Intro to Environmental Studies Midterm

Equilibrium

A state of balance

prediction

A statement of what will happen next in a sequence of events.

Longwave Radiation

A term most often used to describe the infrared energy emitted by the earth and the atmosphere.

Shortwave Radiation

A term most often used to describe the radiant energy emitted from the sun, in the visible and near ultraviolet wavelengths.

Diatoms

A unicellular photosynthetic alga with a unique glassy cell wall containing silica

Albedo

Ability of a surface to reflect light

Guy Callendar

Argued the level of carbon dioxide was climbing and raising global temperature

How is climate change measured through an analysis of temperature anomalies?

By analyzing temperature anomalies over time, scientists can discern significant patterns of global warming. The consistent positive temperature anomalies observed over recent decades provide strong evidence of anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change, primarily driven by the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. This information is critical for understanding the impacts of climate change and informing policy decisions and mitigation efforts.

What are some of the methods for compiling data about recent climate change through analysis of surface thermometer records, satellite measurements of temperature, glaciers and sea ice, ocean temperatures, and sea level?

By combining data from these sources and employing rigorous analysis techniques, scientists can compile a comprehensive picture of recent climate change, its causes, and its impacts on the Earth's climate system. This information is crucial for understanding the state of the climate and informing climate policies and mitigation strategies.

radiative forcing values

CO2(~2) Methane, N2O(~1) ozone(~.5) aerosol(~-1)

Climate Change

Change in the statistical properties of the climate system when considered over periods of decades

Milankovitch cycles

Changes in the shape earth's orbit and tilt that cause glacial periods and interglacial periods.

What are climate forcing agents? What are the radiative forcing values for these agents?

Climate forcing agents measure the imbalance in Earth's energy budget caused by a perturbation of the climate system. The three types are solar irradiance, albedo, and atmospheric gases.

How does climate modeling work? What are the key variables in climate models?

Climate models separate Earth's surface into a 3-d grid of cells. The results of processes in each cell are passed to neighboring cells to model the exchange of matter and energy overtime. Key variables in climate models include atmosphere (air temp. moisture, and precip. levels, and storms), oceans (ocean temp, salinity levels, circulation patterns), terrestrial processes (carbon absorption, forests, storage of soil moisture), and the cryosphere (sea ice, glaciers).

Eunice Foote

Demonstrated the existence of greenhouse gases and their potential to effect changes in climate

Why is climate change challenging to understand?

Despite these challenges, ongoing research, advances in climate modeling, and the accumulation of long-term data sets continue to improve our understanding of climate change. Scientists strive to refine projections, identify risks, and inform policy decisions to address this critical global issue.

Joeseph Fourier

Discovered the Greenhouse Effect

Longitude

Distance east or west of the prime meridian, measured in degrees

Latitude

Distance north or south of the equator

Infrared Radiation

Electromagnetic waves with wavelengths that are longer than visible light but shorter than microwaves.

1st law of thermodynamics

Energy cannot be created or destroyed

2nd law of thermodynamics

Every energy transfer or transformation increases the entropy of the universe.

Climate forcing agents

Factors that can change the Earth's temperature

Svante Arrhenius

First to claim that fossil fuel combustion may result in enhanced global warming, and showed the relation between atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperatures

Charles David Keeling

Found that CO2 levels are highest in the spring and the lowest in the fall. Keeling curve.

John Tyndall

Found that gases like carbon dioxide and water vapor can absorb heat

Louis Agassiz

Founded glaciology, the study of glaciers

Greenhouse Gases

Gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, water vapor, and ozone in the atmosphere which are involved in the greenhouse effect.

Wavelength

Horizontal distance between the crests or between the troughs of two adjacent waves

Stefan-Boltzmann constant

I= constantxT^4

Radioisotopes

Isotopes that have unstable nuclei and undergo radioactive decay.

Greenhouse Effect

Natural situation in which heat is retained in Earth's atmosphere by carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and other gases

Milutin Milankovitch

Proposed that climatic changes were the result of variations in the Earth's orbital elements (Milankovitch cycles)

Vladimir Vernadsky

Recognized the tremendous potential of radioactivity as a source of thermal energy

land cover change

Refers to the changes that have taken place in natural environments due to a variety of natural and/or human induced causes

Kelvin

SI unit for temperature

How do scientists construct the Earth's climate record using paleoproxies? What evidence do scientists look for in ocean, ice, and lake cores?

Scientists use known proxies that have a known date in time they were around for to construct the climate record. They look for trapped gases and pollen in ice, and organisms and pollen in lake and ocean cores.

What is the relationship between shortwave radiation, albedo, and longwave radiation? What are their effects on Earth's energy balance and temperature?

Shortwave radiation from the sun

Instrumental Record

Started in 1860s, today temperature measured at about 7,000 stations around the world

James Hansen

Testified that the greenhouse effect had been detected and the climate was in fact changing.

What is the Keeling Curve? What does it measure?

The Keeling Curve is a graph that represents the concentration of CO2 in Earth's atmosphere since 1958.

Weather

The condition of Earth's atmosphere at a particular time and place.

What is the greenhouse effect? What is the role of atmosphere in Earth's energy balance?

The greenhouse effect is when gases in Earth's atmosphere trap the suns heat. The atmosphere stores more energy near the surface than if there was no atmosphere.

What is the basic history of climate science? What are some of its key thinkers?

The history of climate science reflects a gradual accumulation of knowledge and understanding about the Earth's climate system and the impact of human activities on it. Key discoveries and contributions from these thinkers and many others have paved the way for our current understanding of climate change and its global implications. The field of climate science continues to evolve as researchers investigate the complex interactions within the climate system and work to address one of the most pressing challenges of our time.

carbon cycle

The organic circulation of carbon from the atmosphere into organisms and back again

Dendrochronology

The process of counting tree rings to determine the age of a tree

feedback

The receiver's response to a message

climate sensitivity

The response of the climate system to a given radiative forcing

Visible Spectrum

The tiny part of the electromagnetic spectrum to which our eyes are sensitive.

solar radiation

Transmission of energy from the sun in the form of electromagnetic waves.

Interglacials

Warm periods during an ice age.

Electromagnetic Radiation

a form of energy that exhibits wavelike behavior as it travels through space

index fossil

a fossil known to have lived in a particular geologic age that can be used to date the rock layer in which it is found

keeling curve

a graph made over the span of 50 years that shows the increase of carbon dioxide

Carbon-14

a long-lived naturally occurring radioactive carbon isotope of mass 14, used in carbon dating and as a tracer in biochemistry.

scenario

an outline for a planned series of events, either real or imagined; a summary of a work of fiction

Sunspots

areas of gas on the sun's surface that are cooler than the gases around them

Temporality

cause / exposure must precede the effect / outcome

forced variability

changes in the Earth's climate in response to a radiative forcing

Coral reef cores

cylindrical sections of a coral reef structure that are extracted for scientific research and analysis

anthropogenic

derived from human activities

Energy Balance

energy in = energy out

Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS)

esearch institute and laboratory affiliated with NASA. It is primarily focused on climate research, atmospheric science, and Earth science

outliers

extreme values that don't appear to belong with the rest of the data

anthropogenic forcing

includes global warming due to increased greenhouse gases from human activities

Empirical Evidence

information we can verify with our senses

Erratics

isolated boulders left behind by a glacier

Oxygen Isotopes

lighter oxygen is easier to evaporate, will be left in the water during eipsodes of high evaporation (due to high global temperature); help determine temperature history and salinity levels

Glacials

major advances of continental ice sheets in Europe and North America

Stefan-Boltzmann Equation

o 5.670400x10(-8) W m(-2) K(-4)

Photons

particles of light

Ice cores

pieces of ice used to track earths past weather

Paleomagnetic record

preserved in stripes of rock parallel to the mid-ocean ridge.

Calving

process by which a block of a glacier breaks off and falls into the sea to form an iceberg

fingerprints models

refer to various methods and algorithms used in fingerprint recognition and biometric systems.

models

representations of objects or systems

unforced variability

results from the internal dynamics of the climate system, including interactions among such components as the atmosphere, ocean, ice and land

Lake cores

sediments at the bottom of glacial lake provide a record of climate change extending back as far as 50,000 years.

natural forcing

solar forcing, volcanoes, intrinsic climate variability

Energy

the ability to do work

Temperature Anomalies

the difference between the temperature and a reference temperature

Solar Constant

the rate at which radiant solar energy is received at the outer layer of the earth's atmosphere

Power

the rate at which work is done

Internal Energy

the sum of the kinetic and potential energies of all particles in the system

Climate

the weather conditions prevailing in an area in general or over a long period.

Watts

unit for power

Joules

unit of energy

What is the difference between the study of weather and climate?

weather is concerned with short-term atmospheric conditions and forecasting, while climate focuses on long-term patterns, trends, and statistics related to Earth's climate system. Weather is what we experience on a day-to-day basis, whereas climate provides insights into the broader, long-term climate characteristics of a region or the planet as a whole.

Proxy

(n.) an agent, substitute; a written permission allowing one person to act in another's place

Equator

0 degrees latitude

Ocean cores

5 million years long 4,000 year spacing

What are climate feedbacks?

A feedback that causes an initial warming is a positive feedback. Some examples are the removal ice, sea level rise, rainforest drought and loss, or mote kindle for forest fires. A feedback that reduces initial warming is called a negative feedback. Some examples are increased cloudiness, higher rainfall, net primary productivity increase, or blackbody radiation.

Temperature

A measure of how hot or cold something is.

Moraines

A mound, ridge, or mass of material that were left on the ground by a receding glacier.