PEE 3.1 Air and Climate Change Flashcards
The thin blanket of gases surrounding the earth.
The Atmosphere
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.
Air Pollution
Harmful chemicals that enter directly into the atmosphere due to either human activities (mobile and stationary) or natural processes.
Primary air pollutants
Harmful chemicals that form in the atmosphere when primary air pollutants react chemically with one another or with natural components of the atmosphere.
Secondary air pollutants
3 Major Air Pollution Problems (Outdoor)
industrial smog
photochemical smog
acid deposition (or acid rain)
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
industrial smog
Caused by motor vehicle and industrial emissions a mixture of primary and secondary pollutants formed under the influence of UV radiation from the sun
photochemical smog
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
acid deposition (or acid rain)
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.
Weather
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
Climate
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.
Climate change
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.
Solar Radiation
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
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
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
The Milankovitch Cycles
- Changes in Eccentricity (Orbit Shape)
- Changes in Obliquity (Tilt)
- Axial Precession (Wobble)
Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are molecules in the atmosphere that block long-wave energy from
escaping to space.
The Greenhouse Effect
5 Major GHGs:
▪ water vapor (H2O)
▪ carbon dioxide (CO2)
▪ methane (CH4)
▪ nitrous oxide (N2O)
▪ halocarbons
Additional atmospheric warming produced as
human activities increase atmospheric
concentrations of greenhouse gases.
Enhanced Greenhouse Effect
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
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
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
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
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
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
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
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Effects of Climate Change
- Disappearing ice
- Wildfire and pests, early springs
- Rising sea level
- More severe weather (drought, storms) and cumulative costs of climate change
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
Disappearing ice
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.
Wildfire and pests, early springs
We are committed to about 0.5 m rise. Without rapid CO2
reductions, we may
soon be committed to 2 m or more.
Rising sea level
More energetic atmospheric circulation is likely to bring more, heavier storms.
More severe weather (drought, storms) and cumulative costs of climate change:
Effects of Climate Chang
- 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
- 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
Philippines Climate Projections
Laws and Regulations for Controlling Outdoor Air Pollution
Republic Act 8749 - Philippine Clean Air Actof 1999.
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.
Use of Marketplace
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.
Use of Marketplace
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.
SDG No. 13 and the Paris Agreement
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.
SDG No. 13 and the Paris Agreement
Ways of Addressing Climate Change
MITIGATION
ADAPTATION
(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
MITIGATION
(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
ADAPTATION
Amount of light reflected
Albedo
