Climate Change

Question 1

Weather

Answer 1

• atmosphere conditions in a particular location over a short period of time
• includes: temperature, precipitation, wind and humidity
• “a high of 28 degrees today, sunny with cloudy periods, probability of precipitation is 30%, wind from the west at 20km/hr, and relative humidity of 40%

Question 2

What is Relative Humidity?

Answer 2

• at a given temperature the air can only hold so much water
• the relative humidity tells you how what percent of that maximum is in the air

Question 3

Is weather always the same?

Answer 3

• in some parts of the world, the weather stays more or less the same from day to day
• except; Sahara desert is usually hot and dry during the day

Question 4

Canada weather

Answer 4

• in Canada, however, wether can change dramatically from one day to the next
• ex; warm and sunny today; cool and rainy tomorrow
• however you would not expect snow in Ontario in August

Question 5

Climate

Answer 5

• the usual pattern of weather in region over a long period of time
• climatologists collect weather measurements over 30 years (or more) and average the results
•the climate gives a range of temperatures that you might expect at a certain time of year, as well at the amount and type of precipitation
• ex: the climate in southern Ontario is warm and humid during the summer and cold with snow during the winter
• determines the type of plants and animals that live in a region

Question 6

Climate Change

Answer 6

A change in climate over a long period of time

Question 7

Global Warming

Answer 7

A change in temperature (increase) over a long period of time

Question 8

Climate Zones

Answer 8

• a scientist named Vladimir Kloppen used data on temperature, precipitation and plant communities to identify climate zones for the first time
• climate zones group together regions with similar climates such as the Arctic and Antarctica and North Canada and Russia
• ex: London Ontario is in the cool summer climate zone

Question 9

Climate Factors

Answer 9

• distance from the equator (latitude)
• presence of large bodies of water
• presence of ocean or air currents
• land formations
• height above sea level (altitude)

Question 10

Height above sea level (altitude) and land masses

Answer 10

• higher you climb, colder it becomes
• impacts precipitation- air rises to get over the mountain. The air cools, condenses and falls back to earth as rain or snow on the windward side of the mountain
• on the leeward side it is dry and warm

Question 11

Latitude

Answer 11

• climates are warmest near the equator because the sun shines directly overheard
• closer to the poles, the sun is spread over a large area (hits surface at an angle) and is weaker
• at high latitudes, radiation must pass through more atmosphere, so less reaches the ground

Question 12

Large Bodies of Water (oceans, lakes)

Answer 12

• water warms and cools slower than nearby land
• in winter: water is warmer than land, moisture collects over the water and moves to the colder land warming it up
• in summer: water is cooler than land, wind becomes cool over water and blows over the warmer land cooling it down
• regions near an ocean tend to be cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter than inland

Question 13

Warm ocean currents

Answer 13

• a warm ocean current warms the air above and brings moisture and warms the nearby land
(Eg: Pacific Ocean off BC)- warm and wet

Question 14

Cool ocean currents

Answer 14

• cool ocean currents cool the air above (less evaporations) and then cools the land nearby (eg: Atlantic Ocean off Labrador)- cold and dry

Question 15

Earth’s Climate System

Answer 15

• earth’s global climate system includes air, land, liquid water and ice
• interactions between these. Components and the sun produces climate zones

Question 16

Balance of energy on earth

Answer 16

• almost all energy on earth comes from the Sun
• about 30% of solar radiation is reflected back into space by clouds, particles in the atmosphere and the earths surface
• the remaining 70% is absorbed by earths surface, clouds and certain gases in the atmosphere

Question 17

What happens to the absorbed energy?

Answer 17

• about 1% is used by plants to power photosynthesis
• energy causes rocks and water to heat up
• as earths surface temperature increases, air above is heated

Question 18

Balance

Answer 18

• earth absorbs energy at all wavelengths and gains thermal energy
• earth emits lower-energy infrared radiation back out
• Outgoing energy= Incoming energy
-Keeps earth’s climate fairly balanced

Question 19

The Atmosphere

Answer 19

• earth is covered in layers of gases
• we call these layers the atmosphere
• these layers reach up to 100km above the Earth’s surface
• our air is composed of: 78% nitrogen gas, 21% oxygen gas, and 1% of a variety of gases including carbon dioxide, argon, helium, hydrogen and ozone

Question 20

Ozone in the atmosphere

Answer 20

• the ozone in the stratosphere is very important to life on the Earth
• these gases absorb high energy ultraviolet (UV) radiation which prevents it from damaging plants and causing cancer in animals
• human made compounds called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are destroying the ozone layer (can be found in cans and old fridges)
• this is causing the ozone layer to be thinner in some parts of the atmosphere allowing more radiation and heat in
• rules were put in place to stop the use of CFCs (ozone layer loos like it will recover in the coming decades)

Question 21

The Greenhouse Effect

Answer 21

• a process in which certain gases in Earth’s atmosphere absorb heat from the sun and heat radiated from Earth’s surface
• certain gases in the atmosphere act like glass or plastic panels of a greenhouse

Question 22

Greenhouse Gases

Answer 22

• absorb energy from the sun
• absorb energy that is radiated from earth’s surface

Question 23

Greenhouse Gases Cause

Answer 23

• heat is trapped in the air of our atmosphere
• gases radiate the heat they absorb back to the planet, warming the earth

Question 24

Water Vapour

Answer 24

• given off by plants, animals, and other organisms
• most abundant GHG
• scientists believe it accounts for about 70% of GHG
• amount in the atmosphere varies with temperature (higher temp results in more water vapour)

Question 25

Carbon Dioxide

Answer 25

• living organisms
• forest fires, decaying organisms, release from oceans
• 2nd most abundant GHG
• can account for up to a quarter of the GHG

Question 26

Methane

Answer 26

• species of bacteria and other microorganisms
• vents and other openings in Earth’s crust on land and the ocean floor
• by product of certain types of cellular processes

Question 27

Nitrous Oxide

Answer 27

• bacteria that live in oceans and wet, warm soil
• created when nitrogen-rich compounds are broken down

Question 28

The greenhouse effect is not bad

Answer 28

• it is important to help regulate the temperature of the Earth
• acts as “insulation” keeping the temperature from fluctuating wildly
• without the greenhouse effect the average temperature of the earth could be as low as -18 degrees

Question 29

Too much greenhouse gases is what’s bad

Answer 29

• the more gases in the atmosphere means the more heat that is radiated back to the Earth making it warmer
• the earth has natural ways of removing greenhouse gases
• forests remove CO2 from the air during photosynthesis
• oceans dissolve and hold CO2
• because both remove Carron and Carbon Dioxide we call them carbon sinks
• both release the carbon and carbon dioxide when burned or evaporated

Question 30

Anthropogenic

Answer 30

Resulting from a human influence
• the main anthropogenic gases are CO2, CH4, N2O and CFCs

Question 31

Carbon Dioxide (anthropogenic sources)

Answer 31

• is the most significant greenhouse gas produced by humans
• burning fossil fuels (coal, gasoline and natural gas) produces CO2
• forests absorb CO2 from the atmosphere- plants use it for photosynthesis
• 10% of CO2 emissions are due to deforestation, mostly in tropical countries
• cutting down trees means less plants to take the CO2 out of the atmosphere

Question 32

Methane

Answer 32

• rice farming and cattle ranching are 2 main sources of CH4
• methane is also produced from the decay of organic material in landfills and sewage treatment plants
• coal mining and natural gas extraction release methane gas that was trapped underground in fossil fuel deposits

Question 33

Nitrous Oxide

Answer 33

• 2/3 of N2O comes from the management of livestock feed and waste
• farmers using nitrogen fertilizers

Question 34

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)

Answer 34

• commonly used as refrigeration agents
• there are no natural sources of CFCs
• these gases leak out of fridges and air conditioners or are released be industrial processes
• react with and damage the Ozone layer
• labels are now decreasing because of international treaties- Montreal protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer

Question 35

Anthropogenic Greenhouse Effect

Answer 35

• as greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increase more and more of low energy infrared radiation is being absorbed
• we call this human-caused increase the anthropogenic greenhouse effect
• humans are enhancing the natural greenhouse effect
• earths energy balance is changing
• more thermal energy is tapped inside the atmosphere, raising global temperatures beyond what they would be with just the natural greenhouse effect

Question 36

Feedback loop between Carbon Dioxide and Global Temperature

Answer 36

• oceans and plants store CO2
• as temperatures increase, the oceans evaporate releasing more CO2, more forest fires release CO2
• this increase in CO3 causes an increase in temperature (like the albedo effect)

Question 37

Natural Climate Change

Answer 37

• the earth undergoes natural changes
• over hinder of thousands of years, earths climate undergoes cyclic changes
• ex. Ice ages

Question 38

Continental Drift

Answer 38

• continental drift=movement of Earths continents
• changes ocean currents and wind patterns- affects heat transfer
• changes distribution of land mass- northern hemisphere was coldest winters and warmest summers
- southern hemisphere is moderated by greater amount of ocean

Question 39

Continental Drift (part 2)

Answer 39

• 200 million years ago, the continents were grouped together at the equator
• Antarctica has fossils of lush tropical plants and huge dinosaurs to feed on them

Question 40

Long Term Climate Cycles

Answer 40

• the last ice age was about 20 000 years ago
• the average temperature was 10 degrees lower and most of Canada was covered in 3km of ice
• this exposed land that was normally underwater- forming links between continents
• plants, animals and humans migrated ex Beringia land bridge between Alaska and Northern Europe
• global climate cycles between ice ages and interglacial periods

Question 41

Why do interglacial periods and ice ages happen?

Answer 41

• an engineer/astronomer named Milankovitch theories
• 1 eccentricity (shape of earths orbit) varies over 100000 years
• 2 tilt of the earth has a cycle of 41000 years
• 3 precession of tilt (wobble) cycles every 26000 years
• these combine to create regular 100000 year cycles that have been happening for over 400000 years

Question 42

Volcanic Eruptions

Answer 42

• spew rocks, dust and gases high into atmosphere
• particles of sulfur dioxide reflect the Suns energy back into space
• had the effect of shading earth- earth temporarily cools

Question 43

Air and Ocean Currents- El Niño

Answer 43

• occurs every 3-7 years in Pacific Ocean
• prevailing winds temporarily switch direction, changing ocean currents
• west coast of South America gets much warmer temperatures

Question 44

Air and Ocean Currents- La Niña

Answer 44

• when the prevailing winds blow extremely hard in the normal direction
• cause more cold water to be brought up and usually cold periods
• opposite of El Niño
• changes in suns radiation
• if the amount of radiation coming from the sun changes, earth receives less energy and cools down

Question 45

Feedback loops and climate

Answer 45

• small changes such as a decrease in snow cover, can have a very large effect on Earths climate
• small changes are sometimes enhanced or made bigger by feedback loops
• in feedback loops the cause creates an effect that impacts the original cause- whether negative or positive

Question 46

Water Vapour feedback loop

Answer 46

• when the climate warms more water vapour enters the atmosphere- this causes the climate to warm up even more cause water vapour is a greenhouse gas and traps infrared radiation emitted by the earth
• low clouds will also enhance this effect
• the opposite is true for a cool climate

Question 47

The Albedo Effect

Answer 47

• different surfaces reflect different amounts of the suns radiation
• the proportion they reflect is called the albedo
• ice and snow have high albedos- that’s why you squint on a sunny winter day earth reflects 30-40% of the suns radiation- its albedo is 0.30-0.40
• if earths temperature drops slightly more ice forms which reflects the sun, and earths temperature drops even more
• the opposite would be true if the earth is warmed and ice melts , less reflection= warmer earth and more ice melts

Question 48

Extras

Answer 48

• earths climate shifts relatively quickly from an ice age into the warm, interglacial period that follows it
• this rapid change can be partly explained by the albedo effect (see temp chart)