Lab 7: Climate Change Flashcards
How much CO2 in atmosphere?
- less than 1% of gaseous makeup of atmosphere
- ~420 ppm
How measure CO2?
parts per million
Global carbon cycle
CO2 in atmosphere. Plants photosynthesis brings in carbon. Fossil fuels and dead organisms lead to carbon in ground. Plant/animal/root respiration releases CO2 into atmosphere. Burning of fossil fuels releases CO2 into atmosphere. Some CO2 also sequestered in ocean
What does the greenhouse effect result from?
when gases and water vapor form a blanket around earth
What does the greenhouse effect do?
- sunlight shines down and strikes surface of earth, causing wavelength to change
- as light reradiating, being reflected back out, hits greenhouse gases and traps some reradiated near Earth’s surface
What demonstrations were done in class?
- Greenhouse effect
- Thermal ocean expansion
- Ocean pH
- Melting sea ice vs melting land ice
- heat capacity of water
What was set up of greenhouse effect demo?
- two bottles filled with water, and temp recorded for each (22.2 C), tops covered
- Alka-Seltzer (sodium bicarbonate) dropped into one bottle filled with water
- light shined on both bottles to mimic sunlight
What was result of greenhouse effect demo?
- experiment did not work, but expected result is the bottle with more CO2 will retain more heat
What was set up of thermal ocean expansion demo?
- flask filled with water and lid with pipette through it
- black line showing where water goes to
- heated up on hotplate
What was result of thermal ocean expansion demo?
- water holds heat
- water went above original line, starting coming out of the top
What was set up of Ocean pH demo?
- flask filled with water
- phenol red (a pH indicator that turns orange/yellow when pH drops) put into flask
- dry ice (solid CO2) put into flask
What was result of Ocean pH demo?
- flask went from red to a light orange, indicating pH became more acidic
- when CO2 mixes with water, produces carbonic acid
What is significance of Ocean pH?
- A lot of ocean organisms are not adapted to acidic conditions, as CO2 mixes with ocean it becomes more acidic
- coral bleaching result of pH/temp change causing zooxanthellae to be expelled from coral
What was set up of melting sea ice vs melting land ice demo?
- beaker with rocks filled with water to line
- empty beaker filled with water to same line
- ice put into both beakers to mimic ice on land and ice in water (beaker with ice then has water dumped out so level with line again)
What was result of melting sea ice vs melting land ice demo?
- ice already in water melting does not contribute to water volume
- ice on land melting contributed to water volume
What is significance of melting sea ice vs melting land ice?
- when glaciers on land melt, water flows into oceans and rises water level
- glaciers (on land) are freshwater, so when melt into ocean it changes salinity which affects organisms
- When land glaciers melt, results in temperature changes and then changes in ocean currents
What was set up of heat capacity of water demo?
- one balloon blown up with air
- second balloon half filled with water and half with air
- balloons held over Bunsen burner
What was result of heat capacity of water demo?
the balloons with water took more time to pop
What is benefit of using NASA satellites in terms of climate change?
- give full picture of earth in a few days
- see changing of seasons
- see trash build up on shores
- infrared of ocean temperatures on globa
- peaks and valleys on surface of ocean
Why does the melting of glaciers lead to increased temps?
glaciers reflect light, with less glaciers less light is reflected
What does melting permafrost lead to (in terms of water)?
means more water can be absorbed, causing lakes to go dry
Where is the frontline for the changing climate?
Arctic
How much permafrost is expected to melt in northern hemisphere by 2100?
11 feet
What happens to the active and surface layer when permafrost melts?
sinks in
What is the name of the satellite that measures ocean levels?
Jason-2
What does the Mauna Loa Observatory do?
measure CO2 levels in atmosphere
