” Based on environmental critiques of liberal and civic republican citizenship, I show how this “climate citizenship” would be more productive and ethical if based on theories of environmental citizenship rooted in an ecological feminist ethic of flourishing. This critique of current representations of citizenship in climate change policy offers a theoretically sound basis for future engaged work in rhetoric of science focused on policy-making.

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Diego, Daniel. "A PHENOMENOLOGICAL INQUIRY INTO THE TEACHING OF CLIMATE CHANGE." Scholarly Commons, 2020. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/3715.

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The purpose of this study was to explore the ways in which educators address climate change and the impacts of human activity on the environment in conjunction with the Next Generation Science Standards. This study utilized qualitative methods, a phenomenological methodology informed by Moustakas, and a Systems Theory and Ecojustice Education conceptual framework. The central research questions was: in what ways do educators who are implementing the Next Generation Science Standards address climate change and the impacts of human activity on the environment? The supporting research questions were: in what ways do educators who are implementing the Next Generation Science Standards perceive their roles and responsibilities in addressing climate change and the impacts of human activity on the environment? in what ways do educators who are implementing the Next Generation Science Standards interpret the associated Earth and Human Activity standards prior to enactment? and, how do educators who are implementing the Next Generation Science Standards teach climate change and the impacts of human activity on the environment?Eight participants were purposely selected using criterion sampling. All participants taught in grades six-twelve, had at least five years teaching experience, and worked in the Sacramento Valley region of California. Data collection consisted of interviews, observations, and document analyses. During the data analysis, horizontalization was utilized which led to the illumination of the following themes: Climate change is an existential crisis, Examination and refinement of pedagogy, Perceptions on Next Generation Science Standards pedagogy, Inquiry-based pedagogical methods, Pedagogical resources, Fostering relevancy to students, and Steps toward an eco-ethical consciousness. The conclusions drawn are: context is key, confusion persists and teachers need guidance and support, adopted curricula and content standards are inadequate, systems thinking and eco-ethical mindsets are vital, teachers are essential for survivability, and more needs to happen. The recommendations from this study are of relevance to policy makers, administrators, curricula and standard developers, teachers, and anyone else interested in mitigating the impacts of human activity on the environment.

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Azarch, Anna. "Climate change negotiations and the North-South relationship : an exploration of continuity and change." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/5202.

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Thesis (MA (Political Science. International Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.
Bibliography
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The politics of climate change has thus far been marked by controversy and a lack of consensus in regards to the best manner in which to comprehend and mitigate this problem. This is further aggravated by the characterisation of climate change as a global problem requiring a global solution which has served to only further complicate inter-state relations. While a number of analysts have remarked that the North-South relationship is no longer a meaningful analytical tool in international relations, it will be the purpose of this study to explore this contention within the field of climate change negotiations and to identify both the transformation and continuity within the relationship between the North and South. The unsuccessful nature of climate negotiations are largely held to be the result of the rift between the North and South, where the issues relating to the global political economy are largely responsible for the lack of consensus being reached between developing and developed countries. All climate negotiations since the 1972 UN Conference on the Environment and Development have showcased the tension between the two regions in regards to climate change mitigation and their inability to overcome this fissure. More importantly, the ensuing Copenhagen Summit of 2009 further highlighted a rift amongst the developing countries of the South, and between the developed and developing countries. As a consequence, the main aim of the research will be to understand the character of the global interactions between the North and South in terms of the context of global environmental politics. It is also the purpose of this research to gain a more comprehensive account of the sequence of causation within this relationship which stalled the negotiating process and lastly, to understand the conceptual demarcations of the two terms in the post-Cold War era so as to better understand the nature of the relationship between the two regions. What may be surmised by the study is that there is still a continuity to be found in the international arena pertaining to the North-South relationship. However, the Copenhagen Summit has been instrumental in showcasing the growing stratification that is found within the South and as a result has highlighted the cross-alliances that have formed between the North and South in order to maintain economic growth. Overall, while the North-South relationship does impact the nature of climate mitigation negotiations, the stratification of states based upon economic and developmental divergences will result in states forming alliances based upon economic self-interest.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die politiek van klimaatsverandering is tot dusver gekenmerk aan kontroversie en ‟n gebrek aan konsensus met betrekking tot die mees effektiewe wyse waarop hierdie probleem verstaan en gemitigeer kan word. Die probleem word verder vererger deur die kenmerk van klimaatsverandering as ‟n globale probleem wat ‟n globale oplossing verg, wat tot die verdere komplikasie van interstaat-verhoudings gelei het. Verskeie analiste het opgemerk dat die verhouding tussen die Noorde en Suide nie meer dien as betekenisvolle analitiese gereedskap op die gebied van internasionale verhoudings nie. Die doel van hierdie ondersoek is gevolglik om hierdie aanname in oënskou te neem, en om beide transformasie en kontinuïteit binne die verhouding tussen die Noorde en Suide te identifiseer. Die onsuksesvolle aard van klimaatsonderhandelinge word grootliks toegeskryf aan die onenigheid tussen die Noorde en Suide, met kwessies rondom die globale politieke ekonomie grootliks verantwoordelik vir die gebrek aan konsensus tussen die streke. Sedert die 1972 VN Konferensie oor die Omgewing en Ontwikkeling het alle klimaatsonderhandelinge die spanning tussen die twee streke met betrekking to klimaatveranderingsversagtings en hul onvermoë om hierdie skeur te oorbrug, ten toon gestel. Die 2009 Kopenhagen-beraad het ‟n onenigheid ontbloot tussen die ontwikkelende lande in die Suide en tussen ontwikkelende en ontwikkelde lande. Gevolglik is die hoofdoelstelling van hierdie studie om die aard van globale interaksies tussen die Noorde en Suide te verstaan met betrekking tot die konteks van globale omgewingspolitiek. Die doel van die navorsing is ook om ‟n meer omvattende verklaring te verkry oor die volgorde van oorsaaklike verbande binne hierdie verhouding wat die onderhandelingsproses tot stilstand gebring het en laastens, om die konseptuele afbakening van hierdie twee terme in die post-Koue Oorlog era en die aard van die verhouding tussen die twee streke beter te verstaan. Hierdie studie wys dat daar steeds kontinuïteit in die internasionale arena is met betrekking tot die verhouding tussen die Noorde en Suide. Die 2009 Kopenhagen-beraad was egter instrumenteel om die groeiende stratifikasie wat binne die Suide gevind word uit te lig, en die kruisalliansies wat tussen die Noorde en Suide gevorm is om ekonomiese groei in stand te hou, te beklemtoon. Alhoewel die verhouding tussen die Noorde en Suide tog ‟n impak op die aard van klimaatsversagtingsonderhandelings uitoefen, sal die stratifikasie van state wat op ekonomiese- en ontwikkelingsafwykings gebaseer is tot gevolg hê dat state alliansies vorm op grond van ekonomiese selfbelange.

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Paterson, Matthew. "Explaining the Climate Change Convention : global warming and international relations theory." Thesis, University of Essex, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.387374.

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Msowoya, Kondwani. "Climate Change Impacts on Rainfed Corn Production in Malawi." Master's thesis, University of Central Florida, 2013. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/5992.

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Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy in Malawi and accounts for 40% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 90% of the export revenues. Corn (maize) is the major cereal crop grown as staple food under rainfed conditions, covers over 92% of the total agricultural area, and contributes 54% of the caloric intake. Corn production is the principle occupation and major source of income for over 85% of the total population in Malawi. Issues of hunger and food insecurity for the entire nation are associated with corn scarcity and low production. Global warming is expected to cause climate change in Malawi, including changes in temperature and precipitation amounts and patterns. These climate changes are expected to affect corn production in Malawi. This study evaluates the impacts of climate change on rainfed corn production in Malawi. Lilongwe District, with about 1,045 square miles of agriculture area, has been selected as a representative area. First, outputs of 15 General Circulation Models (GCMs) under different emission scenarios are statistically downscaled. For this purpose, a weather generator (LARS-WG) is calibrated and validated for the study area and daily precipitation as well as minimum and maximum temperature are projected for 15 GCMs for three time horizons of 2020s, 2050s and 2090s. Probability assessment of bounded range with known distributions is used to deal with the uncertainties of GCMs' outputs. These GCMs outputs are weighted by considering the ability of each model to simulate historical records. AquaCrop, a new model developed by FAO that simulates the crop yield response to water deficit conditions, is employed to assess potential rainfed corn production in the study area with and without climate change. Study results indicate an average temperature increase of 0.52 to 0.94oC, 1.26 to 2.20oC and 1.78 to 3.58oC in the near-term (2020s), mid-term (2050s) and long-term (2090s) future, respectively. The expected changes in precipitation during these periods are -17 to 11%, -26 to 0%, and -29 to -3%. Corn yields are expected to change by -8.11 to 0.53%, -7.25 to -14.33%, and -13.19 to -31.86%, during the same time periods. The study concludes with suggestion of some adaptation strategies that the Government of Malawi could consider to improve national food security under climate change.
M.S.
Masters
Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering
Engineering and Computer Science
Civil Engineering; Water Resources Engineering

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Mathez, Myriel Julie. "Climate Justice for Tuvalu : Awarding Compensation for Loss and Damages caused by Anthropogenic Climate Change." Thesis, Malmö universitet, Malmö högskola, Institutionen för globala politiska studier (GPS), 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-42656.

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This thesis aims to enable the compensation for sustained Loss and Damage on Tuvalu through a principle conforming to the requirements of Climate Justice. By applying the method of conceptual framework analysis, the various concepts which form the larger frameworks of Climate Justice and Loss and Damage are identified and narrowed down to parameters. By applying the parameters of Loss and Damage, the facts of Tuvalu’s case are collected. The theory of Climate Justice is applied in the analysis to determine the requirements for compensation for Tuvalu and a concept, with which the duty to compensate can be fairly allocated. The thesis finds that the Polluter Pays Principle in connection to the Ability to Pay- and the Beneficiary Pays- Principle is best suited, since it considers both Tuvalu’s and the compensators side and thus fulfils the requirements of Climate Justice.

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Pinto, Izidine S. de Sousa. "Future changes in extreme rainfall events and circulation patterns over southern Africa." Doctoral thesis, University of Cape Town, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16781.

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Changes in precipitation extremes are projected by many global climate models as a response to greenhouse gas increases, and such changes will have significant environmental and social impacts. These impacts are a function of exposure and vulnerability. Hence there is critical need to understand the nature of weather and climate extremes. Results from an ensemble of regional climate models from the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) project are used to investigate projected changes in extreme precipitation characteristics over southern Africa for the middle (2036-2065) and late century (2069-2098) under the representative concentration pathway 4.5 (RCP4.5) and 8.5 (RCP8.5). Two approaches are followed to identify and analyze extreme precipitation events. First, indices for extreme events, which capture moderate extreme events, are calculated on the basis of model data and are compared with indices from two observational gridded datasets at annual basis. The second approach is based on extreme value theory. Here, the Generalized Extreme Value distribution (GEV) is fitted to annual maxima precipitation by a L-moments method. The 20-year return values are analyzed for present and future climate conditions. The physical drivers of the projected change are evaluated by examining the models ability to simulate circulation patterns over the regions with the aid of Self-Organizing Maps (SOM).

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Hopkins, Charlotte Rachael. "Considering climate change in the development of Marine Protected Areas." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2016. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/7265/.

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Marine ecosystems are facing a diverse range of threats, including climate change, prompting international efforts to safeguard marine biodiversity through the use of spatial management measures. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been implemented as a conservation tool throughout the world, but their usefulness and effectiveness is strongly related to climate change. However, few MPA programmes have directly considered climate change in the design, management or monitoring of an MPA network. Under international obligations, EU, UK and national targets, Scotland has developed an MPA network that aims to protect marine biodiversity and contribute to the vision of a clean, healthy and productive marine environment. This is the first study to critically analyse the Scottish MPA process and highlight areas which may be improved upon in further iterations of the network in the context of climate change. Initially, a critical review of the Scottish MPA process considered how ecological principles for MPA network design were incorporated into the process, how stakeholder perceptions were considered and crucially what consideration was given to the influence of climate change on the eventual effectiveness of the network. The results indicated that to make a meaningful contribution to marine biodiversity protection for Europe the Scottish MPA network should: i) fully adopt best practice ecological principles ii) ensure effective protection and iii) explicitly consider climate change in the management, monitoring and future iterations of the network. However, this review also highlighted the difficulties of incorporating considerations of climate change into an already complex process. A series of international case studies from British Columbia, Canada; central California, USA; the Great Barrier Reef, Australia and the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand, were then conducted to investigate perceptions of how climate change has been considered in the design, implementation, management and monitoring of MPAs. The key lessons from this study included: i) strictly protected marine reserves are considered essential for climate change resilience and will be necessary as scientific reference sites to understand climate change effects ii) adaptive management of MPA networks is important but hard to implement iii) strictly protected reserves managed as ecosystems are the best option for an uncertain future. This work provides new insights into the policy and practical challenges MPA managers face under climate change scenarios. Based on the Scottish and international studies, the need to facilitate clear communication between academics, policy makers and stakeholders was recognised in order to progress MPA policy delivery and to ensure decisions were jointly formed and acceptable. A Delphi technique was used to develop a series of recommendations for considering climate change in Scotland’s MPA process. The Delphi participant panel was selected for their knowledge of the Scottish MPA process and included stakeholders, policy makers and academics with expertise in MPA research. The results from the first round of the Delphi technique suggested that differing views of success would likely influence opinions regarding required management of MPAs, and in turn, the data requirements to support management action decisions. The second round of the Delphi technique explored this further and indicated that there was a fundamental dichotomy in panellists’ views of a successful MPA network depending upon whether they believed the MPAs should be strictly protected or allow for sustainable use. A third, focus group round of the Delphi Technique developed a feature-based management scenario matrix to aid in deciding upon management actions in light of changes occurring in the MPA network. This thesis highlights that if the Scottish MPA network is to fulfil objectives of conservation and restoration, the implications of climate change for the design, management and monitoring of the network must be considered. In particular, there needs to be a greater focus on: i) incorporating ecological principles that directly address climate change ii) effective protection that builds resilience of the marine and linked social environment iii) developing a focused, strong and adaptable monitoring framework iv) ensuring mechanisms for adaptive management.

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Geil, Kerrie L., and Kerrie L. Geil. "Assessing the 20th Century Performance of Global Climate Models and Application to Climate Change Adaptation Planning." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/623015.

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Rapid environmental changes linked to human-induced increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations have been observed on a global scale over recent decades. Given the relative certainty of continued change across many earth systems, the information output from climate models is an essential resource for adaptation planning. But in the face of many known modeling deficiencies, how confident can we be in model projections of future climate? It stands to reason that a realistic simulation of the present climate is at least a necessary (but likely not sufficient) requirement for a model’s ability to realistically simulate the climate of the future. Here, I present the results of three studies that evaluate the 20th century performance of global climate models from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). The first study examines precipitation, geopotential height, and wind fields from 21 CMIP5 models to determine how well the North American monsoon system (NAMS) is simulated. Models that best capture large-scale circulation patterns at low levels usually have realistic representations of the NAMS, but even the best models poorly represent monsoon retreat. Difficulty in reproducing monsoon retreat results from an inaccurate representation of gradients in low-level geopotential height across the larger region, which causes an unrealistic flux of low-level moisture from the tropics into the NAMS region that extends well into the post-monsoon season. The second study examines the presence and severity of spurious Gibbs-type numerical oscillations across the CMIP5 suite of climate models. The oscillations can appear as unrealistic spatial waves near discontinuities or sharp gradients in global model fields (e.g., orography) and have been a known problem for decades. Multiple methods of oscillation reduction exist; consequently, the oscillations are presumed small in modern climate models and hence are rarely addressed in recent literature. Here we quantify the oscillations in 13 variables from 48 global climate models along a Pacific ocean transect near the Andes. Results show that 48% of nonspectral models and 95% of spectral models have at least one variable with oscillation amplitude as large as, or greater than, atmospheric interannual variability. The third study is an in-depth assessment model simulations of 20th century monthly minimum and maximum surface air temperature over eight US regions, using mean state, trend, and variability bias metrics. Transparent model performance information is provided in the form of model rankings for each bias type. A wide range in model skill is at the regional scale, but no strong relationships are seen between any of the three bias types or between 20th century bias and 21st century projected change. Using our model rankings, two smaller ensembles of models with better performance over the southwestern U.S. are selected, but they result in negligible differences from the all-model ensemble in the average 21st century projected temperature change and model spread. In other words, models of varied quality (and complexity) are projecting very similar changes in temperature, implying that the models are simulating warming for different physical reasons. Despite this result, we suggest that models with smaller 20th century biases have a greater likelihood of being more physically realistic and therefore, more confidence can be placed in their 21st century projections as compared to projections from models that have demonstrably poor skill over the observational period. This type of analysis is essential for responsibly informing climate resilience efforts.

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Maas, Ellen DvL. "The Cascading Effects of Climate Change on Soil Organic Matter." The Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492076671912468.

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MacKellar, Neil Campbell. "Simulating the effects of land-surface change on southern Africa's climate." Doctoral thesis, University of Cape Town, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/4779.

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Kalognomou, Evangelia-Anna. "Air quality and climate change in the greater Cape Town area." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8956.

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Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-91).
The work presented in this dissertation stems from the link that exists between meteorological conditions and the significant accumulation of air pollutants in large urban agglomerations. The research focuses on the Greater Cape Town Area (GCTA), where temperature inversions lead to high air pollutant concentrations and episodes of air pollution. As local meteorological conditions are often manifestations of larger weather producing phenomena (e.g. anticyclones), the work presented studies the changes that may occur in the synoptic conditions associated with temperature inversions, which will consequently affect the rate of occurrence of air pollution episodes. After a brief introduction of the topic, background information on the relevant legislation and the actions taken towards an air pollution abatement strategy and a detailed literature review, the high levels of air pollution in the GCT A during winter and especially during the morning peak hour traffic and their link to temperature inversions are studied in detail for the year 2002. The large scale circulation and its link to temperature inversions are studied through the application of the Self-Organizing Maps technique using NCEP-DOE Reanalysis 2 data and making use of the findings for the year 2002. The synoptic states most associated with temperature inversions are found to be the anticyclonic conditions caused by the South Atlantic High Pressure (SAHP) system and the west coast trough associated with berg winds bringing dry continental air towards the GCT A. The 2002 data also show that more air pollution episode days are associated with west coast troughs than with the SAHP system and the average strength of the temperature inversions associated with west coast troughs is found to be approximately 50 % higher than that associated with the SAHP system. The Global Circulation Models (GCMs) ECHAM5, CNRM-CM3 and CSIRO-MK3.5 are used to study the potential changes in the future climate of the area under the IPCC A2 emissions scenario. ECHAM5 shows a small increase in the synoptic states associated with anticyclonic influence over the south western part of South Africa and CNRM-CM3 shows a small increase in both the synoptic states associated with anticyclonic influence and those associated with a west coast trough. Both models show a small decrease in the synoptic states associated with cold fronts. CSIRO-MK3.5 was not found to adequately reflect the current climatology in the domain, making it difficult to distinguish between model bias and future climate trends.

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37

Christoffersson, Moa. "Climate Change Adaptation as Disaster Risk Reduction : A global study of the relationship between exposure to natural hazards and climate change adaptation." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-431519.

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In this thesis, I conduct a global event-data study investigating the relationship between exposure to natural hazards and climate change adaptation. Exposure to natural hazards has previously been linked to actions aimed at reducing risks related to future natural hazards. With climate change, and predicted increase in hazard frequency and intensity, a feasible approach to risk mitigation is climate change adaptation, which can thus be considered a disaster risk reduction strategy. I investigate the effects of disaster frequency and severity on the amount of climate change adaptation actions taken on a subnational level of government, using disaster data from the International Disaster Database (EM-DAT) and data on adaptation actions from CDP. Disaster severity is operationalised in three separate ways to distinguish between different kinds of disaster impacts: in terms of (1) economic damage, (2) how many are affected, and (3) fatalities. I hypothesise that all independent variables are positively related to climate change adaptation, and test the hypotheses using OLS regression. The result depicts a positive correlation between the number of disasters experienced and adaptation actions. I do not see a positive relationship between climate change adaptation actions and the two impact variables total affected and total fatalities. The relationship between economic damages and adaptation actions indicates that economic damages could have different impacts depending on the level of economic development in a country. This study contributes to the integration of the two research fields climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction by studying climate change adaptation as a form of disaster risk reduction, and deepening the knowledge of what can drive adaptation. Finally, this study contributes by showing that the level of economic development could be an important aspect of the exposure-adaptation relationship.

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Webber, Sophie Rachel. "Adaptation ecologies : circuits of climate change finance, policy, and science in the Pacific Islands." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/54381.

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In order to address the expected impacts of climate change, international development institutions have instigated adaptation projects and policies. These efforts promise to mitigate anticipated harms in vulnerable-to-climate-change social and ecological systems. This dissertation examines the operation and dissemination of adaptation projects and policies in the context of small island states in the Pacific region. It also explores the important role that the pre-eminent development institution, the World Bank, plays in programming adaptation. The research questions explored here are: i) How do finance, policy and science circulate in the name of adaptation? ii) What do the circulation of finance, policy and science achieve for adaptation in Kiribati and Solomon Islands? and iii) Why is the World Bank invested in adaptation, or what does adaptation do for the World Bank and other developmental actors? In answering these questions, I draw from multi-sited primary fieldwork, participant observation, and documentary analysis: at the World Bank in Washington, DC and Sydney, within the public bureaucracies of Australia, Kiribati, and Solomon Islands, and with regional organizations and development partners in the Pacific region. This dissertation posits the emergence of a Pacific Adaptation Complex. The analytical concept of the Pacific Adaptation Concept recognizes the vast institutional arrangements, configurations of expertise, and project technologies that come together to make adaptation happen. Within the Complex, experimental nodes are key, as are multi-directional flows. Yet, I find that, overwhelmingly, flows and investments for adaptation are dogged by persistent stickiness, and a rhetorical attention to mobility and success that is indifferent to practical outcomes. However, the promise of adaptation finance, policy, and science works through failing development institutions and imaginaries, allowing reinvention in an era of development crisis.
Arts, Faculty of
Geography, Department of
Graduate

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39

Eitzinger, Anton [Verfasser], and Claudia [Akademischer Betreuer] Binder. "Climate change adaptation: from science knowledge to local implementation / Anton Eitzinger ; Betreuer: Claudia Binder." München : Universitätsbibliothek der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, 2019. http://d-nb.info/1182228062/34.

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40

Walton, Peter. "Mind the gap : a strategy for supporting understanding and engagement with climate change science." Thesis, Queen Mary, University of London, 2010. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/2508.

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Concerns within geography over public engagement and understanding has necessitated a new strategy to be developed that moves away from the top down approach to disseminating knowledge to a dialogue between expert and learner. The study aimed to identify how practice within eLearning could be applied within the context of climate change science to form a strategy that supports the public with understanding the holistic nature of the discipline that is relevant to the individual. The study also aimed to identify whether there is knowledge within the discipline that can be described as troublesome and act as a barrier to developing a deeper understanding. The study used a sample population of 94 students over a three-year period from an undergraduate module, at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford. This formal situation allowed a blended communication strategy to be evaluated within known parameters of a university module before being applied to the wider public. A coding analysis of the students’ weekly online journals identified the perceived key concepts whilst an assessment of the coded entries using the Biggs and Collis (1982) SOLO taxonomy illustrated their level of understanding. In conjunction with the weekly journals the students contributed to a group wiki website that over the course of the module developed into a representation of their collective understanding of the scientific debate. The taxonomy is applied to the wiki contributions allowing a comparison between the understanding within an individual forum (online journal) and a social forum (wiki). An end of module questionnaire evaluated the students’ perception of the learning process. The research showed that within the limitations of the study, eLearning could be used as a successful mechanism in a contextual model of communication with the role of the ‘expert’ a key factor in facilitating the learners’ experience.

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41

Carrillo, Cruz Carlos Mauricio. "North American monsoon variability from paleoclimate era to climate change projection| A multiple dataset perspective." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3667939.

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In southwestern United States, the North American monsoon (NAM) is the main driver of severe weather in the Southwest. How the monsoon has behaved in the past and how it will change in the future is a question of importance for natural resource management and infrastructural planning. In this dissertation, I present the results of three studies that have investigated NAM variability and change from the perspective of paleoclimate records, future climate change projections, and simulation of the low-frequency variability with the longest retrospective atmospheric reanalysis.

In the first study, a monsoon-sensitive network of tree-ring chronologies is evaluated within its ability to reproduce NAM variability during the past four centuries. The tree-ring chronologies can reasonable characterizes the dominant modes of NAM climate variability and reveal low-frequency climate variability at decadal and longer timescales that is beyond the ability of the instrumental record to temporally well resolve. This low-frequency climate variability seems to coincide with the occurrence of multiyear persistent droughts.

In the second study, we consider the modes of climate variability to assess the degree of physical uncertainty in climate change projections models used in the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP). NARCCAP models are evaluated mainly on their ability to represent warm season driven by quasi-stationary Rossby wave trains and El Niño Southern Oscillation – Pacific Decadal Variability (ENSO-PDV). Only one out of eight NARCCAP models has a reasonable representation of the seasonal cycle of monsoon precipitation and ENSO-driven variability in both the 20^th and 21^st centuries. No decadal variability was observed in any of the NARCCAP models.

In the third study, the low-frequency drought signal found with tree-ring chronologies is further explored within the framework of a regional climate modeling. The Twentieth-Century Reanalysis is dynamically downscaled (DD-20CR) and its statistic analysis suggests that low-frequency drought signal in the Southwest is driven by atmospheric circulation changes on global to continental scales that affect precipitation in Central American as well. Low-frequency climate variability is therefore likely responsible for the multiyear persistent droughts in the last four centuries, as independently evaluated from the tree-ring monsoon-sensitive network.

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42

Rosen, Amanda M. "Emission Impossible: The Impact of the International Climate Regime on Sub-National Climate Change Policymaking." Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view.cgi?acc%5Fnum=osu1250098617.

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43

Petersen, Sierra Victoria. "Rapid Climate Change in the Cenozoic: Insights from Geochemical Proxies." Thesis, Harvard University, 2014. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:13064985.

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Studying the mean state and variability of past climate provides important insight into the dynamically coupled climate system, directly aiding projections of future climate. Reconstruction of past climate conditions can be achieved using geochemical proxies including the novel clumped isotope paleothermometer. In this thesis I use multiple proxies to study climate variability during the last glacial period and at the onset of Antarctic glaciation. Greenland ice cores record repeated millennial-scale fluctuations in climate during the last glacial period known as Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) cycles. We measure 18O of bulk sediment and planktonic foraminifera (Neogloboquadrina Pachyderma) in sediment cores from the North Atlantic to investigate fluctuations in sediment properties on the timescale of DO cycles. We find evidence of episodic deposition of carbonate ice-rafted debris near Iceland. Integrating these observations with published data and modeling studies, we propose a new hypothesis to explain DO cycles. We suggest that a large ice shelf in the Nordic Seas acted in concert with sea ice to set the slow and fast timescales of DO cycles. The ice shelf was periodically removed by subsurface warming with the timescale of shelf regrowth setting the duration of each interstadial. We utilize the clumped isotope proxy to reconstruct the climate history during a key period of the Cenozoic - the onset of Antarctic glaciation. To facilitate this work, a new inlet is developed to streamline sample preparation and reduce sample size requirements. We decrease the required sample size from 5-8mg to 1-2mg per replicate, while still achieving external precision of 0.005-0.010o/oo, equivalent to previous methods. This new capability increases the range of possible applications for the clumped isotope paleothermometer, specifically in the field of paleoceanography. We apply the clumped isotope paleothermometer to thermocline-dwelling foraminifera (Subbotina angiporoides and Subbotina utilisindex) from the Southern Ocean core ODP689 across the Eocene-Oligocene transition. With the clumped isotope paleothermometer we separate the contributions of near- surface temperature change and ice sheet growth on the ~1o/oo increase in 18O observed in planktonic foraminifera from this site. We measure no change in temperature, and 0.8±0.2o/oo change in 18Osw, equivalent to 124-140% of the modern Antarctic ice sheet volume.
Earth and Planetary Sciences

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44

Margolis, Robert M. (Robert Mark). "Using energy-economic-environmental models in the climate change policy process." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/12764.

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Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1992.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-149).
by Robert M. Margolis.
M.S.

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45

Kolus, Hannah. "Assessing Terrestrial Biosphere Model Simulation of Ecosystem Drought Response and Recovery." Thesis, Northern Arizona University, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10283123.

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Severe drought plays a critical role in altering the magnitude and interannual variability of the net terrestrial carbon sink. Drought events immediately decrease net primary production (NPP), and drought length and magnitude tend to enhance this negative impact. However, satellite and in-situ measurements have also indicated that ecosystem recovery from extreme drought can extend several years beyond the return to normal climate conditions. If an ecosystem’s drought recovery time exceeds the time interval between successive droughts, these legacy effects may reinforce the impact of future drought. Since the frequency and severity of extreme climate events are expected to increase with climate change, both the immediate and prolonged impact of drought may contribute to amplified climate warming by decreasing the strength of the land carbon sink. However, it is unknown whether terrestrial biosphere models capture the impact of drought legacy effects on carbon stocks and cycling. Using a suite of twelve land surface models from the Multi-scale Synthesis and Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project (MsTMIP), we assessed model ability to simulate drought legacy effects by analyzing the modeled NPP response to drought events across forested regions of the US and Europe. We found that modeled drought legacy effects last about one year (2% reduction in NPP), with complete NPP recovery in the second post-drought year. Since observations suggest that legacy effects extend up to four years post-drought, with a 9% growth reduction in the first post-drought year, models appear to underestimate both the timescales and magnitude of drought legacy effects. We further explored vegetation sensitivity to climate anomalies through global, time-lagged correlation analysis of NPP and climatic water deficit. Regional differences in the lag time between climate anomaly and NPP response are prevalent, but low sensitivities (correlations) characterize the entire region. Significant correlations coincided with characteristic lag times of 0 to 6 months, indicating relatively immediate NPP response to moisture anomalies. Model ability to accurately simulate vegetation’s response to drought and sensitivity to climate anomalies is necessary in order to produce reliable forecasts of land carbon sink strength and, consequently, to predict the rate at which climate change will progress in the future. Thus, the discrepancies between observed and simulated vegetation recovery from drought points to a potential critical model deficiency.

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46

Rabie, Elsa. "The impact of climate change on human security in South Africa." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/2214.

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Thesis (MA (Political Science))--Stellenbosch University, 2008.
The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change is conclusive that climate change will lead to scarcity of the basic resources that sustain life for people around the world – fresh water supplies, food production and land for habitation and cultivation. It is argued that environmental scarcity leads to migration which in turn results in conflict in the receiving area as competition over resources develops. Based on the main theories relating to resource scarcity and conflict, the purpose of this study is to examine the link between climate change and human security. The relevance of this research is the fact that the Stern Review concludes that climate change poses a serious threat to the world and that Africa will be one of the hardest hit continents. Africa is already vulnerable to climate variability and has the least capacity to respond, and this study aims to establish the impacts of resource scarcity on human security in South Africa. The theoretical approach addresses the much debated concept of ‘human security’ as it has developed since the end of the Cold War and the analysis is based on the main conflict theories that maintain that competition over access to scarce resources is one of the root causes of violent conflict. The research design for this study is of an empirical nature with the units of analysis being states, physical events and processes and the resulting human actions. It is a descriptive analysis, interpreting the impact of climate change on scarce resources and the resulting propensity for conflict. Much of the violence against migrants has been the result of varying degrees of xenophobia amongst all racial groups in South Africa. This study proposes the hypothesis that migration results in increased competition over scarce resources in receiving areas, which as a result of xenophobia leads to conflict. Based on the theoretical arguments put forward, the paper aims to determine what policy options for adaptation, mitigation and governance would be most likely to reduce the harmful impacts of climate change on vulnerable regions and groups of people in South Africa and neighbouring countries in order to contain migration and lessen the likelihood of violent conflict. Having identified xenophobia as a spark that could ignite violent inter-group conflict it would be useful to gain some theoretical insight into reducing group prejudice and attaining group cooperation through inter-group contact. It is apparent that there is no single theoretical approach that can be applied to gain a better insight into the complex link between resource scarcity and conflict. The different theories are mutually compatible and each theoretical perspective contributes a partial elaboration to and additional insights into the climate change/conflict hypothesis. There is possibly room for a new theoretical approach to gain a better understanding of the complexity and the uncertainties that are inherent in the study of a mechanism as complex as climate change. South Africa has the responsibility to use its global political influence to promote a shared understanding of responsible behaviour across all societies. Active participation will enable South Africa to guide global negotiations towards outcomes that will lessen the impact of climate change on the most vulnerable countries and populations. In conclusion, possible policies and actions are identified that could support these objectives. Without urgent, appropriate intervention climate change will undermine any efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and a crippled African continent will be a threat to world security.

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47

Paradis, Mark. "Is it just hot air?: the security discourse on climate change." Thesis, McGill University, 2009. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=66833.

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Abstract: There is a near-consensus among governments, scientists, and the media that climate change poses a genuine threat to state security. Despite this consensus, the results of cooperative efforts to deal with this threat have been unimpressive. This thesis attempts to explain the divergence between the discourse on climate change and state behaviour by constructing a neorealist theory of cooperation on climate change. The argument comprises two central hypotheses. First, as the vulnerability of a state to climate change increases, it will be more willing to cooperate. Second, as the military threat to national security decreases, states will be more willing to cooperate. These hypotheses are supported by secondary hypotheses that posit a relationship between system-level variables and the level of cooperation. Statistical methods are used to test these propositions. The results do not support the hypothesized relationships.
Résumé:Les gouvernements, les scientifiques et les médias sont presque unanimes au sujet des changements climatiques. Selon eux, ces changements menacent la sécurité étatique. Malgré ce consensus, les résultats de la coopération pour résoudre ce problème ont été décevants. Cette thèse vise à expliquer cette divergence entre les déclarations et les actions des états en construisant une théorie néoréaliste de coopération au sujet des changements climatiques. La thèse comprend deux hypothèses centrales. Premièrement, alors que le niveau de vulnérabilité d'un état aux changements climatiques augmente, l'état sera plus enclin à coopérer. Deuxièmement, tandis que la menace militaire diminue, il est plus probable qu'un état coopère. Ces deux hypothèses centrales sont complétées par des hypothèses secondaires qui proposent une relation entre des variables au niveau systémique et la coopération. Des méthodes statistiques ont été utilisées pour tester ces relations. En fin de compte, les résultats ne supportent aucuns des relations proposées.

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48

Walpole, Emily H. "Communicating Climate Adaptation: A Mechanistic and Audience-Based Investigation of Message Framing Approaches for Climate-Exacerbated Hazards." The Ohio State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1563383189022141.

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49

Jones, Megan E. "Sixty Years of Widespread Warming in the Southern Mid- and High-Latitudes (1957-2016)." The Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1525542816174135.

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50

Truebe, Sarah Anne. "Past climate, modern caves, and future resource management in speleothem paleoclimatology." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10158145.

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My research focuses on reconstructing past climate in southern Arizona using cave deposits called speleothems. However, this necessitates a broader perspective than simply a geochemical time series, and therefore, I also investigate modern cave systems using a combination of modeling and observational datasets. Finally, cave deposits are fundamentally non-renewable resources, and sampling for past climate reconstruction can be destructive, unlike other cave uses. My last investigation is focused on developing possible best practice recommendations for paleoclimate scientists and other cave stakeholders moving forward.

We developed two new stalagmite records of past climate variability in southern Arizona over the past 7000 years. Past climate reconstruction from two caves (Cave of the Bells and Fort Huachuca Cave) highlights insolation control of southern Arizona hydroclimate from 7000-2000 years before present. Additionally, comparison between two stalagmites with different seasonal sensitivities uncovers a few eras of multi-decade long droughts in southern Arizona, which align with other regional reconstructions of past climates and elucidate forcings on Southwest paleoclimate as emergent from both external (insolation) and internal climate variability in the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean basins. Although the oxygen isotopic signal of cave calcite in speleothems is complex, agreement with these other records indicates that the speleothem records from these caves primarily record a climate signal.

Modeling and monitoring of modern caves both helps us interpret paleoclimate records and enhances our understanding of cave systems in their own right. Modeling of Cave of the Bells dripwaters demonstrates the effect of storage and mixing on the dripwater oxygen isotope signal; non-climate processes can imprint on dripwater variability on multidecadal timescales. Monitoring shows that on very small spatial scales, every cave is different, and even sites within the same cave respond uniquely to surface climate. Most notably, calcite oxygen isotopic composition, used to reconstruct past climate, shows seasonal variability unrelated to dripwater and surface rainfall oxygen isotope variability. Substantial oxygen isotope disequilibrium is identified at numerous caves sites in southern Arizona, and this understanding aligns with a growing number of cave studies that demonstrate the long-held assumption of isotopic equilibrium in cave systems may not always be valid or that the way in which we define isotopic equilibrium insufficiently captures the variety of processes controlling the oxygen isotopic composition of speleothems. Overall, however, monitoring can identify stalagmites that are more sensitive to surface climate and less sensitive to these in-cave processes by identifying sites with dripwater variability responses to surface rainfall variability and sites that precipitate close to oxygen isotopic equilibrium.

Finally, a major missing component in speleothem research is the fact that speleothems take thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of years to form. They are non-renewable resources on human timescales, and habitat for myriad microbes that have yet to be identified. Removal of speleothems for paleoclimate research is one of the only destructive uses of these deposits. With that in mind, I also analyze current methods of collecting speleothems and develop a framework based on two surveys of scientists and stakeholders to assist scientists and managers when evaluating potential methods of incorporating cave conservation into the speleothem sampling process.

Thus, I approach caves from a variety of angles and timescales, from the past through the present to the future, illuminating caves as complex scientific and social systems.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Climate Change Science'

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