Fun Facts on Climatology

• Polar regions are normally the driest regions on Earth by water vapor- not deserts- because little energy is available to evaporate water, which is also stifled by cold air.
  
• Faint Young Sun Paradox: apparent contradiction between a weak sun but relatively warm global conditions. Stars get bigger and hotter as they grow older. In early Earth history, solar output was 25 to 30% less, but there is no evidence the Earth was frozen. This is reconciled by the greenhouse effect, or radiation emitted from Earth is reflected back down to warm it. High CO2 levels in early Earth decreased as a result of plant evolution and proliferation, keeping the climate steady. However, as there is no evidence that such large concentrations of CO2 existed to create such a greenhouse effect, other explanations involve ammonia versus methanogens- the demise of the methanogens may have caused the first Global Ice Age
• The mean elevation of Antarctica is 2,200 M or 7,200 ft., which far exceeds that of any other continent. Such high elevations lead to low temperatures and low atmosphere pressures. The Bentley subglacial Trench extends 2,555 M or 8,382 ft below sea level and is currently locked between beneath an extensive ice sheet lowest point on Earth that is not under seawater. Lake Vostok is a huge subglacial lake that receives meltwater from 13,000 ft of thick ice above it.
• The ITCZ can buffer north hemisphere summer precipitation by adding to monsoon totals, as seen in cities like Mumbai.  In some places they split, such as Columbo, Sri Lanka. Others don't even have a monsoon, which see a strong summer precipitation from the ITCZ.
• Without the Coriolis force, Hadley cells would start at the equatorial low pressure and end at the polar low pressure.
• Mid latitude cyclones distribute energy by pushing cold fronts south and warm fronts north. A cold front progresses around a mid-latitude cyclone faster than a warm front because it is denser. The warm front migrates with the storm that doesn't radically change position. Systems decay once the occluded front reaches the upper-level ridge.
• Europe is not an ideal source region for very cold air masses, unlike Canada and Siberia, which is why it is a milder continent than the others. The North Atlantic drift also contributes to temperatures.  Icebergs are not found on the Scandinavian Coast due to the warmer conditions.
  
• More people are believed to die from drowning in the Sahara Desert than thirst because of significant rainfall events, which are typically convective thunderstorms that produce downpours.
• Tropical cyclones do not occur in the South Atlantic, contrary to similar parts of other oceans. This spares Brazil the brunt of tropical storms.
• If the world's current cryosphere were to melt, then sea level would rise by about 67M or 220 ft.
• Paleotempestology is the science of identifying signatures of ancient storms primarily from sediment records.
• There was a period from 10,000 to 7,000 BC known as the Hypsithermal in which global temperatures averaged approximately 2° C higher than today. Most models indicate this is where global warming will put us. If we survived it before, need we worry?  Yes, because many environments will become inhospitable to our growing population, causing refugee crises. Coupled with pollution and loss of biodiversity, the future looks far bleaker than the past.