Chapter 1 Flashcards
Nature extreme events (4)
Extreme weather (e.g. heat, drought, wildfires, flooding)
Weaher def
Exact state of the atmosphere at a particular location and time (e.g. result from a single toss of a die)
Climate def
Long-term patterns or statistics of the weather (e.g. average daily temperature in August in a particular city)
6 quantitative measures of climate
Temperature
Precipitation
Humidity
Cloudiness
Visibility
Wind
How long is the stat period for climate estimation
Several decades, typically 30 years or more
Which % of the heat trapped by the GHG goes into heating the ocean?
90%
Two contributors into raising sea level
Melting of GROUNDED ice (melting of floating ice does not raise sea level)
2nd - water expands when it warms
How do scientists collect climate information from before 170 ago period by tree rings?
By looking at the trees rings (lighter ring - spring season, darker small riing - autumn season). By measuring ring size, they assess local climate around the tree. Then combine the rings of yong trees, with the rings of older trees -> can measure climate from about a millenium ago
5 Ways to collect climate data from more than 170 years ago
- Tree rings - 1 thousand yrs
- Skeletons of Corals analysis (for ocean climate) - millions of yrs
- Speleothems (stalactites, stalagmites) - few hundred thousands yrs
- Measuring chemical composition of Ice cores - over million years
- Analys. composition of the mud at the bottom of the ocean - tens of millions of years
interglacials
warmer periods of the temperature cycle of the planet
ice age
Cooler period of the temperature cycle of the planet
How long does it take for one temperature cycle of the planet to complete?
100,000 years
Holocene
The last ice age period
Difference btw ice age average temperature and interglacial avg temperature
About 6 degrees Celsius
How many degrees С the Earch has warmed since 19th century?
1.2 deg С
How quick is the warming? (deg per century)
1 deg С per century
How much energy (W / m^2) is provided by the Sun?
340 W / m2
Energy balance
The amount of energy reaching Earth from the Sun must equal to the energy radiated by earth Back to space
(in a steady state. Otherwise Earth would be constantly heating, or constantly cooling to 0, both don’t happen)
Greenhouse effect
Planet with more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are warmer than the ones without (because they absorb inrared radiation)
Which chemicals are the majority of the Earth’s atmosphere?
Nitrogen N2, Oxygen O2, Argon Ar
The most important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere
Water vapor (traps most heat), then CO2
% of CO2 in the atmosphere
0.042%
Main reason of CO2 increase in the atmosphere
Combustion of fossil fuels
CO2 - out of 100% released, where is it absorbed and in which proportions?
44% - stays in the atmosphere
28% - absorbed by the ocean (ocean acidification)
28% - absorbed by plants
What is ppm?
0.042% (420 ppm, parts per million - in a 1 mln of molecules, 420 are CO2 molecules)
Keeling curve
Plot with CO2 ppm VS year on the x axis, measured since 1957
Important GHG (6)
CO2
Water Wapor
CH4 (methane)
N2O (nitrous oxide)
Halocarbons
Ozone
GWP, GWP of methane
Global Warming potential - 1 kg of methange traps as much heat as 28kg of CO2 -> GWP of methane is 28
Aerosol def
particle so small that buoyant force is similar to gravity and they suspend in the atmosphere for days or weeks
radiative forcing
quantifies the diff btw the incoming energy (sunlight) absorbed by Earth and infrared radiation, emitted by the Earth back to space
water vapor feedback
Initial warming caused by CO2 -> planet warms -> more water vapor in the atmosphere -> adds up to the warming -> humidity increases -> even more water vapor in the atmosphere. Can double / triple the warming from CO2 alone
SSP, how many
Shared Socioeconomic Pathways. 5 SSPs, 1 - most optimistic, 5 - most pessimistic
What is % increase of total global precipitation for every degree Celsius of global average warming?
3% increase
Main driver of rising sea level
melting of grounded ice
IPCC
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
How much (cm) is the sea level rise under SSP 2?
44 - 76 cm
How much roughly of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere is absorbed by the ocean?
About a quarter
Ocean acidification
In the ocean water, CO2 is converted to Carbonic Acid -> acidic ocean
Polar amplification
Ice is more reflective (higher Albedo) -> ice melts -> no more ice on the land -> absorbs more heat -> atmosphere temperature increases -> ice melts even more
2 kinds of climate feedback loop (called positive, but actually negative)
Water vapor loop
Polar amplification
GCM
Global Climate Model
Climate Tipping Point
Low proba, high impact event when a climate system undergoes a large and rapid shift to an entirely new climate state (e.g. when we add enough greenhouse gases)
4 possible climate tipping points
Shutdown of Gulf Stream
Rapid disintegration of West Antarctic or Greenland ice sheets
Thawing of permafrost
Shift in timing / magnitude of Indian Monsoon
3 categories of response to climate change
Adaptation to CC (e.g. building dykes)
mitigation, prevention of CC (e.g. green energy policies, GHG reduction)
Geoengineering (improving artificially reflective ability of the Earth)
Maladaptation
adaptation action that actually increases climate vulnerability (river levee will raise water level in another community)
Carbon intensity
Amount of CO2 produced per unit of energy generated (coal, oil, natural gas - highest intensity)
8 Climate safe energy sources
Solar energy
Wind energy
Hydroelectric power (16% of world electr)
Nuclear energy (10% of w.e.)
Geothermal (water, heated by the earth, turns a turbine)
Biomass energy (burning a tree, that absorbed CO2 during growth -> net 0 CO2 emissions)
CCUS (Carbon capture, utilization, storage) - burn fossils but capture CO2)
Battery energy storage systems
Geoengineering
Actively manipulating the climate system to prevent climate change despite GHG emissions
3 categories of geoengineering
- Radiation management (reduce absorbed solar energy) (sulfur release into stratosphere)
- CO2 removal (planting trees)
Carbon sequestration
Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide.
What is prescribed by Paris Agreement?
Limit warming to well below 2C above pre-industrial temperatures, with an aspirational goal of limiting warming to 1.5C
def negative emissions
when humans pull more CO2 from the atmosphere than they emit
