Atmosphere and Global Change

Why is thermohaline circulation crucial?

Drives the mixing of surface water and deep water, which moves heat and nutrients around the globe.

What anthropogenic processes are influencing natural carbon cycling?

Extraction and combustion of fossil fuels and plant matter.

What causes annual fluctuations in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations?

Seasonal variations in photosynthesis.

How much have annual mean temperatures increased?

0.8 degrees Celsius (1.4º F) or 1.1ºC (2.0ºF).

How does agriculture contribute to climate change?

Deforestation to clear ground for agriculture (slash and burn) and combustion of fossil fuels for agricultural machinery.

What is the greenhouse effect?

A layer of greenhouse gases - primarily water vapor, and including much smaller amounts of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide - acts as a thermal blanket for the Earth, absorbing heat and warming the surface to a life-supporting average of 59 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ozone Layer

A layer of the Earth's stratosphere at an altitude of 10 km/6.2 miles containing a high concentration of ozone, which absorbs most of the ultraviolet radiation reaching Earth from the sun.

Atmospheric Pressure

A pressure exerted by the weight of the atmosphere.

El Nino

A reversal of wind and water currents in the South Pacific.

Glaciers

A slowly moving mass or river of ice formed by the accumulation and compaction of snow on mountains or near the poles.

Greenhouse Effect

Absorption of infrared radiation by atmospheric gases and reradiation of the energy back towards the earth.

Carbon Sequestration

An approach to stabilizing greenhouse gases by removing CO2 from the atmosphere.

Permafrost

An impermeable, permanently frozen layer of soil.

What is the Kyoto Protocol?

An international agreement in which countries set goals to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

Kyoto Protocol

An international agreement that sets a goal for global emissions of greenhouse gases from all industrialized countries to be reduced by 5.2% below their 1990 levels by 2012.

Thermohaline Circulation

An oceanic circulation pattern that drives the mixing of surface water and deep water.

What greenhouse gas is the most efficient at absorbing thermal radiation?

CFCs.

What has the Montreal Protocol been successful in reducing?

CFCs.

Which greenhouse gas comes purely from anthropogenic sources?

CFCs.

Which major greenhouse gas has the greatest global warming potential and comes only from human sources?

CFCs.

What are the five greenhouse gases that are contributing to global warming?

CO2, H2O, N2O, CFCs, and CH4.

What are examples of sequestered carbon?

Carbon dioxide that has been pumped deep underground for storage to decrease the amount in the atmosphere, trees, carbon soil, limestone, and oil.

Which major greenhouse gas exists in the atmosphere at the highest concentration?

Carbon dioxide.

Where can carbon be sequestered?

Carbon is sequestered in plants (forests), animals, wetlands, sedimentary rock (as fossil fuels).

What effect does El Nino have on climate?

Causes increased rainfall in South America and Southern part of United States and causes drought in Australia and South Pacific.

Positive Feedback

Change in a system that is amplified.

Global Change

Change that occurs in the chemical, biological, and physical properties of the planet.

Global Climate Change

Changes in the average weather that occurs in an area over a period of years or decades.

How will global warming and climate change affect humans?

Coastal communities have to relocate, geographic range of temperature-limited organisms, like mosquitos, would increase, mosquitos are vectors for disease, heat waves can cause death to the young and old, economic consequences, (ex. decreased snowpack can impact vacations to areas with seasonal snow)

What are the five anthropogenic processes of greenhouse gas emissions?

Combustion of fossil fuels, agricultural practices, deforestation, landfills, industrial production of new greenhouse chemicals (i.e., CFCs).

Global Cooling

Cooling of the Earth's surface and atmospheric culminating in a period of extensive glaciation; declining of average temperature.

What two things cause the prevailing wind patterns worldwide?

Coriolis Effect and atmospheric convection currents.

What is the role of feedbacks on the impacts of climate change?

Feedbacks in the environment can be either positive or negative. Positive feedbacks, such as global warming that causes higher rates of soil decomposition can amplify the effects of global warming. Negative feedbacks, such as plants responding to increased carbon dioxide concentrations can reduce the effects of global warming.

How is global climate change different from global warming?

Global climate changes refers to changes in the average weather that has occurred on Earth over a period of years and/or decades. Global warming refers to specific aspects of climate changes, such as: the warming of the oceans, land masses, and atmosphere on Earth.

What type of effect does particulate matter in the atmosphere have?

Global cooling.

Atmospheric Convection Current

Global patterns of air movement that they are initiated by unequal heating of Earth.

What is the evidence of climate change?

Global temperature rise, increased ocean temperature, decreased ice and snow, sea level rise, and ocean acidification.

Kneeling Curve

Graph that plots the ongoing change in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere.

What is most responsible for Earth's greenhouse effect?

H2O.

What type of radiation does greenhouse absorb?

IR (infra-red) radiation.

What concerns do scientists have regarding the effect of global warming on thermohaline circulation?

If increased air temperatures accelerate the melting of glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere, the waters of the North Atlantic could become less salty and thus less likely to sink. Such a change could potentially shut down thermohaline circulation.

How is an "El Niño" year different than a "Normal" year?

In a normal year, trade winds push warm surface waters away from the coast of South America and promote the upwelling of water from the ocean bottom. In an El Nino year, trade winds weaken or reverse direction, so warm waters build up along the west coast of Peru.

Where do scientists collect the most accurate evidence of historic climate on Earth and how can it be used as evidence of climate?

In cold areas, the snowfall each year eventually compresses to become ice. Similar to marine sediments, younger ice is near the surface and the oldest ice is much deeper. During the process of compression, the ice captures small air bubbles. These bubbles contain tiny samples of the atmosphere that existed at the time the ice was formed.

How does increased cloud coverage could cause global cooling?

Increased cloud coverage decreases the amount of solar radiation that can enter the earth.

What are the five predicted effects of global climate change on the environment?

Increased heat waves, fewer cold days, precipitations patterns will change, some areas will experience increased rainfall, landslides, soil erosion, increase in storm intensity, shift in thermohaline circulation.

As air cools and reaches its saturation point, what happens to the water vapor?

It condenses.

Gyres

Large scale pattern of water circulation that moves clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

Why is the melting of polar ice caps and glaciers a problem?

Melting of polar ice caps and glaciers cause sea level to rise.

What is Carbon Sequestration?

Natural or artificial process of storing carbon (ex. soils, plant matter, fossil fuels).

What type of feedback is increased warming leading to cloud formation, which blocks incoming solar radiation, leading to cooling?

Negative feedback.

Of the areas listed, where do scientists collect the most accurate evidence of the historic climate of the Earth?

North-East North America.

Why is melting permafrost important?

Permafrost is melting and organic matter that has been trapped starts become exposed. Also, there may be bacteria and/or viruses present in the permafrost that humans may not be adapted to.

How do the four effects of global climate change contribute to positive feedback of global warming?

Polar ice caps and glacier melt reduces albedo, so less energy is reflected back into the atmosphere and organic matter in the permafrost will decompose releasing methane into the atmosphere.

Identify four effects of global climate change that are already happening and discuss what is happening to them?

Polar ice caps are melting, glaciers are melting, permafrost is melting, sea levels, melting ice caps, glaciers increases the volume of water in the ocean, and thermal expansion.

What type of feedback is increased warming leading to decreased snow and ice cover?

Positive feedback.

As air rises higher in the atmosphere, what happens to pressure and temperature?

Pressure and temperature both decrease.

What are effects of climate change?

Sea-level rise, polar ice caps melt, permafrost melting, and glaciers melting.

What has the highest albedo?

Snow.

If sea levels rise as a result of climate change, in what area would human populations be most affected?

Southern Asia.

Negative Feedback

System that responds to change by returning to its original state or by decreasing the rate of change that is occurring.

What event lead to the increase in global temperatures?

The Industrial Revolution.

What is albedo?

The ability to reflect sunlight from the Earth's surface or atmosphere.

Coriolis Effect

The deflection of an object's path due to the rotation of the Earth.

What is the fifth layer of the atmosphere?

The exosphere which is very thin, fades in to space, and where atoms and molecules escape into space.

Montreal Protocol

The global agreement to protect the stratospheric ozone layer by phasing out the production and consumption of ozone depleting substances.

What factors correlate with the steady increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations?

The increase is correlated to increased human emissions of carbon from the combustion of fossil fuels and deforestation (net destruction of vegetation).

Sea Level

The level of the sea's surface.

What is the third layer of the atmosphere?

The mesosphere which is where meteors burn up and where temperature decreases as altitude increases.

Ocean Acidification

The process by which an increase of ocean CO2 causes more CO2 to be converted to Carbonic Acid, which lowers Ph of the water.

What is the second layer of the atmosphere?

The stratosphere which is where ozone later exists which protects and absorbs from UV rays and it is where jet planes fly.

What is the fourth layer of the atmosphere?

The thermosphere which is where northern lights occur and where the orbit of the International Space Station occurs.

What is the primary cause of Earth's seasons?

The tilt of Earth's rotational axis with respect to the plane of its orbit around the sun.

What are the causes of unequal heating of the Earth?

The tilt of the Earth and albedo.

What is the first layer of the atmosphere?

The troposphere which contains over half of Earth's atmosphere mass/ most molecules, this is where weather occurs, and it is at the bottom of Earth's surface.

Global Warming

The warming of the ocean, land, masses, and atmosphere of Earth.

What is the most important factor contributing to increased sea level?

Thermal expansion of the ocean.

What is the most important factors causing sea-level rise?

Thermal expansion of the ocean.

What direction do the trade winds that are caused by the Coriolis Effect (deflection of atmospheric air currents) come from?

Trade winds come from the east and move west.

Where does El Nino occur?

Tropical Eastern Pacific.

Which layer of the atmosphere does global climate change occur?

Troposphere.

What are major global wind cooling primarily produced by?

Unequal heating of the Earth by the sun.

What causes oceanic circulation patterns?

Unequal or differential heating, gravity, prevailing wind, the Coriolis effect, and the locations of the continents.

What are the four natural processes of greenhouse gas emissions?

Volcanic eruptions, decomposition and digestion (cellular respiration), denitrification, evaporation, and evapotranspiration.

How is global warming a positive feedback system?

Warming melts ice caps, which lowers albedo and increases Earth's ability to retain heat on land masses.

Which greenhouse gas is most responsible for the Earth's greenhouse gas effect?

Water Vapor (H2O).

Where would rainfall most likely increase as a result of an ongoing El Niño event?

Western North and South America.