PEE 3.1 Air and Climate Change

Question 1

The thin blanket of gases surrounding the earth.

Answer 1

The Atmosphere

Question 2

The presence of various chemicals (gases, liquids, or solids) in the atmosphere at high levels enough to harm humans, other organisms, or materials, or to alter climate.

Answer 2

Air Pollution

Question 3

Harmful chemicals that enter directly into the atmosphere due to either human activities (mobile and stationary) or natural processes.

Answer 3

Primary air pollutants

Question 4

Harmful chemicals that form in the atmosphere when primary air pollutants react chemically with one another or with natural components of the atmosphere.

Answer 4

Secondary air pollutants

Question 5

3 Major Air Pollution Problems (Outdoor)

Answer 5

industrial smog
photochemical smog
acid deposition (or acid rain)

Question 6

Caused mostly by the burning of coalconsisting mostly of an unhealthy mix of sulfur dioxide, suspended droplets of sulfuric acid, and a variety of suspended solid particles in outside air

Answer 6

industrial smog

Question 7

Caused by motor vehicle and industrial emissions a mixture of primary and secondary pollutants formed under the influence of UV radiation from the sun

Answer 7

photochemical smog

Question 8

caused mainly by coal-burning power plants, metal
ore smelters, oil refineries, & other industrial facilities SO2 and NOx pollutants forming secondary pollutants such as droplets of sulfuric acid (H2SO4), nitric acid vapor (HNO3), and particles of acid-forming sulfate (SO42−) and nitrate (NO3−) salt

Answer 8

acid deposition (or acid rain)

Question 9

Refers to the conditions in the atmosphere at a
given place and time; it includes temperature, atmospheric pressure, precipitation, cloudiness, humidity, and wind. Weather changes from one hour to the next and from one day to the next.

Answer 9

Weather

Question 10

The typical weather pattern that occurs in a place over a period of years (at least three decades). The two most important factors that determine an area’s overall climate are temperature — both average temperature and temperature variability —and both average and seasonal precipitation

Answer 10

Climate

Question 11

The long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, but since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels (like coal, oil, and gas), which produces heat trapping gases.

Answer 11

Climate change

Question 12

The solar energy that reaches Earth warms the planet’s surface, drives the hydrologic and other
biogeochemical cycles, produces our climate, and powers almost all life through photosynthesis.

Answer 12

Solar Radiation

Question 13

The Milankovitch Cycles
(a) the earth’s elliptical orbit stretches
and shortens in a 100,000-year cycle
(b) the earth’s axis changes its
angle of tilt in a 40,000-year cycle
(c) over a 26,000-year period,
the axis wobbles like an out-of-balance
spinning top

Question 14

The Milankovitch Cycles
(a) the earth’s elliptical orbit stretches
and shortens in a 100,000-year cycle
(b) the earth’s axis changes its
angle of tilt in a 40,000-year cycle
(c) over a 26,000-year period,
the axis wobbles like an out-of-balance
spinning top

Question 14

The Milankovitch Cycles

Answer 14

(a) the earth’s elliptical orbit stretches
and shortens in a 100,000-year cycle
(b) the earth’s axis changes its
angle of tilt in a 40,000-year cycle
(c) over a 26,000-year period,
the axis wobbles like an out-of-balance
spinning top

Question 15

The Milankovitch Cycles

Answer 15

1. Changes in Eccentricity (Orbit Shape)
2. Changes in Obliquity (Tilt)
3. Axial Precession (Wobble)

Question 16

Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are molecules in the atmosphere that block long-wave energy from
escaping to space.

Answer 16

The Greenhouse Effect

Question 17

5 Major GHGs:

Answer 17

▪ water vapor (H2O)
▪ carbon dioxide (CO2)
▪ methane (CH4)
▪ nitrous oxide (N2O)
▪ halocarbons

Question 18

Additional atmospheric warming produced as
human activities increase atmospheric
concentrations of greenhouse gases.

Answer 18

Enhanced Greenhouse Effect

Question 19

A United Nations body that evaluates climate change science, concludes the following:

(i) world’s climate has changed significantly over the past century
(ii) the significant change has human influence
(iii) if the trend continues, the global mean surface temperature will increase between 1°C and 3.5°C by 2100

Answer 19

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Question 20

A United Nations body that evaluates climate change science, concludes the following:

(i) world’s climate has changed significantly over the past century
(ii) the significant change has human influence
(iii) if the trend continues, the global mean surface temperature will increase between 1°C and 3.5°C by 2100

Answer 20

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Question 21

A United Nations body that evaluates climate change science, concludes the following:

(i) world’s climate has changed significantly over the past century
(ii) the significant change has human influence
(iii) if the trend continues, the global mean surface temperature will increase between 1°C and 3.5°C by 2100

Answer 21

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Question 22

A United Nations body that evaluates climate change science, concludes the following:

(i) world’s climate has changed significantly over the past century
(ii) the significant change has human influence
(iii) if the trend continues, the global mean surface temperature will increase between 1°C and 3.5°C by 2100

Answer 22

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Question 23

Effects of Climate Change

Answer 23

• Disappearing ice
• Wildfire and pests, early springs
• Rising sea level
• More severe weather (drought, storms) and cumulative costs of climate change

Question 24

Arctic ice, which helps stabilize climate, has declined by nearly half in
summer. Mountain glaciers and snow, which provide water to about 75 percent of the western
United States and over 1 billion people in Asia, are disappearing worldwide

Answer 24

Disappearing ice

Question 25

Increased fire frequency and severity, aided by expanding
parasites, is causing ecosystem change and even human mortality. Early onset of warm weather
has led to early flowering, migrations, and hotter summers.

Answer 25

Wildfire and pests, early springs

Question 26

We are committed to about 0.5 m rise. Without rapid CO2
reductions, we may
soon be committed to 2 m or more.

Answer 26

Rising sea level

Question 27

More energetic atmospheric circulation is likely to bring more, heavier storms.

Answer 27

More severe weather (drought, storms) and cumulative costs of climate change:

Question 28

Effects of Climate Chang

Answer 28

• Extreme heat - More frequent, More intense
• Heavy rainfall - More frequent, More intense
• Drought - Increase in some regions
• Fire weather - More frequent
• Ocean - Warming Acidifying Losing oxygen

Question 29

• Temperature: Average mean temperature could increase by as much as 2.5-4.1°C in a
  high emission scenario
• Rainfall: +40% rainfall over Luzon, western sections of Visayas and some parts of Mindanao; -40% in central sections of Mindanao
• Tropical Cyclones: Simulations suggest decreasing frequency, increasing intensity
• Sea Level Rise: Twice the global average especially in Eastern Visayas from 1993-2015

Answer 29

Philippines Climate Projections

Question 30

Laws and Regulations for Controlling Outdoor Air Pollution

Answer 30

Republic Act 8749 - Philippine Clean Air Actof 1999.

Question 31

One approach to reducing pollutant emissions has been to allow producers of air pollutants to
buy and sell government air pollution allotments in the marketplace.

Answer 31

Use of Marketplace

Question 32

One approach to reducing pollutant emissions has been to allow producers of air pollutants to
buy and sell government air pollution allotments in the marketplace.

Answer 32

Use of Marketplace

Question 33

The historic Paris Agreement provides an opportunity for countries to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this
century well below 2 degrees Celsius and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Answer 33

SDG No. 13 and the Paris Agreement

Question 34

The historic Paris Agreement provides an opportunity for countries to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this
century well below 2 degrees Celsius and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Answer 34

SDG No. 13 and the Paris Agreement

Question 35

Ways of Addressing Climate Change

Answer 35

MITIGATION
ADAPTATION

Question 36

(slowing down the rate of global climate change)
- includes developing alternatives to fossil fuels;
increasing energy efficiency of automobiles and
appliances; planting and maintaining forests; and
instigating carbon management, by finding ways to
separate and capture the CO2 produced during the
combustion of fossil fuels and then sequester i

Answer 36

MITIGATION

Question 37

(making adjustments to live with climate change)
- includes strategies to help various regions and sectors
of society prepare for warmer temperatures, higher sea
level, and altered precipitation patterns

Answer 37

ADAPTATION

Question 38

Amount of light reflected

Answer 38

Albedo