About the need to substitute global warming for is erroneous climate change
Prof. Roger A. Pielke Sr seems to be one of the few scientists who raise his voice if an incomprehensible scientific terminology is used that may lead to serious confusion or misunderstanding. In a contribution to SCITIZEN in April 2007[1], he addressed the confusion between the terms ‘global warming’ and ‘climate change’[2], claiming that the terms are often used interchangeably. According Pielke this has resulted in the communication of climate change science to policymakers that are seriously flawed.
Although Whatisclimate (WIC) welcomes any serious attempt that requires or achieves more clarity in atmospheric science terminology, it kindly requests any reader to form his own view on Prof. Pielkes reasoning, while WIC constrain its contribution to questions, hoping that they are useful for further reasoning. A short section follows the Extract/Question section with:
Few examples on term: ‘global warming’, and ‘global warming potential’
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming#Terminology
The term “global warming” is a specific example of the broader term climate change, which can also refer to global cooling. In common usage the term refers to recent warming and implies a human influence. [5] The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) uses the term “climate change” for human-caused change, and “climate variability” for other changes. [6] The term “anthropogenic global warming” is sometimes used when focusing on human-induced changes.
2001; International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association http://www.ipieca.org/activities/climate_change/downloads/publications/glossary.pdf
Global Warming
The view that the earth’s temperature is being increased, in part due to emissions of greenhouse gases associated with human activities such as burning fossil fuels, biomass burning, cement manufacture, cow and sheep rearing, deforestation and other land-use changes.
2001; International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association http://www.ipieca.org/activities/climate_change/downloads/publications/glossary.pdf
Global Warming Potential, or GWP
A time dependent index used to compare the radiative forcing, on a mass basis, of an impulse of a specific greenhouse gas relative to that of CO 2 . Gases included in the Kyoto Protocol are weighted in the first commitment period according to their GWP over a 100-year time horizon as published in the 1995 Second Assessment Report of the IPCC. In that report, a kilogram of methane, for example has a radiative force of about 21 times greater than that of a kilogram of CO 2 .The GWP of CO 2 is defined as 1, thus methane has a GWP of 21 over the 100-year time horizon.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change http://www.ipcc.ch/pub/syrgloss.pdf (Global Warming, NONE)
Global Warming Potential (GWP)
An index, describing the radiative characteristics of well-mixed greenhouse gases , that represents the combined effect of the differing times these gases remain in the atmosphere and their relative effectiveness in absorbing outgoing infrared radiation. This index approximates the time-integrated warming effect of a unit mass of a given greenhouse gas in today’s atmosphere, relative to that of carbon dioxide.
Footnotes (not re-checked recently)
[1] http://scitizen.com/screens/blogPage/viewBlog/sw_viewBlog.php?idTheme=13&idContribution=533
[2] Ditto; Scitizen , 24 Apr, 2007 01:16 pm, [OPINION] Confusion in the Definitions of Global Warming and Climate Change
[3] Climate Change:
Any systematic change in the long-term statistics of climate elements (such as temperature, pressure, or winds) sustained over several decades or longer.
Climate change may be due to natural external forcings, such as changes in solar emission or slow changes in the earth’s orbital elements; natural internal processes of the climate system; or anthropogenic forcing.
http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/browse?s=c&p=39
[4] Climate System:
The system, consisting of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere, determining the earth’s climate as the result of mutual interactions and responses to external influences (forcing).
Physical, chemical, and biological processes are involved in the interactions among the components of the climate system.
