ATOC 1060 Midterm 2
Saltiest water type?
Mediterranean Water
There are approximately 750 Pedagrams of carbon in the atmosphere. Now suppose that the amount of carbon in the atmosphere increases by 6 Pedagrams per year because of fossil fuel combustion and emissions. How many years will it take to double the total amount of atmospheric carbon?
125 years
Ocean- Meridional transport is what percentage of heat transfer?
25%
Below which latitude does the earth gain more energy than it loses? Choose the maximum latitude where this is true.
30
The ocean surface is saltiest at?
30n and 30s
Based on this figure, the average atmospheric lifetime of CO2 can be calculated as
750/2 years
What value is closest to the current ocean pH?
8.1
What is AABW?
Antarctic Bottom Water southern ocean, densest
What is AAIW?
Antarctic Intermediate Water low salinity water mass found in southern ocean
The moist adiabatic lapse rate is smaller than the dry adiabatic lapse rate because
As most air rises, it cools, which leads to water condensation, which releases heat and hence reduces the cooling of the rising air parcel
Why does hot air rise?
Assuming the pressure stays the same, the ideal gas law tells us that when the temperature increases, the density decreases
How is carbon transported to the deep ocean?
Biological pump
How do tropical cyclones transfer heat from the ocean to the atmosphere?
By evaporating water from the ocean, heat is transferred to the atmosphere in the form of latent heat of the water vapor, which is released to the atmosphere when the water vapor condenses.
What is fossil fuels?
Coal or gas formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms
Which type of water has the greatest density
Cold and High Salinity
Ekman transport creates regions of ______ in the ocean, which are associated with ______. Select all answers that complete the above sentence correctly.
Convergence upwelling, Divergence upwelling, Convergence downwelling
If a parcel of air rises dry adiabatically from sea level (0 m) to 1000 m above sea level, how would its temperature change (due to the dry adiabatic lapse rate alone)?
Cool by 9.8 C
Temperature gradient between the poles and the equator is?
Decreased by the atmospheric and oceanic circulation
What drives the circulation of the deep ocean?
Density differences
Ocean convergence leads to?
Downwelling and elevated sea surface height
What happens when a southerly (i.e. from the south) wind blows along the west coast of Peru?
Ekman transport is directed to the west
As the acidity of the ocean increase, the ability of the ocean to take up more carbon dioxide decreases? T or F
False
Name the circulation cell that spans the 30 to 60 degree latitude belt. Only write in the name of the cell, do not add "Circulation" or "Cell" or "the" or anything else. Otherwise you will not get the point for this question, as it is automatically graded.
Ferrell
How would El Nino affect a Fisherman living on the west coast of South America?
Fishing would be hardship because of the loss of nutrient-rich waters that are normally upwelled during non-El Nino years
Name the circulation cell that spans the 0 to 30 degree latitude belt. Only write in the name of the cell, do not add "Circulation" or "Cell" or "the" or anything else. Otherwise you will not get the point for this question, as it is automatically graded.
Hadley
During a La Nina event, upwelling is stronger than normal in the eastern equatorial Pacific. Considering just diffusion processes, the direct local effect of this would be _____ CO2 in the atmosphere.
Higher
Upper-level air convergence causes surface pressure to?
Increase
Which statement about ocean heat content in the past century is more accurate?
Increase more rapidly than the heat content of the atmosphere
Which of the following pieces of evidence does NOT support the presence of El Nino (warm phase of ENSO) conditions?
Increased upwelling of nutrient rich ocean waters off the coast of Peru
Monsoons are initiated by?
Land heating faster than water
The seasonal CO2 cycle is _____________ on the Northern Hemisphere than on the Southern Hemisphere.
Larger
What is pycnocline?
Layer in which water density increases rapidly with depth
Which reservoir of carbon contains the most carbon?
Limestone in sedimentary rocks
What is Isopycnal?
Line connecting points of a specific density or potential density
Tropics tend to have?
Low surface pressure and high pressure aloft
When water evaporates, it _______ the temperature of the surrounding air because __________________.
Lowers/ it uses energy fro the phase change
A decrease in ocean pH makes the ocean water ________ acidic, leading to _______ carbonate dissolution in the ocean.
More/more
NADW is more saline than AABW. Why does it flow on top of AABW and not underneath it?
NADW is warmer
As atmospheric CO2 levels increase and climate warms, some mid-latitude continental regions are seeing longer growing seasons (i.e. there is a larger amount of annual photosynthesis in these places). Is this a positive or negative carbon feedback?
Negative
Surface temperature increases, oceans get warmer, oceans dissolve more C02 from the atmosphere? P or N
Negative
Surface temperatures increase, oceans get warmer, oceans dissolve more CO2 from the atmosphere? P or N
Negative
Does the Coriolis force influence the spin of tornadoes?
No
What is NADW?
North Atlantic Deep Water high salinity
What happens to ocean pH when atmospheric Co2 increases?
Ocean pH decreases
Which of the following is a sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide
Organic material settling from the surface to the deep ocean
Name the circulation cell that spans the 60 to 90 degree latitude belt. Only write in the name of the cell, do not add "Circulation" or "Cell" or "the" or anything else. Otherwise you will not get the point for this question, as it is automatically graded.`
Polar
Surface temperatures increase, oceans get warmer, oceans dissolve less CO2 from the atmosphere? P or N
Positive
Surface temperatures increase, oceans get warmer, oceans dissolve less Co2 from the atmosphere? P or N
Positive
Which process(es) cause(s) ocean water to increase its salinity?
Precipitation, Evaporation, Freezing
Why do atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations increase when humans turn rainforests into agricultural lands?
Rainforests fix more carbon in the soil than agricultural lands
How does the Coriolis effect deflect moving air?
Right in northern hemisphere and left in the southern hemisphere
Region found between the two Hadley cells has?
Rising air and wet climate
The region found between the Hadley and Ferrell cells has......
Sinking air and dry climate
What does "stratification" mean?
Stable layering of lower density water on top of higher density water
What is Thermocline?
Steep temperature gradient in a body of water, marked by a layer above and below which the water is different temperatures
What is Halocline?
Strong vertical salinity gradient. Subtype of chemocline
What best describes what happens to the surface ocean when atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations increase?
Surface ocean carbon dioxide concentrations increase because of diffusion of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to the ocean.
The cause of this salinity maximum is?
The atmospheric circulation
The heat capacity of the ocean is much larger than the heat capacity of land. When the sun rises over a coastal town
The land heats up faster than the ocean
From this figure, we conclude that the ocean takes up all the excess CO2 put into the atmosphere through deforestation, volcanoes and fossil fuel burning.
True
The atmosphere is a larger carbon reservoir than the deep ocean? T or F
True
Trade winds over the pacific are? (Hint: stronger, weaker, la nina, el nino)
Weaker during an El Nino event
During an El Nino event, the trade winds over the Pacific are?
Weaker or reversed compared to neutral conditions
When plants photosynthesize they?
Use nutrients and CO2 and produce oxygen
Northerly winds (i.e. winds blowing from the north to the south) along the California coast cause the water to move to the ______, causing _________ to occur along the coast.
West, upwelling
CO2 is more soluble in cold water than in warm water. With ocean temperatures increasing due to climate change is this Co2-solubility feedback a positive or negative
positive
Ocean water evaporates?
the ocean loses heat because evaporating water uses energy
The oil is found somewhere today, this tells us that long, long time ago......
there was an ocean in that location
During La Nina events in Peru
upwelling along the coast of Peru is increased, leading to more nutrients at the surface
Large ocean gyres are primarily......driven
wind
