Study projects how mountain climate systems will change with rising carbon dioxide
Mountains create their own weather or climate systems by changing airflow and precipitation patterns. Orographic, or mountain-influenced, precipitation occurs as moisture-laden air rises over the high topography; the air cools, condenses, and releases water; and the atmosphere warms with latent heat. But as the world warms and emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) increase, predicting changes in mountain precipitation is becoming more complex.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate science
What began as a theory in the 1890s — that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide could increase global temperatures — had progressed to a scientific fact a century later. Scientists across a range of disciplines are studying the impact of the still-growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere as they call for industrial and governmental policies to slow, then halt, the warming of the planet.