Does anyone know any new technology that is used to gather information on climate and or climate change?

Question

please someone answer...I am acctually getting really desperate

Answer 1

One of the biggest new tech gadgets are outer space satellites that take infra-red images of the ocean.  In that way, they can measure the heat of the oceans, and 2/3rds of the Earth is covered by them.  From year to year, scientists can measure the growing heat build up.

Pictures from outer space also record the melting of ice caps on mts, and the glaciers over the earth, including over the North Pole region and in Antarctica. They see less and less ice every year.  

Right now, due to heating up of the air, much of this moisture is being evaporated from the ocean into the air.  This is causing greater rain storms and more flooding, as we see in Indiana past week.

Another high tech device are floating temperature bouys, throughout the ocean.  Submarines also take temperatures at different deeps, and all this data is put into computers to analyze.

The older method included taking all the world temperature averages, and comparing them, year to year.  This is still done.  

BTW, there have always been great climate changes, caused by the Sun, or even meteor explosions, and volcano dust in our atmosphere.  Some of these caused great extinctions, like when the larger  dinasours died out.

But, the difference in past 100 years, is the HUMAN contribuitons to world air pollution, with hydro-carbons and other green house gases, are causing faster changes in temperatures  

The First reference I provide below explains that in past 50 years, world climate average temperatures , have doubled compared to the previous 50 years, when they also were going up.  At that rate, after another  25 years (without a big change in our carbon footprints)  world average temperatures could be going up two degrees every 50 years..  

The second reference predicts that 200 million people could be displaced in next 50 years with growing numbers of terrible storms and FLOODING around the world, in part due to raising sea levels too.

Such "speeding" up of climate change comes faster than animals and plants can adapt.  Thus bees and other insects that "in tune with small weather changes"  are getting confused and dieing out, and flowers are blooming too soon in Spring, then being killed off by a late frost.

We can see the effects of climate change and measure that too, more accurately, because we have faster communication with the internet, and  saving data into our PC's at all scientific labs.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Yes, there is an interesting new technology that uses GPS to measure the temperature of the whole Earth.  Here is a link to an article about it:

http://environment.newscientist.com/chan...

Answer 3

What do you mean by new? 10 years, 5 years, last year, or what?

Here are just a few

New satellite to measure sea levels:

http://www.gisdevelopment.net/news/viewn...

Argo network of temperature buoys:

http://www.mersea.eu.org/Insitu-Obs/1-In...

http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-engli...

GRACE satellites:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library...

Aqua satellite:

http://aqua.nasa.gov/

Dave W said:

"Whereas in the past world temperature fluxuations took 100 years to change average temperatures say 2 degrees, now we are seeing these changes in 10 years. "

Specifically, which decade did we see global temperatures rise 2 degrees? Celsius or Fahrenheit? Either way, you are full of it. We haven't even seen a 2 degree rise (C or F) in the past 100 years, 150 years, or 200 years.

"Right now, due to heating up of the air, much of this moisture is being evaporated from the ocean into the air. This is causing greater rain storms and more flooding, as we see in Indiana past week."

Floods have always happened--it's called weather. Do you have any evidence that links GW to the flood in Indiana? Didn't think so.