Commodity Derivatives, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 11Climate and Weather

11.1 THE SCIENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE

11.1.1 Definitions

In the first edition of this text, the author used the phrase ‘global warming’, which at the time was a commonly used term. However, over time this has been superseded by the phrase ‘climate change’.

I often feel there is a tendency for people to confuse weather and climate, so it is worth defining both terms. NASA's (2020) global climate change website provides some useful terms of reference:

‘Weather refers to atmospheric conditions that occur locally over short periods of time; from minutes to hours or days. Familiar examples include snow, clouds, winds, floods, or thunderstorms. Climate, on the other hand, refers to the long term regional or even average temperature, humidity and rainfall patterns over seasons, years, or decades. Global warming is the long‐term heating of Earth's climate system observed since the pre‐industrial period (between 1850 and 1900) due to human activities, primarily fossil fuel burning, which increases heat‐trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth's atmosphere. The term is frequently used interchangeably with the term climate change, though the latter refers to both human‐ and naturally‐produced warming and the effects it has on our planet. It is most commonly measured as the average increase in Earth's global surface temperature.'

11.1.2 Greenhouse Gases

The earth is warmed by energy radiated by the sun. Although some of this is reflected back into space, a ...