Climate Change Part 2

Question 1

When and where was CO2 first recorded?

Answer 1

1957 in Mauna Loa Hawaii

Question 2

Why is there more CO2 in the winter?

Answer 2

Plants are dormant

Question 3

What is “old sunlight”?

Answer 3

Coal, oil, natural gas (stored underground millions of years ago)

Question 4

What is “new sunlight”?

Answer 4

Ethanol from corn and sugarcane (stored underground in past few years)

Question 5

What does black carbon do?

Answer 5

It lowers albedo when it settles

Question 6

What are 3 sources of black carbon?

Answer 6

Diesel engines, open cook stoves, forest fires

Question 7

Where is the most black carbon?

Answer 7

LDCs

Question 8

What is black carbon’s atmospheric lifetime?

Answer 8

One month

Question 9

What are 3 ways to control the release of black carbon?

Answer 9

Retrofit engines, replacing diesel with natural gas, using more efficient stoves

Question 10

What happens in thermohaline circulation?

Answer 10

Currents transport warm water from equator to poles and cold water from poles to equator

Question 11

What are the 2 marine variables that drive thermohaline circulation?

Answer 11

Temperature and salinity

Question 12

What does AMOC stand for, and what is it?

Answer 12

Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, it’s another word for thermohaline circulation

Question 13

What are 3 things that are happening to thermohaline circulation?

Answer 13

Tropics are getting more salty, poles are getting less salty, salinity gradient is diminishing

Question 14

What is a cap and trade?

Answer 14

The government sets a limit on the amount of pollutants an industry can emit, companies can sell permits to emit more or less

Question 15

What happened at the 2016 Paris climate agreement?

Answer 15

Outlined greenhouse gas emissions, mitigation, and finance starting 2020

Question 16

What does ENSO stand for?

Answer 16

El Niño southern oscillation

Question 17

What happens during years that aren’t El Niño years?

Answer 17

Winds push warm water to west pacific (Asia is wet and west americas are dry)

Question 18

What happens during El Niño years?

Answer 18

Winds smear east and change weather patterns

Question 19

How often do El Niño years happen?

Answer 19

About every 5 years

Question 20

What is the effect of climate change on El Niño?

Answer 20

Events are more irregular and stronger

Question 21

What happens during a La Niña year?

Answer 21

There is unusually cold water in the pacific equator (very rare)

Question 22

What does IPCC stand for?

Answer 22

Intergovernmental panel on climate change

Question 23

What does the IPCC do?

Answer 23

Evaluate risks of climate change

Question 24

By 2100, global temperature will rise by how much?

Answer 24

3-7 degrees F

Question 25

What are the 4 scenarios of climate change?

Answer 25

1) population
2) use of fossil fuels
3) haves and have nots
4) feedback loops

Question 26

What are the 10 ways to cool the planet?

Answer 26

1) aerosols (ash/sea spray)
2) sulfate (whitens clouds)
3) cap and trade
4) create emissions tax
5) government regulation
6) change subsidies (make coal expensive and renewable cheap)
7) efficiency/ mileage standards
8) separate politics and science
9) change building design
10) education

Question 27

What is carbon capture and sequestration, and how does it work?

Answer 27

A way to capture atmospheric carbon at fixed sites, by putting carbon into old mines or using plants to phytoremidiate

Question 28

What are 2 concerns of CCS?

Answer 28

If the CO2 leaks into water, it makes carbonic acid, the carbon could deteriorate the container its in

Question 29

What is the stabilization wedge triangle?

Answer 29

A compilation of mitigation strategies that shows ways to decrease the effect of climate change

Question 30

What are 3 solutions the stabilization wedge suggests?

Answer 30

Mandating vehicle efficiency, improving mass transit networks, building wind farms