Natural Disasters Final Exam

7. What percentage of the global oceans have we impacted? What percentage of fisheries stocks are collapsed or overexploited?

-100% of oceans -58% of stocks

4. How did climate change impact Iowa's economy in 2011 and 2012?

-2011: Floods caused $85 million in direct damages (property and crop loss) -2012: Drought closed locks on Mississippi River, barges had to run around it, cost $275 million

6. What percentage of the global energy budget does the US use annually? What percentage of the world's population lives within the US?

-28.5 trillion kwh/yr (97 quads) out of 511 quads -20% of global energy budget, about 5% of world's population

6. How much water do you need each day, to survive? How much (if you're in the US) do you use, and where does that go? You should know the big water sink that I pointed out in class.

-5 liters a day to survive -4455 liters a day per capita in U.S -24% toilet, 20% shower, 19% faucet

2. What percentage of the Forest Service budget goes towards fighting fires?

-50% of budget

9. What percent of greenhouse gas emissions are absorbed by oceans and forests each year?

-55%

15. How has the length of the fire season changed over the past several decades?

-78 days longer than in 1970

11. How much has climate warmed since the 1880s, globally?

-About .85 Celsius

2. With the higher emissions scenario, how much warmer will Iowa be by 2100? You should know the degrees F value for the worst case scenario.

-About 10 degrees warmer (about 4 in best case)

3. Approximately how much of the world's total energy budget is used by the US, every year?

-About 20%

6. What is the angle of repose? How does grain size, grain shape and water content impact angle of repose?

-Angle of particles dropped into a pile, based on size and angularity -Grain size: the finer the grain, the more shallow slope -Grain shape: the more angular the grain, the steeper a slope -Water content: depends, some water increases cohesion, but too much pushes grains apart

10. What is a life cycle assessment?

-Assessed environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life from raw material extraction through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, use, repair and maintenance, and disposal or recycling

14. Why don't we call prescribed burns controlled burns anymore, like we used to?

-Because not all of the burns stayed controlled

10. What does it mean to be a poikilotherm?

-Body temp. and size are dependent on ambient (atmosphere) temp.

12. What do hotshot firefighters do, as part of their job (what are they building on the ground)?

-Build fire breaks and back burn fires

3. What do packrats build, and what kinds of information can we get from studying these deposits?

-Build middens -Changes in animal species abundance and change in plant communities (reflects climate)

1. What is the deadliest wildfire in California state history?

-Camp Fire

4. What can we directly measure in ice cores?

-Carbon dioxide and methane concentration

6. What are the major greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere?

-Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gases

8. What is a carrying capacity (concept) and an ecological footprint?

-Carrying capacity: the number of people, living organisms, or plants a region (Earth) can support without environmental degradation (support with resources like water, food)\ -Ecological footprint: measures human consumption in terms of biologically productive land needed to provide the resources and absorb the water

3. Know the different global climate drivers (you should be able to match terms to their descriptions).

-Changes in solar energy: early Sun was 30% less bright -Configuration of continents: continents over poles drive cooling, changes in currents near continents -Changes in albedo: higher albedo, the more reflective an object is and more energy is sent back to space -Changes in atmospheric composition: water vapor stayed constant, but changes in carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases cause climate change -Milankovitch cycles: effects of Earth's movement (eccentricity, tilt, and precession) on global climate over thousands of years

1. How do we predict how climate will change with increased levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere?

-Climate will increase with increased levels of greenhouse gases

1. How does climate differ from weather?

-Climate: the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area -Weather: minutes-to-months changes in atmosphere

10. What has the United States done, in terms of how we have treated wildfires over the years? How has this impacted fuel availability, as well as the likelihood of fires becoming crown fires?

-Complete prevention of wildfires, Smokey Bear campaign -More fuel available from grounds of forests (overgrown trees, sticks, branches) -Greater likelihood of fires becoming crown fires

8. How do fires transfer energy? Be able to match terms and definitions here.

-Conduction: heat passes through material, drives off moisture -Convection: heater air and gases rise, pulls in air at lower levels -Radiation: radiated heat through space

2. What is the Anthropocene?

-Current geological age, human activity has dominant influence and humans are aware of influence

4. Which event occurs more rapidly: an earth flow or a debris flow? Which has a larger average particle size?

-Debris flow is faster -Debris flow has larger particles

9. What is sustainability, broadly defined?

-Development which meets needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs -The Earth has a finite amount of resources

8. What is "enteric fermentation" and what percent of methane does it contribute to the United State's annual emissions?

-Digestive process by which carbohydrates are broken down by microorganisms into simple molecules for absorption into the bloodstream of an animal -25%

2. What is a mass wasting event (definition)?

-Downward movement of material under influence of gravity -Occurs when force of gravity exceeds strength of materials

11. What are some observations that you might make that would indicate that creep is occurring?

-Drunken trees, tilted fences

9. What are Milankovitch cycles? You should know the names of the three different cycles.

-Eccentricity: Earth encounters more variation in energy that it receives when orbit is elongated then when it is more circular -Titl: tilt of Earth's axis between 22.2 and 24.5, greater the tilt angle causes poles to receive from solar energy -Precession (wobble): gradual change in orientation of Earth's axis affects the relationship between tilt and eccentricity

7. Is material more rapidly oxidized during flaming combustion or smouldering combustion?

-Flaming combustion

3. What is the distinguishing characteristic of a flow? What are the differences between earthflows, debris flows, and avalanches?

-Flows: slurries of loose rock, mud, and other material, moves like a fluid, very fast -Earth and debris flows are supported by water -Avalanches are supported by air, can be snow or rocks

2. What process is creep related to, and how might you recognize a hillside that was experiencing this phenomenon?

-Freeze-thaw cycles -Drunken trees, tilted fences, shallower hill

9. You should be familiar with the "good" and the "bad" of wildfires.

-Good: plants need fire to release seeds, increases soil nutrient content, successional communities develop, and it's bad for ticks -Bad: property destruction, increased risk of landslide (devegetation), increased risk of flood, and release of soot/ash/aerosols into atmosphere

5. How does the greenhouse effect work, and how does this relate to greenhouse gases?

-Greenhouse effect: some solar radiation from Sun is reflected by atmosphere and some is absorbed by Earth's surface to warm it then infrared radiation is emitted from Earth's surface and some passes through atmosphere but most is absorbed and reemitted by greenhouse gases -Greenhouse gases: absorb and reemit infrared radiation back to Earth, need this effect to keep Earth warm, have liquid water, and life

13. Be able to recognize the three different ways that we classify fires. Which is the most difficult type of fire to stop?

-Ground: subsurface fires, burn organics in soil, mostly smouldering combustion -Surface: above ground fries, burn grasses and shrubs, can move quickly -Crown: fires burning in crowns of trees generated by winds and steep slopes, flaming combustion carried through tree canopies, will grow and expand as long as conditions are favorable --Most difficult type to stop

11. How can we prevent mass wasting? You should know how the different processes work, and how they relate to things like slope cohesion, water content, and angle of repose.

-Hazard mapping and zoning restrictions -Revegetation: roots stabilize slope, absorb water, and holds slope together -Regarding: stabilizes slope, brings slope to a smaller angle of repose -Reinforcing: increase mechanical strength of slope, uses rocks, bolts, and rock nets -Improved drainage: prevents water from pooling at impermeable layer

2. What is crossdating?

-How we get exact years -Method of pattern matching tree's growth signals of unknown age to that of a known pattern that is locked in time

12. What (or whom) is driving climate change?

-Human activity

1. Over the past several decades, how have wildfires in the United States changed in terms of both intensity and size?

-Increasing in intensity and size --10,026,086 acres burned in 2017

10. What have we observed at Mauna Loa, Hawaii?

-Increasing levels of carbon dioxide -Dips in levels during Spring because plants are reborn and absorb carbon dioxide

4. What engineering mistake made the Vaiont Dam landslide in 1963 more likely (what factor in terms of the surrounding slopes did engineers know about, but think that they could control)?

-Know how mass wasting intersects with geology -Predict what is going to happen on sloped and mitigate hazards

2. Know the different local climate drivers (you should be able to match terms to their descriptions). For example, for "latitude", you should know that this determines the amount of solar energy received, in watts per m2.

-Latitude: determines the amount of solar energy received in watts per m2 -Proximity to large bodies of water: large bodies of water stabilize climate and warm currents can heat high latitudes -Elevation: pressure decreases with increasing elevation/altitude, air loses heat because air is not a good conductor -Topography: windward sides get precipitation, where the winds come off water and leeward sides is where the cold, dry air descends, deserts form

3. How might climate change impact weather (hurricane intensity, atmospheric water vapor, droughts)?

-More intense hurricanes -Dry areas get dryer, wet areas get wetter -Increased severity and duration of droughts

5. How has climate change impacted Iowa's weather, and if temperatures increase 1 degrees C, how will this impact corn yields?

-More rainfall, intense rainfall -13% more moisture than 35 years ago, 8% more precipitation since 1870s -1 C increase causes 15% decrease in corn yield

4. Is a high albedo surface more or less reflective than a low albedo surface?

-More reflective

3. How much do mass wasting events cost us each year?

-More than $1 billion a year

7. What is the deadliest landslide in US history, excluding landslides related to volcanic events, earthquakes and dam failures? Why did this event occur (what set the stage for this slide), and was there any preceding indicators that this event might be likely to occur?

-Oso landslide was deadliest -Weakly consolidated material, soil saturation from heavy rainfall, and groundwater influx -Double seismic signals indicated the slide

4. What are the three legs of the fire triangle?

-Oxygen, Fuel, and Heat

8. Generally, what signs might we see that could indicate that a slope could be likely to fail ("Predicting slope failure")?

-Past failures, steep slopes, changes in slopes, and potential triggers

4. How does physical water scarcity differ from economic water scarcity, and how many people experience each of these conditions?

-Physical scarcity: countries withdraw less than 75% of riverflow for agriculture, industry, and domestic purpose, 1.2 billion people -Economic scarcity: limited access to water due to corruption, lack of infrastructure, and poverty, 1.6 billion people

6. What areas of the globe are heating most rapidly, and how does this relate to sea level rise?

-Poles are heating most rapidly -Causes sea level to rise -25-50% thermal expansion, melting glaciers-Warming of the poles, losing glaciers (ocean thermal expansion) -About 70 inches

1. How long has it taken us to increase in population size from 1 billion people to where we are now, at approximately 7.7 billion?

-Population was 1 billion in 1804, about 213 years

5. How does carbon dioxide correlate with temperature (or not correlate with temperature) in ice core records?

-Positive correlation: as atmospheric carbon dioxide increases, temp. increases

8. Be able to recognize examples of negative and positive feedback cycles.

-Positive: amplify warming and cooling trends -Negative: provides checks and balances on warming and cooling (cancel each other out)

5. You should be able to match the three phases of a wildfire to their descriptions/definitions.

-Pre Ignition: fuel is brought to a temp. and water content favors ignition --Preheating: fuel loses water and other chemical compounds --Pyrolysis: processes that chemically degrade fuel -Combustion: exothermic reactions release energy as heat and light, drives preignition of surrounding materials --Flaming: rapid oxidation process, flames, pyrolysis of woody materials --Smouldering: carbon and ash blanket new fuel, inhibiting flames -Extinction: combustion ceases due to not enough heat, fuel, or oxygen

6. What occurs during pyrolysis, and which phase of a wildfire does it happen during?

-Process chemically degrades fuel, breaks down large molecules -Pre Ignition

3. What kind of a reaction occurs during a fire? You should know both that this is an example of oxidation (and therefore requires oxygen) and also that it is exothermic.

-Process is a rapid, high temp. oxidation reaction (combustion) that releases heat, light, and other products (exothermic) -Combustion results of fast break down of organic material

7. Be able to distinguish between renewable and non-renewable resources.

-Renewable resources: resources that are replenished or regenerated on a human time scale -Non-renewable resources: resources will only be replenished on a geologic time scale

9. Know our different kinds of slope failure as well as how they are defined ("Mass wasting events that you should know"-know the underlined terms and be able to match terms and descriptions, including expanded details from lecture slides).

-Rock falls: free falling rocks -Rock slides: rocks slide along defined plane, relative intact rock slabs detach and side along surface, slower than rock falls -Creep: slow, continuous movement of material downslope, related to freeze-thaw cycles -Flows: material behaves as a fluid (earth flows, debris flows, and avalanches) -Slides: material moves as cohesive whole along a well-defined plane

10. How does a rock slide differ from a rock fall?

-Rock slide is when rocks are sliding along a defined plane and rock falls are when rocks just fall

1. What is dendrochronology, and what do we use it to learn about? What do we need (at a regional scale) for this to work?

-Science that uses tree rings dated to the exact year of formation to analyze climate -Need seasonal variation

8. Know the processes that can trigger slope failure (we mentioned several).

-Seismic events, volcanic events, heavy rainfall, snow melts, and undercutting

7. From the standpoint of greenhouse gases, what does the process of combustion do?

-Sets the trapped fossil fuels, organic materials free (releases them into atmosphere) -Causes increased concentration of carbon dioxide in the air

9. What are the different faunal changes associated and anticipated (and in many cases, already observed) as a result of climate change?

-Shifts in range of species, shift in range of disease vectors, extinction of less-resistant species, and extinction of species at the poles

11. What do scientists predict will happen to snake size as a result of a warming climate?

-Sizes of snakes will increase with warming climates -Maximum snake body size correlates positively with temp.

7. How does water content impact sediment cohesion? How does this change as we go from adding a little to a lot of water, starting with totally dry material?

-Some water can increase cohesion -As more water is added, it pushes the grains apart and results in loss of frictional contact

1. What 3 factors are used to classify mass wasting events?

-Type of material: big chunks of rocks or unconsolidated material -How material moves: falls, flows, creeps, or slides -Speed of movement: slow or fast

6. What is the defining characteristic of a slide?

-Unconsolidated material moves as cohesive whole along a defined plane

5. What is an avalanche?

-Very fast downhill movement of soil, snow, or rock, usually occurs in mountainous or volcanic regions

7. What two factors contribute to sea level rise, and how much is sea level anticipated to rise (worst case scenario) by 2100?

-Warming of the poles, losing glaciers (ocean thermal expansion) -About 70 inches

11. What kinds of weather patterns and conditions make an area likely to have a severe wildfire? This explanation should include general trends between having a wet vs. dry climate as well as topography and winds.

-Weather: large fires common following a drought, droughts reduces fuel moisture content (more dry) -Topography: south-facing slopes are warm, dry, and favor combustion, steep slopes preheat fuel upslope and increase rate of fire movement -Winds: influence spread, intensity, and form wildfires

5. Know how driving forces vs. resisting forces are related to slope failure. Also, know the main driving and resisting forces.

-When the driving force is greater than the resisting force, a mass wasting event occurs -Main driving force: gravity -Main resisting force: friction and cohesion

8. Why do we observe ocean acidification?

-When the ocean absorbs CO2, pH of water becomes lower -Lower pH disturbs ocean food chain, some organisms can't survive lower pH levels

11. If you do the math, can 10% of the population choosing to live more sustainably in a few areas actually make a measurable difference? (spoiler alert: YES.)

-Yes, 307,069,960,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide saved annually by using electric cars, CFL light bulbs, and eating a vegetarian diet 1. Reduce our dependence on fossil fuels 2. Reduce our destruction of nature, overexploitation of resources 3. Ensure the we are not stopping people globally from meeting needs

10. Are we at risk for mass wasting anywhere in Iowa?

-Yes, parts of Iowa are at risk

5. Does any place in the US experience water scarcity?

-Yes, the Southwest regions of the U.S does