Literature reviews - GHG & Drought

Literature reviews

     Past studies have offered different approaches and conclusions about the causes and effect of the greenhouse gases emission and drought globally and in California.  Mastrandrea and Luers (2011) reasoned that even with increasingly global movement to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, the climate change would not cease even with decades ahead due to earlier releases and the resistance to change in biogeophysical and social systems. Hence, as a supplement to lessen the emission activities, the state must focus on emerging in onto the capacity to adapt to the inevitable of climate change’s impacts that it is currently experiencing and will continue to experience over the upcoming decades. The study provided that climate can be projected largely by two factors (1) the greenhouse gas’ rapidity and the amount it emits into atmosphere; and (2) the reactions of the oceans and atmosphere to the rising emissions. The study mentioned that California and the western states have been experiencing increasing not only in average temperatures but also changes in patterns in rain and snows with a rising in sea levels and frequency of severity weather events such as heave waves etc. The articles recommended both short term and long term (30+ years) planning for all sectors.  For example, it is recommended that to increase air quality by enforcing standards and public education on relations between quality of air and impacts on climate change. The study recommended that since California is accustomed with uncertainties, such as natural hazards, earthquakes and flood, long-term plans must be coordinated with mitigation activities and should be implemented concurrently.  The choices for emission reductions will be a determine factor for the impacts and the changes they will bring to the future climate change and its adaptation requirements for the social systems.
     Gielen and Kram (1998) suggested that non-CO2 gas emissions might decrease independently over time. The research remarked that the uncertainty of CO2 emission is lower than the certainty of non-CO2 GHG emissions; therefore it is suitable in the structure of the Kyoto protocol. The non-CO2 is 21 percent of total Western European greenhouse gas emission.  With the autonomous reduction, the non-CO2 will progressively decrease to 18 percent mark with proper coal mine closures and waste policies implementation.  The study suggested that the primary target for reducing emissions must be from sectors such as landfill sites, cooling and air-conditioning equipment and applications and the aluminum industry.
     The authors also advised that recycling and efficient usage of materials in chain management can help reduce emission.  Agricultural emissions would continue to remain at the current rate in decades ahead.   Due to lack of unity in methodology and calculations across the globe, emission reduction initiative is solely depended on the extension of individual country’s willingness.  This can create gaps and questions of accuracy of the countries that challenge the Kyoto protocol’s credibility.
     Ramanathan and Feng (2009) provided a novel research on greenhouse gases and its links to air pollution and climate change.  The research indicated that GHG generates increase in temperature of the earth and the atmosphere with substantial implications for sea level, rainfall, ice and glaciers etc. Approximately three decades ago, it was acknowledged that the importance of greenhouse gas emission creates the increase of air pollution in the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere. What was not studied and less recognized then, however, is global situation in addressing air pollution. Until a decade ago, air pollution or contamination was brought to public notice and recognized as an urban/local problem.  However, new measurements and facts have discovered that air pollution is carried and transported across continents and oceans by atmospheric brown clouds (ABCs) which containing atomized and vaporize polluted chemicals.  By absorbing and reflecting sunlight, ABCs create a large surface dimming. This dimming formation created a cooling effect on earth’s surface. The cooling effect leads to reductions in moisture evaporation of the soil, thus delay the hydrological cycle. Another affect of the ABC’s absorption is increasing heat and tends to amplify overall the atmosphere’s greenhouse warming.
     The article also suggested ABCs’ surface cooling has trapped the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere which may be responsible for as much as 47 percent of the global warming with an uncertainty range of 20–80 percent. This gives a problem since efforts to restraint and reduce air pollution may unmask the cooling effect of atmospheric brown clouds and improve the surface warming. Therefore, the research recommended that the determinations to reduce greenhouse gas and air pollution should be established and done under one unified framework or methodology