EPS 7 Final Fall 2017
Parties of the UNFCCC commit to the objective to
"preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system"
From °C to K
+273
To make 1j of Ethanol from Brazilian Sugar cane we have to expend
0.1 to 0.25J
typical capacity factor for a solar panel is
0.15
At the current rate of global warming of 3K/ century, roughly how much additional sea level rise have we committed the planet to each year
0.2 m
typical capacity factor for a wind turbine is
0.3
At the current rate of sea level rise, how much will global mean sea level be in 10 years? 3 cmHow much higher is global mean sea level today than it was in the preindustrial?
0.3m
To make 1J of ethanol energy from US corn we have to expend
0.6 to 1.3J
How much will the sea level rise do we get from melting the arctic sea ic?
0m
Ocean acidification put 60% of the carbon burned by humans back into the ocean on a timescale of?
1 Thousand Years
When wind turbines are distributed over a property to maximize the electrical power generated per land area, roughly what amount of electrical power per area can we hope to generate
1 W/m^2
1000 Millibars=
1 bar
Utility-scale solar power costa roughly how much to install per watt of rated power
1$/ W
Utility-scale wind power costs roughly how much to install per watt of rated power
1$/ W
To generate need 60 TW of power, roughly what percentage of Earth's land surface would we need to cover in solarcells
1%
Amount of carbon contain in methane clathrates
1,000 - 10,000CtC
Taken all together methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and halocarbons are responsible for how much radiative forcing
1.5 W/m^2
What is the modern estimate for the likely range of Earth's climate sensitivity?
1.5K to 4.5K
What is the maximum potential global power generation from hydoelectric dams?
1.5TW
kinetic energy
1/2 mv^(2)
What rate are fossil fuels being burned today?
10 GTC/year
The acidified ocean is returned to its original pH on a timescale of
10 thousand years
What fraction of land area is suitable for wind power i.e. has a wind class of 3 or higher
10%
How much power does the average american consume?
10,000W
After ocean acidification and dissolution of calcium carbonate, silicate weathering removing the remaining 20% of the extra carbon still in the atmosphere on a time scale of?
100 thousand years
In the business as usual scenario, what is a likely concentration of atmospheric CO2 in the year 2100?
1000 ppm
In the Business as usual scenario, the global mean temp will be 4K warmer than preindustrial in 2100. What will the rate of sea level be?
12mm/ year
When was the universe formed?
14 Gya
Roughly how much wind power could we possibly extract from the global land surface
15 TW
Averaging all land, day and night, seasons, and weather, the power per land area of sunlight is
150 W/m^2
Including all soil depths, the amount of Carbon contained in permafrost is
1500 GtC
First prediction of global warming
1896
Borehole paleothermometry reveals a mean global- ground- temp increase over the past ~100 years of
1K
What rate is the concentration of CO2 increasing?
2.5 ppm per year
At what rate are humans currently consuming energy
20 TW
What is the per capita consumption of oil in the US?
20 barrels per year
A Planet warmed y 3K roughly what is the committed sea level rise
20 m
Carbon contained in peat down 1m is equivalent to how many years of fossil fuel burning emissions at the current rate of emissions
20 years
Roughly how much higher will CAPE be when the temp has increased by 3K?
20%
How much carbon is there in peat 1m down?
200 GtC
Imagine that the Arctic has 3 million km^2 of ice in september of 2030 and that Arctic ice areais decreasing by 2 million km^2 per decade. In what year would you project the arctic to be ice free in september
2045
Calculated temp of the earth
255K
Preindustrial concentrations of CO2
280ppm
Actual temperature of the Earth
288K
By how much have Berkeley's warm- season temperatures increased over the past 125 years?
2K
What is the current radiative forcing from the extra CO2 that is currently in the atmosphere?
2W/m^2
What is the per capita consumption of coal in the atmosphere?
3 tons/year
The electrical power per land area generated by PV panels is
30 w/M^2
Roughly how much more water vapor is in the air when the temperature warms by 5K
35%
What is the earth's modern best estimate for climate sensitivity?
3K
Current rate of global warming
3K/ century
When was the earth formed?
4.5 Gya
How much fossil fuels have humans burned?
400 GTC
What is the current concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere?
400 ppm
What rate are plants and the oceans absorbing CO2?
5 GTC/year
roughly how much coal us available for humans to burn
5000 TtC
Approximate power per area of a person
6*3^4
How many GTC were there in the preindustrial atmosphere?
600 GTC
Temperature of the Sun where it emits light
6000K
To allow 10 billion people to live like Americans, roughly how much electrical power does humanity need to generate?
60TW
Roughly how much higher will CAPE be in an atmosphere once it has warmed by 1K
7%
If humans were to burn 5000 GtC in a couple centuries, roughly what will the atmospheric concentration of CO2 be in the year 12017?
750 ppm
With constant concentrations, 2100 anticipated with RCP 8.5, how much globally averaged warming would we get?
8K
At roughly what rate will sea level be rising when the planet has warmed by 3K
9mm/year
1 ppm = how many GTC
= 2GTC
What is an AMSU?
Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit
What is HCO3-?
Bicarbonate Acid ion
G
Billion
Higher temp a blue star or red star?
Blue Star: Wein's law shows that it has a higher temp because it has a shorter wavelength
What are the primary pieces of evidence for global warming?
Borehole paleothermometry, AMSU Data, vanishing tropical glaciers
Though this program car manufacturers are forced to sell cars that have, on average, a miles- per - gallon efficiency above some threshold
CAFE- Corporate Average Fuel economy
What is the chemical formula accurately describes the burning of natural gas?
CH4 + 2O2 = CO2 + 2H2O
When permafrost thaws it releases
CO2 + CH4
Photosynthesis
CO2 + H2O + Photon = O2 + CH2O
What is the chemical reaction ultimately removing excess carbon from the atmosphere and ocean?
CaSio3 + CO2 = CaCO3 + SiO2
Carbon pricing system where the market sets the price of carbon emissions
Cap- and- trade
Carbon pricing system where the gov sets the price of carbon emissions
Carbon Tax
What is CO3--?
Carbonate Ion
What is H2CO3?
Carbonic Acid
When was most coal formed?
Carboniferous period 300 Mya
Mechanisms in the Kyoto Protocol to allow countries to avoid reducing their own emissions
Clean development mechanism, joint implemetation
Who is credited with alerting scientists to global warming by documenting the rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the 1960s?
Dave Keeling
Through this program consumers are told the average cost of an appliance is likely to be
Energy Star
What is the first molecule that CO2 forms when dissolved in water?
H2CO3 -- Carbonic acid
What chemical reaction best describes ocean acidification?
H2CO3 = H+ HCO3-
In what form is most dissolved carbon?
HCO3-
Through this program the federal government pays for a fraction of your residential solar PV installation
ITC - Investment tax Credit
If a sand dune has a feedback parameter of 8kg/s/m, what happens if we suddenly reduce the height of the dune by 2m?
It will disappear
If a sand dune has a feedback parameter of -5kg/s/m, what happens if we suddenly add 4m of sand?
It will go back to its original steady state
Who is credited with alerting the public to global warming with their congressional testimony? In what year?
James Hansen in 1988
Who is credited with identifying the gases responsible for the greenhouse effect?
John Tyndall
Who is credited with postulating the existence of the greenhouse effect and thereby kicking off the field of climate science?
Joseph Fourier in 1824
When was most oil formed?
Jurassic period 150 Mya
What do we call energy hidden in a particular phase of matter?
Latent heat
Who created the cloud classification system still used today?
Luke Howard
The curiosity rover is on what planet
Mars
M
Million
What is the chemical formula for nitrous oxide
N2O
All of these agencies have their own climate model
NOAA, NSF, NASA, DOE
Through this program you are effectively able to sell your surplus solar electricity to the utility during the day time
Net metering
Why is the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere decreasing?
Oxygen is being reacted with carbon to make carbon dioxide
Ideal Gas Law
P 𝜶 NT
Through this program the federal government pays some number of dollars per joule of electricity generated from the first 10 years of a wind turbine's life
PTC- Production Tax Credit
Phanerozoic eras in the old to most recent order
Paleozoic - mesozoic - cenozoic
Dalton's Law
Partial pressures add up to total pressure
What is earth's largest negative feedback?
Planck Feedback
What kind of orbit does an AMSU fly?
Polar
Through this program the state requires that a fraction of electricty sold by utilities comes from renewable sources like wind and solar
RPS- Renewables Portfolio standard
What book is credited with kicking off the US environmental movement in 1962?
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
Who first predicted global warming and made a calculation of earth's climate sensitivity?
Svante Arrhenius
Why does burning fossil fuels cause global warming?
The extra CO2 lifts the 𝜏=1 layer to a colder level in the atmosphere (reducing the outgoing power)
What causes the seasonal cycle of CO2?
There is more respiration in the winter and more photosynthesis in the summer, and most land is in the northern hemisphere
Incident Sunlight per planetary surface
Total solar irradiance (TSI)/4
International coordination on climate change began in 1992 with a document called _______________________________adopted in _______________________________
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; Rio de Janeiro
If earth suddenly becomes cooler than its steady state temp, the Planck feedback tends to make the earth?
Warmer
What is earth's largest positive feedback?
Water vapor
Optical depth (𝜏)
a constant k describing how readily the gas tends to absoorb or scatter radiation, the length 𝚫z of the light path, and the density 𝝆 of the gas
Negative Perturbation
a decrease in the stock from its steady state level
Biodeisel is made from the stuff found in
a jug of vegetable oil
What is an acid?
a molecule that adds H+ ions to water
With respect to earth's temperature, the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere can be described as
a positive forcing
Negative Forcing
a sudden decrease in the amount of stock
Positive Forcing
a sudden increase in the amount of stock
How much recoverable oil have humans used?
about half; 1/2
Primary source of anthropogenic nitrous oxide (N2O)
agriculture
From °F to °C
approximately minus and half
The radiative forcing by extra greenhouse gases is described best
by a decrease in outgoing power
If contracted, the Dakota pipeline will
carry oil past Native American land
Lapse rate
change in atmospheric temperature with height Dry atmosphere: 10K/km Wet atmospshere: 6.5K/km
Climate sensitivity
change in temperature for a doubling in CO2
A natural-gas- fired power plant is powered by
chemical reactions
Low atmospheric pressure corresponds to what weather
cloudy and rainy weather
What made the cenozoic the age of mammals rather than the second age of the dinosaurs
colder climate
The source of a storm cloud's buoyancy
condensation
COP
conference of the parties there have been more than 20
Climate Science Legal Defense Fund
defends climate scientists being threatened or harassed
Mesozoic Megafauna
dinosaurs
The acidified ocean is returned to its original pH by
dissolution of calcium carbonate
Fossil Free UC is trying to get UC to
divest from fossil- fuel companies
What is the sink in a storm cloud's buoyancy
entrainment
Biomass energy has the potential to provide all of humanity's current/ future energy needs
false
The IPCC
founded by WMO and UNEP in 1988 and issued its first assessment in 1990 Intergonvemrnetal Panel of Climate Change
Why is the sky blue?
gas molecules scatter short wavelengths more than long ones
Condensation of water vapor does what to the air
heats the air
A toaster converts ____________ grade energy into _______________ grade energy
high; low
The higher the k and/or 𝜌 of some gas in the atmosphere, the ____________ the effective height of emission to space
higher:: pushing the 𝜏 = 1 layer up
climate state of the earth during the time of the dinosaurs (Mesozoic)
hothouse
The 3 major sectors of consumption are
industry, buildings, and transport
Land warming
is 1.5 time as much as the global avg. warming
Positive Perturbation
is an increase in the stock from its steady state level
Phil Tagami
is trying to ship coal to Asia through Oakland port
An AMSU measures temperature at many heights in the atmosphere by measuring atmopsheric emission at multiple wavelengths on the side of an oxygen resonance that each have a different
k and so a different 𝜏 = 1 layer
What motivated the formation of the international meteorological organization, later renamed world meteorological organization in the 1800s?
large size of storms compared to European countries, invention of the telegraph, a desire to make weather forecasts
gravitational potenial energy
mass x gravity x height
CAPE is the _______________ amount of kinetic energy per mass of air that a cloud could theoretically get by rising through the atmosphere with __________________ and no drag
maximum; no entrainment
Pulling a seed out of molten silicon is a way to generate
mono crystalline silicon
The lapse rate feedback is
negative
Feedback parameter of 1kg/s/m and a forcing of -2kg/s what is the final perturbation?
nonsense question because the dune is unstable
Feedback parameter of 3kg/s/m and a forcing of 3kg/s what is the final perturbation?
nonsense question because the dune is unstable
Americium in your smoke detector releases energy by
nuclear fission
existing nuclear power plants are powered by
nuclear fission
a hypothetical tokamak powerplant is powered by
nuclear fusion
If constructed, the keystone XL pipeline will carry
oil from Albert Tar Sands
Roughly how much recoverable coal have humans used?
only a few percent
Optically thick
opaque 𝜏>>1
Wein's Law
peak wavelength= 3000 µm K/T
Freesing silicon in a vat is a way to generate
polycrystalline silicon
The Ice-albedo feedback is
positive
Stefan Boltzmann Law
power per area= 5.67(T/100)^4
Snowball earth has occurred in
precambrian era
The rate of heat conduction from a hot place to a cold place is
proportional to the difference in temperature between the hot and cold places
These are all the leading sources of anthropogenic methane emissions
rice paddies, livestock, landfills, and fugitive natural gas
Silicon is made from
sand
What do we call regular heat that we can feel?
sensible heat
When a liquid evaporates, this is an example of
sensible heat conversation to latent
The energy budget of a wet bulb thermometer is described by power being delivered to the bulb as _______________ heat and power being removed from the bulb as ______________ heat
sensible; latent
four global climate states from coldest to warmest
snowball - icehouse- hothouse - runaway greenhouse
What force keep neutrons and protons bound together?
strong force
If someone claims to have a plant that generates biofuel energy at a rate of 10W per m of cropland, you would say
that is IMPOSSIBLE
CAPE is proportional to
the amount of water vapor in the air
Clausius Clapeyron
the pressure of water molecules leaving a liquid surface pv* (the saturation vapor pressure) is a function of only temperature increases with temperature exponentially by 7%/K
Optically thin
transparent 𝜏<<1
denoting wind speed by v the kinetic energy of a blob of air is proportional to
v^2
Denoting wind speed by v, the power generated by a wind turbine is proportional to
v^3
Relative Humidity
vapor pressure in the air/ saturation vapor pressure RH<1= liquid water evaporates RH=1= nothing happens RH>1=liquid water condenses
These are required to for ozone in smog
volatile organic compounds, NOx, and sunlight
AMSU records show and the fingerprint of CO2 show
warming at low altitudes and cooling at high altitudes
if your skin temp is less than the wet bulb temp then
you are dying
If your skin temp is greater than the air temp then
you are not sweating
if your skin temp is in between the air temp and the wet bulb temp then
you are sweating
proven reserves of uranium could provide the needed 60TW of power for how long
1 year
Roughly at what rate is global mean sea level rising currently?
3mm/year
Respiration
O2 + Ch2O = CO2 + H2O + Photon
Chemical formula for Ozone
O3