Skip to main content

Engineering and Environmental Challenges Technical Symposium on Earth Systems Engineering (2002) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

Climate Systems Engineering
Pages 7-16

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 7...
... Panel I Understanding, Adapting, and Mitigating Climate Change through Engineering As our understanding of the dynamics of climate change improves, we must initiate organized efforts either to influence or to adapt to these changes. This panel addresses the role of the engineering community in understanding and responding to changes in Earth systems.
Read the entire page →
From page 9...
... Recently, however, human activities have been acknowledged to be at least partly responsible for climate change, particularly global warming. Today, climate change is a topic of intense national and international interest because of its environmental, economic, and social consequences.
Read the entire page →
From page 10...
... According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) , mathematical climate models indicate that global surface temperatures will increase significantly by 2100 (IPCC, 2001~.
Read the entire page →
From page 11...
... Almost 10 years ago, in the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) , the international community agreed to try to "achieve stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system" (United Nations, 1992~.
Read the entire page →
From page 12...
... A protocol initialed by the COP in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 would limit emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases and assign emission targets to industrialized countries. Developing countries unwilling to commit to the protocol were given a pass (United Nations, 1997~.
Read the entire page →
From page 13...
... Minimizing, or even reversing, the adverse effects of climate change is an extremely complex challenge. The first step will be setting target levels of global greenhouse gas concentrations, a process that is rife with uncertainties and controversy.
Read the entire page →
From page 14...
... Options include reducing emissions of CO2 from fixed and mobile sources, sequestering carbon dioxide, reducing the emissions of other greenhouse gases, and using geoengineering (e.g., injecting dust or other particulate matter into the stratosphere to reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching Earth) on a global scale (Box 1~.
Read the entire page →
From page 15...
... 1992. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Read the entire page →

Key Terms

  • water resources
  • gas concentrations
  • fossil fuels
  • global warming
  • kyoto protocol

  • framework convention
  • percent below
  • mean surface
  • atmospheric concentrations
  • national assessment

  • prevent dangerous
  • severe weather
  • surface temperatures
  • assessment synthesis
  • target concentrations

  • synthesis team
  • global mean
  • sequester carbon
  • atmospheric greenhouse
  • intergovernmental panel

  • elevated global
  • kyoto signatories
  • future climate
  • climate models
  • metric tons

  • include familiar
  • agreement requires
  • control atmospheric
  • nitrous oxide
  • gas emissions


    • This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
    More information on Chapter Skim is available.