Lecture 1: Intro to Climate Change Flashcards
The statistics of weather in a region over long periods of time
Climate
The state of the lower atmosphere in one location at one given time
Weather
What affects the climate of a location?
Latitude, terrain, persistent snow or ice cover, nearby oceans and their currents
What parameters are used to classify specific climate types?
Temperature, rainfall, windfall, etc.
What would be the best characteristic to describe the climate of the entire planet?
Average temperature
What needs to happen in order for Earth’s temperature to be stable?
No net energy can be added to the system
What needs to happen if Earth’s atmosphere becomes more opaque to the terrestrial outgoing thermal radiation?
Earth’s temperature needs to increase so that when/if it reaches a new equilibrium it will be able to emit as much as it absorbs
A system in which solar radiation is allowed to enter freely and is absorbed, then is reradiated as infrared radiation. The infrared radiation is then retained within the system
The greenhouse effect
Atmospheric gases, liquids, and particles that absorb outgoing infrared radiation
Greenhouse gases
What are the major atmospheric constituents?
Nitrogen, oxygen, and argon
What atmospheric components control climate?
Trace atmospheric components (water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, CFCs)
The unit of measuring the ratio of carbon dioxide molecules to all of the other molecules in the atmosphere
PPM (parts per million)
Why has carbon dioxide increased so rapidly?
Over the past 200 years we have extracted fossil fuels and used them to power our lifestyles and economies, generating a sudden flux of carbon from the lithosphere to the atmosphere
