FINAL EPS 101 Flashcards
The growing population and the changing diet of humans has created a need for us to produce more food. __________ make it much harder to grow food.
Extreme weather events
In order to increase productivity and sustainability in the agricultural sector we need to reduce the amount of ___________ being generated.
Greenhouse gas emissions
The crazy high fertilizer rates in the US lead to high _______ emissions
Nitrous oxide
What two things have a larger contribution to methane emissions than fossil fuel production and use?
Agriculture and waste
What are the biggest contributors to methane emissions globally?
Anthropogenic sources, rice paddies, natural sources (wetlands produce through bacterial reactions and hind gut producers), energy sector (emissions from coal, oil, natural gas and biofuels)
Wildfires are an essential aspect of _________
A natural healthy functioning ecosystem
Climate change is changing the _________ of wildfires
Extent, duration, and intensity
Surface fires are essential for the _____________________
Germination of new trees
Why are surface fires helpful?
Fire removes low-growing underbrush, cleans the forest floor of debris, opens it up to sunlight, and nourishes the soil.
Should we consider wildfires as a part of CO2 emissions?
Yes but we also have to recognize that a lot of them are natural background parts of natural ecosystems
What percent of the CO2 released from burning fossil fuels is absorbed in the atmosphere?
50%
What percent of the CO2 released from burning fossil fuels is absorbed in the terrestrial biosphere?
25%
What percent of the CO2 released from burning fossil fuels is absorbed in the ocean?
25%
Forests are moving from being carbon _____ to carbon _____ due to changing climates, wildfires, and management practices
Sinks to sources
What is the positive feedback loop with fires?
Increasing carbon emissions fuel climate change and drive hotter and drier conditions → hotter drier conditions dry out forests and make them more prone to fires → larger areas burn as fire seasons get longer and fires are more frequent and intense → carbon emissions from fires increase as larger areas burn → back to the top
Does the climate crisis fundamentally change what is going on in each area or does it just exacerbate the events?
Exacerbates it! There is a more active hydrological cycle in warmer areas but there is more pronounced drought at times and areas are getting drier
How has the climate crisis impacted our temperatures at night?
We are having warmer nights because there is a decrease in water trapping in the atmosphere due to the weather events that are going on during the day.
We need to change the path of agricultural productivity because _________(how much) of greenhouse gas emissions are coming from agriculture
More than half
Going to be incredibly difficult to meet the 1.5 degree climate goal because we need to have an EXTREME change from moving away from fossil fuels (already difficult) but _____
It would change every aspect of how we function as a civilization but especially in agriculture
How is methane produced?
Rice patties and enteric fermentation (cows, sheep/lamb/buffalo)
Wildfires are dependent on ______
Humidity
How is humidity correlated with wildfires?
Less humidity is present in places that are more prone to droughts. The increased warming dries out the soil and can ultimately cause wildfires.
What is El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) ?
ENSO is a recurring climate pattern involving changes in the temperature of waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
El Nino is the (warm or cold) phase
Warm
Real life effects of El nino
Rainfall reduced over Indonesia, rainfall increased over the eastern pacific ocean, and relatively cooler temperatures in the western pacific ocean
Because of el nino the easterly trade (east to west) winds have ________
Weakened
Positive feedback loop of El nino
Waters warm in east pacific → more rising air in east→ east to west winds weaken → reduced upwelling of cold water in east → winds reinforce initial ocean warming in east
Another positive feedback loop of el nino (this one includes rainfall)
Warmer water in east pacific → rising motion/more rainfall in east → cooling/sinking air in west → weaker east to west winds → reduced upwelling of cold water in east → beginning
El nino has _______ the pacific jet stream
Extended
Because of el nino we expect _____ conditions over western north america
Warmer
La nina is the (warm/cool) phase
Cool
What is la nina?
The periodic cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific.
What does la nina cause?
The jet stream to move northward and to weaken over the eastern Pacific
During la nina winters what happens in the north and south?
During La Niña winters, the South sees warmer and drier conditions than usual. The North and Canada tend to be wetter and colder.
Real life effects of la nina
Rainfall increase over indonesia, rainfall decrease over eastern pacific ocean, and easterly winds along the equator become stronger
Positive feedack loop of la nina
Waters warm in the west → more air rising in west→ east to west winds strengthen → increase upwelling of cold-water in east (push warm surface water to the west and colder deep water get sucked up and takes this space) → winds reinforce initial warming in west
What do both la nina and el nino relate to?
Sea surface temperatures
How is the east pacific coast impacted by la nina?
Waters off the east Pacific coast are colder and contain more nutrients than usual.
What does the cryosphere do?
Helps maintain Earth’s climate by reflecting incoming solar radiation back into space because it includes the frozen parts of the planet.
What are some parts of the cryosphere?
Sea ice, alpine glaciers, ice shelves, icebergs, permafrost
When does sea ice form?
When the ocean freezes
How does sea ice form?
Cold atmosphere cools down the surface of ocean and sucks out the heat and then surface freezes
Where does sea ice form?
Polar regions
Why do we care about sea ice?
It is essential to regulating the global climate. Sea ice has a very high albedo
Sea ice reflects ____ (percentage) of incoming solar radiation
80%
Why is arctic sea ice melting?
Ice albedo feedback has been very prominent in recent decades but we have less ice due to warming so more heat is being trapped and warming sea surface temps
How does glacial ice form?
They form when snow accumulates and is compressed into ice by new snow over many years. As they grow, they begin to move slowly under the pressure of their own weight, dragging smaller rocks and debris across the land with them.
The greenland ice sheet covers almost ___ of the surface of greenland
80%
What are the two biggest ice sheets?
Antarctic ice sheet and Greenland ice sheet
How are ice shelves formed?
At the edges of ice sheets, glaciers reach the sea and float on water to form ice shelves
What are ice sheets?
Glacial land extending more than 50,000 km^2
What type of feedback causes ENSO (El nino)?
A positive feedback
Why does arctic sea ice not last as long as it used to?
The arctic sea ice is melting from below because that ice drifts over warming ocean waters
Why are there a lot of glaciers in moutain regions?
Air temperatures are cooler at higher altitudes
How are icebergs formed?
Icebergs are the result of glaciers extending over the ocean and breaking off from the ice shelf
How does mass impact the ability of ice to float?
For the iceberg to float, the mass of the water that the iceberg displaces must equal the mass of the iceberg (Archimedes Principle)
When permafrost decays what gases does it release?
If oxygen is present: carbon
If oxygen is not present: methane
Massive amounts of ____ and ___ are untapped in permafrost because the organic matter is frozen and it doesn’t decay
Carbon and methane
Once carbon and methane decay after permafrost has melted what happens?
It creates a positive feedback loop where warming global temperatures cause permafrost to thaw, and now that exposed organic matter begins to decay, which releases carbon dioxide and methane that exacerbate the warming, and the cycle continues.
Another example of the decay of permafrost is called ________
Arctic coastal erosion
What is arctic coastal erosion?
When we lose arctic sea ice cover, we create more and more waves that build up and are bigger. This gives rise to warm waters (in the form of big waves) that begin to hit the coast and thus fuel erosion.
4 factors influencing sea level rise
Increased precipitation
Melt of ice sheet and ice shelves
Intensification of the hydrological cycle
How do higher sea levels contribute to storm surges?
When you have this higher sea level, it makes it easier for wind and waves to push water toward the shore, leading to a storm surge
What is a storm surge?
Abnormal rise of water generated by a storm
As sea levels are rising and the water is warming the same mass of water takes up more volume. What is this process called?
Thermal expansion
The stability of a system is dependent on _________
The energy that would be required to kick the system to a new state
What is the interglacial period?
The period in between glacial periods where the earth’s surface is covered by ice that is usually characterized by warmer temperatures
When was the last glacial maximum?
About 20,000 years ago
What is the younger dryas?
About 14,500 years ago, Earth’s climate began to shift from a cold glacial world to a warmer interglacial state. Partway through this transition, temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere suddenly returned to near-glacial conditions. This near-glacial period is called the Younger Dryas
Why did the younger dryas happen?
There is no consensus but one theory queen mary louise likes relates to thermohaline circulation
What does AMOC stand for?
Atlantic Meridionial Overturning Circulation
What does the AMOC do?
Circulates water from north to south and back in a long cycle within the Atlantic Ocean
What is effect of AMOC on climate?
If enough water stops sinking, then the AMOC will weaken. Depending on how much the AMOC weakens, it can change regional weather patterns, such as rainfall, and affect where and how well crops can grow.
What is the major cause of AMOC?
Differences in temperature and salt content – the water’s density
Within the AMOC, as warm water flows north it ______ which increases its salt content
Evaporates
AMOC keeps the water from the tropics to the North Atlantic free of ____
Ice
A prevailing theory for why the Earth plunged into a cold period is that there was a reduction of this overturning circulation of warm water called the ____
AMOC
What is one theory of the younger dryas?
Massive freshwater injection into the atlantic that shut down the generation of deep water in northern latitudes, cooled the climate and slowed down the overturning of northern latitudes
What did the little ice age do after the younger dryas?
Reconstructed the northern hemisphere temperature
What caused the little ice age?
Increased volcanic activity: ash cloudsfull of aerosols blocked incoming solar radiation
Humans use perspiration from the skin as a means of _____
Cooling due to the latent heat of evaporation of water
Climate change has caused humans to be closer to their upper limit on temperature in parts of the world today. Under global warming and increased heat and humidity levels it has proven to be ________ in certain regions of the world
Too hot for us to be able to naturally cool ourselves down
Some examples of locations that experienced extreme heat and humidity levels are ___
East asia, east coast of US
Because of the increased warming many parts of the world could _____
Become inhabitable for humans unless they have access to a cooling mechanism that unfortunately often contributes disproportionately to greenhouse gas emissions
Name some locations where the number of days per year exceed the threshold of temperature and humidity beyond which climactic conditions become deadly
Africa, south america, australia, south asia - 2090/2100
A hurricane is the same thing as ______
A tropical cyclone
In northern hemisphere hurricanes are called _____
Hurricanes
In the southern hemisphere hurricanes are called ____
Tropical cyclones
In the western hemisphere hurricanes are called _____
Typhoons
If you were in the eye of a hurricane would you know?
No bc it is a low pressure system! It’s calm, no winds, very sunny and thats because air comes down into the hurricane, descending air is associated with clear skies, whereas ascending air looks like cloudy skies.
Right now we are in a ______ period because Earth’s system has been warming up as we have put more and more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere
Interglacial
Once we officially shift out of our stability system what will face the quickest impacts?
Coral reefs, crops, thermohaline circulation, jet stream, amazon rainforest
Why have there been so many storms in the pacific?
Strong el nino is making the oceans warmer so the hurricanes are gaining fuel due to lower pressure
Why do hurricanes spin?
Coriolis effect
What is the energy source of hurricanes?
When the surface water is warm, the storm sucks up heat energy from the water, just like a straw sucks up a liquid. This creates moisture in the air. If wind conditions are right, the storm becomes a hurricane. This heat energy is the fuel for the storm.
Hurricanes are embedded in _____
Large scale wind systems
What direction do hurricanes move?
Move westward with the trade winds and drift poleward to enter westerly winds
The worst hurricanes are associated with ______
Storm surges
What do climate models do?
Use physical principles and laws to quantify how the earth system is changing
What are energy balance models and what do they do?
Equation representing energy in versus energy out (planet’s energy budget).
It predict earths temperature from solar radiation, emission of radiation outer space, and earths energy absorption and greenhouse gas effects
What do integrated assessment models do?
Use economic theories and evidence from historical data to quantify how human development and social choices affect climate change
What were the storms in the pacific ocean this year associated with?
The strong el nino - the warm temperatures in the ocean
What do hurricanes need to intensify rapidly?
Extra warm sea surface temperatures
Presence of a strong band of winds (a jet streak) embedded in the jet stream air
Why are there few hurricanes at the equator?
Without the spin of the earth and the resulting Coriolis force, hurricanes would not form. Since the Corioles force is at a maximum at the poles and a minimum at the equator, hurricanes can not form within 5 degrees latitude of the equator.
Underneath a hurricane the _____ is low which draws up the ocean surface
Sea level pressure
In order to get into the temperature ranges we need to be at _________ emissions
Negative
When we hit 3 degrees of warming we will still have _____
Much more extreme weather events and agricultural failure
Coal burning has a massive impact on the amount of ________
Methane and aerosols released into the atmosphere
Coal burning has a series of negative impacts…what are they
Release a large amount of greenhouse gases per energy produced from coal. Those aerosols have strong negative health affects on local communities but they also have a cooling effect
What 2 things are much easier to decarbonize as opposed to transportation and agriculture?
Electricity and heat production
In order to even attempt to reach our climate goals we really need to increase our usage of _______ and ______
Wind and solar power
What are the practical issues of the adoption of more sustainable processes?
Cost, effectiveness, and scalability
How can we accelerate carbon removal?
Accelerate the weathering process: the natural way that earth’s climate is regulated is carbon dioxide removal thorugh silicate rocks
Instead of moving on from the fossil fuel industry what can we make attempts for them to do?
Regulate their own waste product
Define weather
Short term changes in the atmosphere
Define climate
Long term averages of daily weather
Define climate change prediction
Prediction of the average weather over a long timescale into the future
What social media platform has the largest social media carbon footprint?
Tiktok
In a single year a supercomputer can consume as much power as a _________
Small city
What are aerosols?
Tiny particles emitted when burning fossil fuels, from forest fires, volcanic eruptions
What are climate pathways?
Inputs to climate models
What do representative concentration pathways do?
Describe different levels of greenhouse gases that might occur in the future
What is radiative forcing?
Measure the amount of the Earth’s energy budget is out of balance
Where is radiative forcing measured?
Top of the atmosphere - troposphere/stratosphere boundary
What is positive radiative forcing?
Earth’s RECEIVES more energy than it radiates to space
What is negative radiative forcing?
Earth’s GIVES more energy than it radiates to space
What are natural drivers of the climate system?
Variations in solar activity, volcanic activity and a lot of other stuff we have no control over
What are human drivers of climate systems?
Greenhouse gases, aerosols, pollutants
What is coupled model intercomparison project phase 6?
Cross comparison of climate models that allows scientists to analyze, evaluate and improve global climate models in a systemic way
Newer models are having a hard time incorporating ____
Clouds
High clouds act to _____
Warm climate
Low clouds act to ______
Cool climate
What is climate sensitivity?
The amount by which the Earth’s surface temperature is expected to rise in response to a doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentrations
What are 4 arguments used against climate change?
Climate change is just part of the natural cycle
The science of climate change is not settled
CO2 is such a small part of the atmosphere that it cannot have a large heating affect
Climate models are unreliable and too sensitive to carbon dioxide
What is the planck feedback?
As an object gets hotter it radiates more heat away
Negative feedback of cloud formation
Climate warming –> increased evaporation & cloud cover –> decreasing incoming solar radiation –> cooling
What is effective radiative forcing?
Additional energy absorbed or given off by Earth’s system caused by changes in certain external factors
What is the equilibrium climate sensitivity of earth?
The global mean surface air temp increase that follows a DOUBLING of greenhouse gases once the planet has had time to adjust to it
Is the planck feedback positive or negative?
Negative
What is the water vapor feedback?
Water vapor feedback: climate warming → increased atmospheric water vapor(humidity) → increased greenhouse trapping of radiation → increased warming = postive fedeback
Why was the IPCC created?
To provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments on climate change, its implications and potential future risks
What are the 3 countries not involved in the Paris Agreement?
Iran, libya and Yemen
Why are oceans warming slower than land?
Higher heat capacity in the ocean, takes more energy to heat them up
Why are nighttime temperatures outpacing daytime temps in the rate of warming?
Regions where theres cloud cover, we have cooler days, and we have warmer nights because clouds act as insulators when the earth is tryung to cool down. It creates long wave radiation and the daily temperature range is smaller
Negative feedback of higher temperatures and rain
Higher temperatures cause more rainfall → more heat cause greater evaporation → more moisture forms clouds → heavier rain
Climate drivers for model projections are based on_____
SSPs: shared socioeconomic pathways
What do SSPs (shared socioeconomic pathways) do?
Examine different ways pollution, education, urbanization, economic growth, and technological development may evolve in the coming decades
Define mitigation
Reducing emissions of and stabilizing greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere
Define adaptation
Adapting to the climate change already in the pipeline
What do SSPs give you?
Ability to understand the risks and benefits of alternative policy choices
Most climate models still do not include ____
Permafrost processesand cloud coverage
Can thawing permafrost substantially increase global temperatures?
The thawing of frozen ground in the Arctic will release carbon that will amplify global warming, but this is very unlikely to lead the runaway warming
What country is the highest total fossil fuel emitter?
China
Why do we subsidize fossil fuels?
If you want economic growth high, gas needs to be cheap ; Having a low energy source keeps gas inexpensive, especially for people that are low income
What are implicit subsidies?
Money going directly to fossil fuels
In approaching our climate goals we will always need a strong balance between ____ and _____
Mitigation and adaptation
What is the problem with our attempt to fund mitigation more than adaptation?
We want more money to flow into mitigation, but there’s a serious threat in that if we don’t invest in adaptation, you’ll lose a lot of infrastructure and overall suffering
Our atmosphere is largely _____ to light (shortwave radiation) coning in from the Sun
Transparent
Our atmosphere is largely _____ to infrared (longwave radiation) leaving the Earth
Opaque
Contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions by sector (greatest to least)
setors: industry, transportation, electricity and heat production, agriculture and land use
Electricity and heat production, agriculture and land use, industry, transportation
What are the causes of carbon sinks turning into carbon sources?
Anthropogenic sources
Forest fires
Suboptimal conditions for existing ecosystems
How does CO2 drive ocean acidification?
CO2 will constantly equilibrate with surface waters, turning into carbonic acid. This will interact with dissolved carbon in the ocean to decrease the ph in the ocean. As we decrease ph, it becomes less favorable for organisms to calcify
What does the gulf stream do?
Brings warm water north, and transfers heat to western Europe
What are the limitations of climate modeling?
Uncertainty in future greenhouse gas emissions
Abrupt climate transitions
Reliance on parameterizations for small scale processes
What are the external costs associated with fossil fuels?
Human health/suffering - gov doesn’t take into account
Wildfires directly attributed
Increased amountof damage - possibly irreversible
ENSO is
A recurring climate pattern across the Pacific
El Niño/La Nina events are characterized by measuring
Sea-surface temperatures in a region of the Pacific Ocean
Approximately how thick is sea ice?
2 meters
At the edges of ice sheets, glaciers reach the sea and float on the water to form
Ice shelves
Since the 1990s global seas have been rising at an average rate of about
3 millimeters per year
If the entire Antarctic ice sheet melted, how much would global sea levels rise?
58 meters
An interglacial period is
A climate interval with warmer temps
A possible reason for the Little Ice Age is
Increased volcanic activity
Humans use perspiration as a means of cooling because
It takes heat to evaporate perspiration
If you’re an average TikTok user, your TikTok carbon footprint in one year is equivalent to driving
180 miles
Eunice Newton Foote is famous for
Discovering the greenhouse effect
