Techniques and Tools Used to Address Climate Change Threats

Climate and Climate Changes
Name
Course Professor University State Date
Introduction
Climate change has been one of the most concern areas for over a century years because of the great threat it poses to humanity. Numerous scientific researches has associated the weather and climatic variations and the rise of global temperatures to the greenhouse gases (Light, 2013 p. 248).
Addressing Threats of Climate Change
Some models such as the Kyoto Protocol has been set up to address the threats posed by climate changes. However, predictions for future climate changes is a very difficult because climate system is a complex structure composed of interactions, processes and oscillations slightly understood or undiscovered (Readinger 2006 p. 15). Instrumental records in existence today cut no longer than 150-200 years.
Ways that extract data beyond the time covered by instrumental records are therefore important in understanding the current climate changes (Readinger, 2006 p. 16). Ice core is one of the ways of extracting the pre-historical climate data. This paper is a poster that seeks to examine the reconstruction of climate change using tropical ice cores (Readinger, 2006 p. 18).
Ice Cores
Ice cores provides one of the most accurate and direct sources of paleo-proxy data (Hijmans, et al. 2005 p. 341). They present superb seasonal markers including stable water ratios that provide insight into the cold and warm periods of the year. Ice cores enable scientists study climate fluctuations based on time series that extends back to thousands of years (Readinger, 2006 p. 20).
Image 1: Showing ice core seasonal signals
(Sources: Climate Change Institute (CCI, 2011 p 22)).
Other seasonal markers include dust. Dust can be highly concentrated that they are visible in the ice as reflected in the diagram below.
Image 2: Showing visible annual dust layers.
(Sources: Worldbankgroup, 2014 p. 8)
Ice cores can also be examined annually allowing scientists to reconstruct Climate Changes in annual climate fluctuations (El Nino, NAO and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation).
Graph 1: Showing Seasonal stable Isotope Signals
(Sources: CCI, 2011 pg. 23).
Drilling Ice Core from Tropical Regions
In recent years, valuable cores have been extracted from tropical latitudes. Such cores although acquired from smaller sized ice caps, their residence is on much higher locations above sea level ( 20,000 ft above sea level) which makes their drilling more difficult and dangerous (CSIRO, 2009 p. 15).
Ice Core Paleoclimatology Group based at the Byrd Polar Research Centre at Ohio State University was the first to drill ice cores from tropical regions. Dozens of multi-century high altitude ice cores has been drilled since then. Examples of places where tropical ice cores has been drilled to date include Mt. Kilimanjaro and the Himalayan plateau.
Image 4 & 5: Showing Ice core drilling from the Tropical Regions
Ice Core Drilling at Kilimanjaro Ice Core Drilling in Himalayan Plateau
(Sources: Worldbankgroup, 2014)
Ice cores from tropical regions are typically 4-5 inches and a length of about 1 meter. These cores are indexed and stored in cold rooms for chemical analysis (IPCC, 2007 p. 10).
Image 6:...