6.1 atmosphere Flashcards
benefits of the atmosphere
- provides a shield from meteorites
- protects us from harmful sun radiation
- moderates and stabilizes our climate & temp
- where we get our oxygen and CO2 from
the layers of the atmosphere and some details
- troposphere: weather occurs, closest to us, no living after this
- ozone: protects from UV
- stratosphere
- mesosphere: incoming light interacts with ions & meteor rocks burn up, coldest
- thermosphere: no CO2 or gravity
- exosphere
what is the troposphere
- 10km above sea level & warmest layer from heat absorption from earth’s surface
- it gets colder as you go up because the distance between particles increases
- most atmospheric mass found here (clouds, pollutants, etc.)
- only layer w living organisms
- where greenhouse effect occurs & helps to regulate temps
What is the greenhouse effect & the two types
When the GHGs trap the sun’s heat & warm the planet
- GHGs: CO2, NOx, CH4, H2O
Natural GH Effect: incoming sunlight (shortwave radiation) is absorbed & longwave rad is released (infrared light) –> the GHG absorbs IL in the troposphere & they reemit the longwave rad in another direction
Human Enhanced GH Effect: same incoming shortwave rad & longwave emission BUT more GHG to absorb the rad so higher % that gets sent back to our planet
what is the stratosphere
- 10-50km above sea level & had good ozone
- Stratospheric ozone absorbs UV rad from the sun
- air is dry (no water or it would freeze & fall)
inputs, outputs, and stores of the atmosphere
Inputs: water vapour, sunlight (shorwave), CO2, O2, N2, CH4, IR rad, pollutants
Outputs: rain, pollutants (acids), O2, CO2, reflected sunlight, IR rad (heat)
Molecular Stores: N2 (28%), O2 (21%), H2O, O3, CO2, CH4, NOx, SOx
what does UV impact
- more UV doesn’t = increased temps just increases the chances of skin cancer & damaged crops/algae (chlorophyll gets cooked)
ozone formation
UV rad splits O2 molecules into 2 O atoms –> single O reacts w oxygen molecule to form O3 –> O3 reacts w another ozone molecule or gas in the atmosphere and returns to O2
effects of reduced ozone on humans, plant productivity, and aquatic
Humans: sunburn, skin cancer
Plant Productivity: decreased due to burning of leaves (chlorophyll)
Aquatic: reduced phytoplankton, lower aquatic productivity
- overall reduction in carbon capture (ozone depletion –> decreased photosynthesis = decreased carbon capture)
chemicals that deplete stratospheric ozone layer
- CFC –> releases chlorine atoms
- HCFC –> releases chlorine atoms BUT has shorter lifespan in the atmosphere
- Halons –> fire extinguishers that release bromine atoms
- Nitrogen Oxides (NO, NO2, NOx) –> the nitrogen oxides converted to NO which reacts with ozone
montreal protocol: why, how, impact, why effective?
Why: discovered that CFCs and other ODS were creating a hole in the ozone layer
How: countries agreed to reduce production & use of ODSs (timeline for reduction)
Impact: over 99% of ODS is phased out, layer slowly recovering
Why effective: universal participation, éegally binding, short term & visible consequences, people in charge would get affected too, we knew how it worked
which ozone is good and bad
Troposphere = BAD
Stratosphere = GOOD
pollution in Chamonix
1 Jan 2017
- sunlight, elevated area, mountains, wind blows into valley, smoke is industrial
- the warm layer of air traps the smoke so temp inversion event happening
- Geography and sunlight impact photochemical pollution
