Pollution/Climate

Question 1

Earth’s energy balance

Answer 1

99.97% of all energy comes from sun as shortwave radiation, 51% is actually absorbed, and longwave radiation is reflected back toward atmosphere. Clouds/greenhouse gases absorb and re-emit the radiation back to the surface.

Question 2

greenhouse effect

Answer 2

results from the fact that carbon dioxide absorbs infrared radiation and retains heat in the atmosphere

Question 3

greenhouse gases

Answer 3

H20
CO2
Nitrous Oxide
Methane

CFC’s

Question 4

causes of climate change

Answer 4

at regional scales, deforestation leads to drying (and heating), owing primarily to reduced evapotranspiration and water-holding capacity of soil. This isn’t very surprising since clouds that form from transpired water are absent over wide, treeless rivers and their immediate floodplains in the Amazon basin

Question 5

climate feedbacks

Answer 5

Secondary changes, changes to one part of the climate that can cause additional changes to the way the planet reflects/absorbs light

Question 6

ozone destruction

Answer 6

Natural cycle
Catalytic reactions (chlorine)
CFC’s

CFC’s released:: chlorine and bromine atoms convert ozone to oxygen, amt. ozone in atmosphere red.
more UV penetrates earth
health effects, damages crops, and causes smog

Question 7

evidence for human-caused climate

Answer 7

1. ice core samples: if natural causes, abrupt shifts in temperatures would be occuring on much quicker time scale then currently
2. models run without anthropogenic effects (only natural) do not account for the current increases in temperature

How do we know climate changes? 
•instrumental records 
•sediment and pollen records 
•ice core records 
•tree ring records 
•records from corals

Question 8

proxy data

Answer 8

comes from natural recorders of climate variability, such as seafloor sediments, glacial ice, fossil pollen, and tree-growth rights, as well as from historical documents

Question 9

air pollution

Answer 9

concentration of trace substances in the atmosphere at a greater level than occurs in average air