Conclusions Flashcards
Describe the difference between Solar Radiation Management (SRM) and Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)
SRM and CDR are two ways of combating climate change however they both operate in different ways and have different objectives. The SRM objective is to reflect the sun’s energy away from the earth in order to cool the earth’s surface by reducing the amount of solar radiation.
Two examples of Solar Radiation Management (SRM) and Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)
Two examples are stratospheric aerosol injection and/or marine cloud brightening. The CDR objective is to remove carbon dioxide from the earth’s atmosphere by reducing greenhouse gas concentration. Two examples are afforestation/reforestation and ocean fertilization.
How might ocean fertilization impact net primary productivity at the ocean surface, remineralization of organic matter in the ocean subsurface, subsurface oxygen concentrations, and the transfer of organic matter through the marine food web?
At the moment Primary productivity and drawdown of carbon is limited by nutrients in the ocean. Therefore adding nutrients like iron to iron-limiting HNLC regions would increase phytoplankton growth and sequester CO2.The increased production of phytoplankton can result in higher organic matter sinking to the ocean subsurface thre remineralization of this organic matter by bacteria can lead to the consumption of oxygen in deeper waters.
What are some possible negative impacts on Earth’s ecosystems of managing solar radiation by injecting sulfate particles high into the atmosphere?
Some negative effects include Residual climate effects, (for example weather pattern distribution/ acid rain formation) and unknown biochemical effects on the environment and stratospheric ozone depletion.
Consider a scenario where society decides collectively to implement solar radiation reduction immediately. Greenhouse gas emissions, however, continue to increase. How long would global-scale geoengineering need to be implemented to avoid the growing impacts of anthropogenic climate change?
Global-scale geoengineering would need to be implemented for the rest of time (centuries) to avoid the growing impacts of anthropogenic climate change. If solar radiation management was stopped 50 years after implementation, the earth’s greenhouse gas emissions would skyrocket, the changes would revert and potentially be more abrupt and intense than if we hadn’t tried to fix it in the first place. There would be a rapid increase in global temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, and shifts in weather systems.
What are some major differences in the structure and function of aquatic versus terrestrial ecosystems?
Aquatic systems and terrestrial systems are fundamentally different when it comes to physical environments and organism adaptations. For example their oxygen availability, in aquatic ecosystems oxygen is dissolved in water and therefore availability varies with temperature and other factors and so organisms have adapted to extracting oxygen from water. However in terrestrial systems air/oxygen is abundant so they have an easier time extracting oxygen straight from the atmosphere.
What role do amplifying versus stabilizing feedbacks play in global climate?
Amplifying feedbacks reinforce the effects if climate change while stabilizing feedbacks counteract the effects of climate change.
Amplifying feedback: ICE MELTING, as the ice/snow melts earths albedo deceases due to reduction in the ice reflectivity. As the surface gets darker more sunlight is being absorbed which leads to darker surfaces and more absorption.
Stabilizing feedbacks: CLOUD FORMATION: clouds have a cooling effect of the earths surface because of their sunlight reflectivity. The increase in earth’s temperature leads to more cloud formation and more clouds = cooling effect which leads to a stabilizing feedback.
