Author Archives: peggy

A final word about Local Climate

Before we leave human effects on “local” climate, I wanted to share a few more examples to show how we can change our local climate. I’ve written some about how land use affects temperature in cities; I’ve also mentioned in … Continue reading

Posted in Atmosphere, Climate, Earth System Science, Hydrology, Land Cover | 5 Comments

Local to Global: the Seasons IPY Pole-to-Pole Videoconference

During the last several blogs, I’ve written about how humans affect climate locally. Today, I am writing about young people noticing things locally, but many of these changes are related to global changes. I was privileged to be the moderator … Continue reading

Posted in General Science, Seasons and Biomes | Leave a comment

Local Climate Part 4. Human Metabolism — What is that?

Human metabolism isn’t the largest term in Figure 4 in the last blog, but you probably don’t think that you are a source of warming! David Sailor, of the Portland State University in Oregon, uses the number of calories we … Continue reading

Posted in Air Temperature, Atmosphere, Climate, Earth System Science | Leave a comment

More about how people heat up cities

This is the third installment of a series on local climate. To understand how people’s activities heat up a city, scientists use information on traffic, the energy used by homes, factories, and businesses, and where people live. For example, Figure … Continue reading

Posted in Air Temperature, Earth System Science, Land Cover | Leave a comment

Why Cities are Warmer than the Countryside

(This continues from the previous posting, which compares surface temperatures at two cities to the surrounding areas.) 2. Why are cities warmer than their surroundings? First, cities have much more concrete,asphalt and other man-made materials. When sunlight hits these surfaces, … Continue reading

Posted in Air Temperature, Atmosphere, Climate, Earth System Science, Land Cover | 1 Comment