ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Rachel Pike - Atmospheric chemist
Rachel Pike studies climate change at the molecular level -- tracking how emissions from biofuel crops react with the air to shape weather trends globally.

Why you should listen

Rachel Pike knows the intricacies of climate research -- the laborious, exacting and subtle techniques behind findings that end up in IPCC reports and, later, news headlines.

As a Ph.D candidate at Cambridge, Pike's research on isoprene, a major biofuel crop emission, and other molecules has taken her soaring over rainforest canopies in multi-ton labs-on-wings, into the cooled-down sub-levels of supercomputer grids, and into massive experimental atmospheric chambers. Her exhaustive work represents a major step toward a complete picture of how human activity affects the global ecosystem.

More profile about the speaker
Rachel Pike | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2009

Rachel Pike: The science behind a climate headline

Rachel Pike: Ny siansa ao ambadik'ireo lohantenin-dahatsoratra mahakasika ny toetrandro

Filmed:
787,904 views

Mandritry ny 4 minitra, no anomezan'i Rachel Pike, manam-pahaizana simista momba ny atmôsfera, sombitsombiny amin'ny ezaka goavana nahatongavana amin'ireo lohatenin-dahatsoratra mikasika ny fiovan'ny toetrandro, ataony miaraka amin'ny iray tarika aminy--tarika iray ao anatin'ny arivo mandray anjara--itantarany ny sidina mampidi-doza nataony ambonin'ny ala mando, mikatsaka môlekiola manan-danja anankiray.
- Atmospheric chemist
Rachel Pike studies climate change at the molecular level -- tracking how emissions from biofuel crops react with the air to shape weather trends globally. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
I'd like to talk to you todayamin'izao fotoana izao about the scaleambaratonga
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Ny tiako ho resahina androany dia ny lanjan'
00:18
of the scientificsiantifika effortezaka that goesmandeha into makingkevitra
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ireo ezaka ataon'ny mpikaroka nahatongavana
00:20
the headlinesmatoam you see in the papertaratasy.
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amin'ireo lohatenin-dahatsoratra hitanareo amin'ny gazety.
00:22
HeadlinesMatoam that look like this when they have to do with climatetoetr'andro changefiovana,
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Toy izato ireo lohateny rehefa ny fiovan'ny toetrandro no resahina,
00:24
and headlinesmatoam that look like this when they have to do with airrivotra qualitykalitao or smogsmog.
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ary toy izatsy kosa rehefa momba ny hatsaran'ny rivotra iainana na momba ny "smog" (zavona arahin-tsetroka).
00:28
They are bothna two branchessampana of the sameihany fieldsaha of atmosphericrivotra sciencesiansa.
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Samy sampana avy amin'ny taranja siansan'ny atmôsfera izy roa ireo.
00:31
RecentlyVao haingana the headlinesmatoam lookednijery like this when the IntergovernmentalIntergovernmental
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Vao vetivety izay no nahitana lohateny toy izao
00:33
PanelMembres on ClimateToetr' andro ChangeFiovana, or IPCCIPCC,
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raha nanao tatitra momba ny fahazoana ny firafitra sy fiasan'ny atmosfera
00:35
put out theirny reporttatitra on the statefanjakana of understandingfahazavan-tsaina of the atmosphericrivotra systemrafitra.
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ny IPCC, vondrona mpikaroka iraisam-pirenena manaraka ny fiovan'ny toetrandro.
00:39
That reporttatitra was writtenvoasoratra by 620 scientistsmpahay siansa
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Mpahay siansa 620
00:41
from 40 countriesfirenena.
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avy amin'ny firenena 40 no nanoratra ity tatitra ity.
00:43
They wrotenanoratra almostefa ho a thousandarivo pagespejy on the topiclohahevitra.
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Mahatratra arivo pejy eo ho eo ity tatitra ity.
00:45
And all of those pagespejy were reviewednandinika by anotheriray hafa 400-plus-plus
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Ary mpanitsy sy mpahay siansa maherin'ny 400,
00:48
scientistsmpahay siansa and reviewersfanitsiana, from 113 countriesfirenena.
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avy amin'ny firenena 113 no nanitsy an'ireo takelaka ireo.
00:51
It's a biglehibe communityfiaraha-monina. It's suchtoy izany a biglehibe communityfiaraha-monina, in factzava-misy,
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Fivondronambe izany. Lehibe tokoa, hany ka
00:54
that our annualisan-taona gatheringfanangonana is the largestlehibe indrindra scientificsiantifika meetingfihaonana in the worldizao tontolo izao.
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rehefa misy ny fivoriana fanaonay isan-taona, dia io no fivondronan'ny mpahay siansa lehibe indrindra eto an-tany.
00:57
Over 15,000 scientistsmpahay siansa go to SanSan FranciscoFrancisco everyrehetra yeartaona for that.
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Mpahay siansa 15.000 mahery no mankany San Francisco isan-taona hamonjy azy io.
01:00
And everyrehetra one of those scientistsmpahay siansa is in a researchfikarohana groupvondrona,
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Ary ny tsirairay amin'ireo mpahay siansa ireo dia ao anatin'ny vondrom-pikaroka,
01:02
and everyrehetra researchfikarohana groupvondrona studiesfampianarana a widemalalaka varietyisan-karazany of topicsLohahevitra.
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ary ny vondrom-pikaroka tsirairay avy dia mikaroka lohahevitra samihafa.
01:05
For us at CambridgeCambridge, it's as variedisan-karazany as the ElEl NiNiño oscillationoscillation,
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Ho anay ao Cambridge, dia toy ny fiovaovan'ny El Niño izany lohahevitra izany,
01:08
whichizay affectsvokany eo weatherWeather and climatetoetr'andro,
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mahakasika ny toetrandro,
01:10
to the assimilationassimilation of satellitezanabolana datatahirin-kevitra,
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ny famotopotorana ireo vokatra azo avy amin'ny zana-bolana,
01:12
to emissionsfamokarana entona from cropsvoly that producevoka-pambolena sy fiompiana biofuelsbiofuels, whichizay is what I happenhitranga to studyfianarana.
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hatramin'ireo entona avy amin'ny fambolena izao azo anaovana solika voajanahary, izay efa nanaovako fikarohana.
01:15
And in eachtsirairay one of these researchfikarohana areasfaritra, of whichizay there are even more,
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Ary ao amin'ireo seha-pikarohana tsirairay avy ireo,
01:18
there are PhDDoctorat studentsmpianatra, like me,
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dia misy ireo mpianatra ho PhD (dokotera), toa ahy,
01:20
and we studyfianarana incrediblymampino narrowtery topicsLohahevitra,
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izay mandinika lohahevitra farak'izay bitika,
01:22
things as narrowtery as a fewvitsy processesdingana or a fewvitsy moleculesmolekiola.
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bitika toy ny sela vitsivitsy.
01:24
And one of the moleculesmolekiola I studyfianarana is calledantsoina hoe isopreneisoprene,
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Ary isan'ireo sela anaovako fikarohana ny "isoprène",
01:27
whichizay is here. It's a smallkely organicvoajanahary moleculemolekiola. You've probablyangamba never heardreny of it.
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izay hitantsika eto. sela organika kely izy ity. Mety mbola tsy henonareo akory ny momba azy.
01:31
The weightlanja of a papertaratasy clipClip is approximatelyeo ho eo equalmitovy to
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Ny lanjan'ny "trombone" iray dia mitovy lanja amin'ny
01:33
900 zeta-illionzeta-illion -- 10 to the 21stSt -- moleculesmolekiola of isopreneisoprene.
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sela "isoprène" 900 zeta-illion--faha-10hatramin'ny faha-21 eo ho eo.
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But despitena dia eo aza its very smallkely weightlanja,
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Saingy na maivan-danja ary izy io,
01:39
enoughampy of it is emittedemitted into the atmosphererivotra iainana
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dia betsaka ihany ny votsotra mankany amin'ny atmosfera
01:41
everyrehetra yeartaona to equalmitovy the weightlanja of all the people on the planetplaneta.
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isan-taona ka mitovy amin'ny lanjan'ny olona rehetra eto an-tany.
01:44
It's a hugegoavana amountvola of stuffzavatra. It's equalmitovy to the weightlanja of methanemetanina.
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Betsaka ihany izany. Mitovy lanja lanja amin'ny "méthane".
01:47
And because it's so much stuffzavatra, it's really importantzava-dehibe for the atmosphericrivotra systemrafitra.
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Ary noho izy betsaka izay, dia tena misy vokany tokoa amin'ny firafitry ny atmosfera.
01:50
Because it's importantzava-dehibe to the atmosphericrivotra systemrafitra,
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Noho izy misy vokany eo amin'ny atmosfera izay,
01:53
we go to all lengthsvaninandron' to studyfianarana this thing.
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no nandihanay manokana ity zavatra ity.
01:55
We blowmitsoka it up and look at the piecesfarantsa.
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Nozahana akaiky izy io ary nojerena ireo singa rehetra ao aminy.
01:57
This is the EUPHOREEUPHORE SmogSmog ChamberTao in SpainEspaina.
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Ito ny EUPHORE Smog Chamber any Espana.
01:59
AtmosphericAtmospheric explosionsfipoahan' ny vanja ve, or fullfeno combustionsetroka,
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Ny fipoahan'ny atmosfera, na ny firehetana feno,
02:01
takes about 15,000 timesfotoana longerintsony than what happensmitranga in your carfiara.
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dia mitaky fotoana lava 15.000 heny noho ny mitranga ao amin'ny fiaranareo.
02:04
But still, we look at the piecesfarantsa.
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Na izany aza, mizaha ireo singa izahay.
02:06
We runRun enormousgoavana modelsmodely on supercomputerssupercomputers;
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Mampiasa solosaina goavana izahay
02:08
this is what I happenhitranga to do.
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hijerena ny fiasan'ny modely goavana ihany koa.
02:10
Our modelsmodely have hundreds-jatony of thousandsan'arivony of gridfefy boxesboaty
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Ny modely ampiasanay dia misy "mailles de grilles" aman'hetsiny
02:12
calculatingdratsy hundreds-jatony of variableshiovaova eachtsirairay, on minuteminitra timescalestimescales.
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izay natao hikajikajiana "variables" aman-jatony, isa-minitra.
02:15
And it takes weeksherinandro to performmanao our integrationsintegrations.
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Herinandro maro vao vita ny fampidirana ny vokatra.
02:17
And we performmanao dozensam-polony of integrationsintegrations
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ary fampirana vokatra am-polony
02:19
in ordermba to understandhahatakatra what's happeningmitranga.
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no atao vao azo tsara ny zava-mitranga.
02:21
We alsoihany koa flymanidina all over the worldizao tontolo izao looking for this thing.
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Manao sidina ihany koa izahay eran'izao tontolo izao, mitady azy io ihany.
02:24
I recentlyvao haingana joinednanatevin-daharana a fieldsaha campaignfampielezan-kevitra in MalaysiaMalaisie. There are othersny hafa.
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Vao vetivety aho izay no nirotsaka an-tsehatra tany Malaysie. Ary misy hafa ihany koa.
02:27
We foundhita a globalmaneran- atmosphericrivotra watchtowertilikambo there,
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Nahita tilikambo fiambenana ahafahana mizaha ny atmosfera eran-tany izahay tany,
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in the middleafovoany of the rainforestala mando, and hungHung hundreds-jatony of thousandsan'arivony
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tany afovoan'ny ala mando tany, ary fitaovana ara-tsiansa manokana mitentina an-jatony dôlara any ho any
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of dollarsdolara worthmendrika of scientificsiantifika equipmentfitaovana
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no nahantona tamin'io tilikambo be io
02:33
off this towertilikambo, to look for isopreneisoprene,
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hitadiavana ny "isoprène",
02:35
and of courseMazava ho azy fa, other things while we were there.
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ary, mazava ho azy, hitadiavana zavatra hafa ihany koa, rehefa teo ihany.
02:37
This is the towertilikambo in the middleafovoany of the rainforestala mando, from aboveambony.
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Ito ilay tilikambo be raha jerena avy ambony.
02:39
And this is the towertilikambo from belowambany.
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Ary ito kosa raha avy ambany.
02:41
And on partanjara of that fieldsaha campaignfampielezan-kevitra we even broughtnitondra an aircraftfiaramanidina with us.
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Ary nampiasa fiaramanidina mihitsy ary izahay nadritry ny ampahany tamin'io firotsahana an-tsehatra io.
02:44
And this planefiaramanidina, the modelmodely, BABA146, whichizay was runRun by FAAMFAAM,
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Fiaramanidina, BA146, izay FAAM no nanamory azy,
02:47
normallyara-dalàna flieslalitra 120 to 130 people.
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ary mahazaka olona 120 hatramin'ny 130.
02:50
So maybe you tooknaka a similarsimilar aircraftfiaramanidina to get here todayamin'izao fotoana izao.
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Mety fiaramanidina toy io ihany koa no ho raisinareo raha mankany ianareo ankehitriny.
02:53
But we didn't just flymanidina it. We were flyingmanidina at 100 metersmetatra aboveambony the topambony of the canopyelom
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Saingy tsy hoe nitaingina fotsiny izahay, fa nanidina 100 metatra ambonin'ny tendron'ny hazo tao an'ala
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to measurerefesina this moleculemolekiola -- incrediblymampino dangerousmampidi-doza stuffzavatra.
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handrefesana io môlekiola io--mampidi-doza ihany ilay izy.
02:59
We have to flymanidina at a specialmanokana inclinemampitodika in ordermba to make the measurementsfandrefesana.
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Misy fitongilanana tsy maintsy notazomina mba ahafahana manao ny fandrefesana.
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We hirehanakarama militarymiaramila and testfitsapana pilotsmpanamory to do the maneuveringfanamoriana.
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Mpanamory miaramila sy "pilotes d'essai" no niara-niasa taminay.
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We have to get specialmanokana flightsidina clearancefahazoan.
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Tsy maintsy tandremana ihany koa ny elanelana aroloza.
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And as you come around the banksbanky in these valleyslohasaha, the forcestafika can get up to two GsGs.
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Rehefa manodidina ireo lohasaha izahay dia mahatratra 2G ny hery misintona.
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And the scientistsmpahay siansa have to be completelytanteraka harnessedharnessed in
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Ary tsy maintsy nampiasa "harnais de sécurité" ireo mpikaroka
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in ordermba to make measurementsfandrefesana while they're on boardboard.
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ahafahany manao ny fandrefesana avy ao amin'ilay fiaramanidina.
03:13
So, as you can imaginesary an-tsaina,
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Azonareo an-tsaina angamba,
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the insideao anatiny of this aircraftfiaramanidina doesn't look like any planefiaramanidina you would take on vacationfialan-tsasatra.
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fa tsy mitovy amin'ny firamanidina fitsangatsanganana mahazatra ny ao anatin'ilay fiaramanidina nampiasanay.
03:18
It's a flyingmanidina laboratorylaboratoara that we tooknaka to make measurementsfandrefesana in the regionfaritra of this moleculemolekiola.
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toy ny labôratoara manidina mihitsy no nampiasaina ahafahana mandrefy an'ilay môlekiola any amin'ny faritra misy azy.
03:23
We do all of this to understandhahatakatra the chemistrysimia of one moleculemolekiola.
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Izany rehetra izany no natao mba ahazoana tsara ny fiasan'io môlekiola io.
03:26
And when one studentmpianatra like me has some sortsort of inclinationfironana
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Ary rehefa misy mpianatra mpikaroka iray, toa ahy,
03:28
or understandingfahazavan-tsaina about that moleculemolekiola,
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mahita sombim-pahalalàna momba io môlekiola io,
03:30
they writemanoratra one scientificsiantifika papertaratasy on the subjectfoto-kevitra.
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dia mamoaka lahatsotra siantifika momba izany.
03:32
And out of that fieldsaha campaignfampielezan-kevitra we'llHaverinay probablyangamba get
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Ary tamin'io firotsahana an-tsehatra io,
03:34
a fewvitsy dozenampolony paperstaratasy on a fewvitsy dozenampolony processesdingana or moleculesmolekiola.
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dia lahatsotra siantifika am-polony eo ho eo, mahakasika ny endrika fiasa am-polony momba io môlekiola io no azo.
03:37
And as a bodyvatana of knowledgefahalalana buildsmanorina up,
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Ary rehefa mitambatra ireo fahalalàna ireo,
03:39
it will formteny one subsectionzana-pizarana, or one sub-subsectionsub-zana-pizarana
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dia manome zana-pizaràna iray, na zana-pizaràna iray ao amin'ny
03:42
of an assessmentfanombanana like the IPCCIPCC, althoughna dia we have othersny hafa.
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fanombanana toy ny IPCC, na dia misy hafa koa aza.
03:45
And eachtsirairay one of the 11 chapterstoko of the IPCCIPCC
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Ary ny tsirairay amin'ireo toko 11 ao amin'ny IPCC
03:48
has sixenina to tenfolo subsectionszana-pizarana.
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dia mizara zana-pizaràna 6.
03:50
So you can imaginesary an-tsaina the scaleambaratonga of the effortezaka.
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Hitanareo amin'izany ny haben'ny ezaka sy asa ao ambadika.
03:52
In eachtsirairay one of those assessmentsfitsapam-pahaizana that we writemanoratra,
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Ao amin'ny tsirairay amin'ireo fanombanana soratanay,
03:54
we always tagmari-pamantarana on a summaryfamintinana,
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dia asianay marika foana ny famintinana,
03:56
and the summaryfamintinana is writtenvoasoratra for a non-scientifictsy siantifika audiencempihaino.
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ary natokana ho an'ny mpamaky tsotra io famintinana io.
03:59
And we handtanana that summaryfamintinana to journalistsmpanao gazety and policypolitika makersmpamorona,
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Ary atolotray mpanao gazety sy mpamoron-dalàna io famintinana io,
04:01
in ordermba to make headlinesmatoam like these.
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ahafahana mamoaka lohatenin-dahatsoratra toa itony.
04:03
Thank you very much.
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Misaotra betsaka.
04:05
(ApplauseNitehaka mafy)
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(Tehaka Mirefodreafotra)

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Rachel Pike - Atmospheric chemist
Rachel Pike studies climate change at the molecular level -- tracking how emissions from biofuel crops react with the air to shape weather trends globally.

Why you should listen

Rachel Pike knows the intricacies of climate research -- the laborious, exacting and subtle techniques behind findings that end up in IPCC reports and, later, news headlines.

As a Ph.D candidate at Cambridge, Pike's research on isoprene, a major biofuel crop emission, and other molecules has taken her soaring over rainforest canopies in multi-ton labs-on-wings, into the cooled-down sub-levels of supercomputer grids, and into massive experimental atmospheric chambers. Her exhaustive work represents a major step toward a complete picture of how human activity affects the global ecosystem.

More profile about the speaker
Rachel Pike | Speaker | TED.com