Atmospheric science (Extended Response) Flashcards
1
Q
Use the information below to evaluate this evidence of human activity as a cause of global warming.
Change in global temperature compared to mean annual release of CO2 (billions of tonnes):
- CO2 release increases from 1900s through to the 2000s each decade
- temperature increases by 0.8C
- 2.5 released in 1900s
- 28 in 2000s
- temperature increases more rapidly than CO2 release in the 1930s and 40s
- goes down in the 1950s
- rises again from the 80s
-during this time CO2 emissions are still rising
A
- mass of CO2 released increases each decade from the 1900s to the 2000s
- 2.5 billion tonnes in the 1900s
- increases by over 10 times to 28 billion tonnes in the 2000s
- mean global temperature increases by 0.8C in the same time period
- CO2 was released by burning fossil fuels
- shows a positive correlation between comsumption of fossil fuels and temperature change
- however the temperature increases more rapidly in the 1930s and 1940s than the release of CO2
- also goes down in the 1950s, and remains the same until the 1980s, whereas CO2 release increases greatly
- by itself, the evidence given does not show that human activity caused the global warming observed
- strongly suggests that it did
- strong positive correlation
2
Q
The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased by about 35% between 1900 and 2015.
Describe the processes that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and suggest reasons to explain the observed increase in its concentration/
A
process that remove CO2:
- photosynthesis by plants/algae
- making oxygen and glucose
- carbon dioxide dissolving in sea water
processes that release CO2:
- combustion of fossil fuels
- combustion of biomass/plants
- respiration
- volcanic activity
observed increase:
- rate of release greater than rate of removal
- increasing use of fossil fuels
- deforestation reducing amount of photosynthesis
- limit to the rate at which carbon dioxide can dissolve in the oceans
