Wiertsema, Anniek (2021) The Changing Climate of Friesland. Bachelor thesis, Global Responsibility & Leadership (GRL).
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Abstract
This study aims to investigate the effects of climate change in Friesland over the last decades and the impacts it has on environmental stakeholders. Due to the unique agricultural landscape, within the Netherlands but also outside of it, it is important to gain more knowledge about this area. Rationale and background of the proposed study I will conduct a meteorological data analysis and visualization, using the ERA5 database which contains atmospheric data from 1950 on. After analyzing the ERA5 temperature data, it became evident that an increasing trend in temperature could be identified in April over the last years as compared to the whole period between 1950 to 2020. This fits the IPCC expectations regarding future climate change and the accompanying temperature increases. Furthermore, the total precipitation changes over the last seventy years have also been studied. The outcome of this study is that the total precipitation in Friesland has not changed significantly over the past decade as compared to the last seventy years. For some months stronger dips in precipitation have been observed as well as times of less precipitation, however, no real decreasing trend could be identified. To explain the increasing temperatures in April over the past years, we have looked into several underlying mechanisms. These explanatory factors included cloud cover, changes in atmospheric circulations, and CO2 levels. After studying the changes in cloud cover in more depth, I came to believe that the temperature increase in the April months may partially be caused by a decreasing trend in cloud cover. Furthermore, the same can be stated for the factor of atmospheric circulations. The changes in atmospheric circulations have been measured by the hand of U- and V-wind vector components and the shifts they have displayed over the past decade as compared to the broader period of 1950-2020. What could be observed was a shifting atmospheric circulation with the wind turning towards the North-West, bringing along warmer continental winds in April. This, combined with the decreasing cloud cover might be of influence to the increasing temperatures. At last, the CO2 levels have been studied over a representative area to identify a relation between CO2 levels and an increasing temperature for April. What has been observed is a seasonal CO2 change which resulted in CO2 peaks occurring mostly in April and May. Due to the nature of CO2 and it’s the knowledge we have on its’ impact, it is believed that this might be the most significant explanation for the increasing temperature in April. In conclusion, the monthly warming of April can be explained by threefold factors with the main cause being atmospheric CO2 peaks.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
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| Name supervisor: | Ansari, T.U. |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Feb 2022 09:38 |
| Last Modified: | 08 Feb 2022 09:38 |
| URI: | https://campus-fryslan.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/93 |
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