Climate Change Overview

Principles

Definition

Climate change is an interdisciplinary research concept and field of study focused on understanding the causes, characteristics, impacts, and potential responses to significant, long-term alterations in Earth's climate system. It investigates shifts in weather patterns, temperature, sea level, and extreme events, particularly those attributed to anthropogenic factors, and holds profound global environmental, social, and economic significance.

Ontological type

Impact Sectors

Mitigation Strategies

Physical Drivers

Key developments

Key Figures

Foundations of Climate Modeling era

Wallace S. Broecker [1] was affiliated with Columbia University [3] and City University of Seattle [4] during the Foundations of Climate Modeling era. His work on insolation changes, ice volumes, and the O<sup>18</sup> record in deep-sea cores [7], and on the Barbados data supporting the astronomical theory of climatic change [8] advanced the understanding of orbital forcing and paleoclimate proxies, supplying essential empirical constraints for early radiative-balance thinking and first-generation climate representations in this era. George H. Denton [2] was affiliated with Yale University [5] and the University of Maine [6] during the Foundations of Climate Modeling era. His Holocene Climatic Variations—Their Pattern and Possible Cause [9] articulated patterns and possible causes of Holocene climate variability, providing a framework for interpreting paleoclimate records and guiding subsequent diagnostic and modeling work in this era.

Forcing and Attribution Paradigm era

Michel Legrand [1] is associated with the University of California, San Diego [3] and Heidelberg University [4] during the forcing–attribution paradigm era. Legrand [1] contributed to key climate-history work by exploiting ice-core records, notably the Climate and atmospheric history of the past 420,000 years from the Vostok ice core, Antarctica [7], providing empirical constraints on climate variability and helping quantify the role of forcing and feedback in this era. J. Chappellaz [2] is associated with Université Joseph Fourier [5] and The University of Queensland [6] during this period. Chappellaz [2] contributed to paleoclimate reconstructions and attribution insights by using long ice-core records such as the Vostok study [7], demonstrating how deep history constrains climate sensitivity and the separation of natural variability from anthropogenic signals, which underpinned the era's approach.

Ensemble Projections and Risk era

S. B. Healy[1] is associated with Johns Hopkins University[3] and California Institute of Technology[4] in this era. His key contribution in this era is the ERA5 global reanalysis[6], providing high-resolution, consistent atmospheric data that underpins ensemble projections and risk assessment. Gianpaolo Balsamo[2] is associated with University of California, San Diego[5] and California Institute of Technology[4] in this era. His work on the ERA5 global reanalysis[6] has supported multi-model ensemble evaluation and the production of refined regional outputs for impact analysis and governance planning.