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Environmental Science > The Atmosphere > Flashcards

The Atmosphere Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the atmosphere?

A

Thin layer of gases surrounding the Earth, held in place by gravity

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2
Q

Why is the atmosphere essential to life on earth?

A

provides life support systems
- absorption of EM radiation from Sun
- gas resources for natural processes
- heat distribution
- delays escape of infrared energy
- creates ocean currents
- water vapour transport

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3
Q

What is the composition of gases in the atmosphere?

A

Nitrogen 78%
Oxygen 21%
Carbon dioxide 0.04%
Rare gases 1%
Methane 0.00017%
Water Vapour up to 4%
Ozone 0.000007%

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4
Q

What are the four ‘building block’ gases in the atmosphere?

A

Carbon
Nitrogen
Oxygen
Hydrogen

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5
Q

What are greenhouse gases?

A

Gases that are better at absorbing infrared than the average for the atmosphere

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6
Q

How does the greenhouse effect work?

A
  1. Visible light passes easily through the atmosphere
  2. It gets absorbed the the Earth’s surface, warming it up
  3. Warm Earth’s surface emits infrared radiation
  4. Infrared cannot pass through the atmosphere as easily because it is absorbed by the greenhouse gases.
  5. They reemit. The cycle continues.
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7
Q

What are the factors controlling the natural greenhouse effect?

A

Solar Emissions
Greenhouse Gases

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8
Q

How do solar emissions affect the natural greenhouse effect?

A
  • they are increasing very slowly
  • there is a short term 11 year cycle of varying solar output
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9
Q

What is the natural source of:
a) nitrogen
b) methane
c) water vapour
d) oxygen
e) ozone

A

a) bacteria in soils
b) bacteria in soils
c) evaporation
d) photosynthetic organisms
e) stratosphere only

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10
Q

What is the anthropogenic source of:
a) oxygen
b) water vapour

A

a) hospitals and welding (possibly)
b) evaporation from power station cooling towers

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11
Q

How is water vapour affected by climate change?

A
  • more released by humans does not increase max humidity unless temp increases because it will precipitate
  • climate change causes temps to increase = max humidity increases
  • concentration is balanced by evapotranspiration and condensation. Both controlled by temp. Changing temp changes concentration
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12
Q

What are the anthropogenic sources of CO2?

A

Burning fossil fuels and wood
Ploughing soil
Draining marshes/bogs

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13
Q

What are the anthropogenic sources of methane?

A

Anaerobic respiration by microbes in padi fields/intestines of livestock/landfill sites
Creation of fossil fuels
Release from coal mines
Leaks from natural gas fields/pipelines

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14
Q

What are the anthropogenic sources of nitrous oxides?

A

Reaction of oxygen and nitrogen at high temps (engines and power stations)
Then released by exhausts
Fertilisers

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15
Q

What are the anthropogenic sources of CFCs?

A

Aerosol propellants
Coolants in fridges
Fire extinguishers
Expanding foam plastics
Solvents

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16
Q

What is the anthropogenic source of tropospheric ozone?

A

Nitrogen dioxide breaking down with light then reacting with oxygen

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17
Q

What are the relative effects per molecule of:

a) CO2
b) Methane
c) Nitrous oxides
d) CFCs
e) Tropospheric ozon

A

a) 1
b) 25
c) 160
d) 25,000
e) 2,000

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18
Q

What is the importance to life of:
a) methane
b) water vapour
c) nitrogen
d) carbon dioxide
e) oxygen
f) ozone

A

a) source of energy for chemoautotrophs
b) hydrological cycle and insulation as a GG
c) synthesis of proteins
d) insulation as a GG and reactant for photosynthesis. synthesises lipids, carbs and proteins
e) respiration
f) absorbs harmful UV dangerous to life

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19
Q

What maintains the average composition of the atmosphere?

A
  • natural processes are in balance: change only happens over a very long time
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20
Q

What natural processes are important to the stability of the composition of the atmosphere?

A

Photosynthesis
Respiration

  • roughly balance each other out but rates vary over different timescales causing gas fluctuations around their mean concentration
21
Q

How does the CO2 concentration change:
a) daily
b) annually

A

a) Early hours = more as it is dark so respiration outweighs photosynthesis
Middle of day = less as the increased light allows photosynthesis.
Later = more, gets darker…

b) January-April = respiration outweighs photosynthesis so concentrations are high
April-August = photosynthesis levels high so concentration decreases
August-December = respiration outweighs photosynthesis so concentrations are high

22
Q

What is the importance of atmospheric processes being connected?

A

If one process is changed, other processes can change
- it means human actions can trigger a chain reaction of altering processes as a direct response to the first change
- not possible to accurately predict the impact on specific processes yet though as there is a lot to be discovered.

23
Q

What are the layers of the atmosphere in ascending order?

A

Troposphere
Stratosphere
Mesosphere
Thermosphere

24
Q

What is the structure of the atmosphere in relation to distance from the Earth?

A

Majority of atmosphere is near the ground
- 80% of gases are in the troposphere which is within 10km of surface

gradually gets thinner up to about 10,000km
- considered the upper limit of the atmosphere

25
Q

What is the troposphere?

A
  • lowest part of atmosphere
  • contains most of our weather
  • turbulent
26
Q

What is the stratosphere?

A
  • layer after troposphere, separated by the tropopause
  • still some weather
  • used by high flying jets
  • naturally contains ozone
27
Q

What is the mesosphere?

A
  • layer after stratosphere, separated by the stratopause
  • hardly any gases, water vapour or particles to absorb solar radiation
28
Q

What is the thermosphere?

A
  • layer after the mesosphere, separated by mesopause
  • contains ions
  • reflects radio signals back and forth between the ground, enabling transmission of radio signals
  • absorbs some solar radiation
29
Q

What is the importance of the sun?

A

makes life possible
- provides energy required for life
- provides heat for a stable environment
- light for photosynthesis

30
Q

What is the composition of the sun?

A

70% hydrogen
28% helium
2% other

31
Q

Characteristics of the sun (8)

A
  • contains 99.8% of mass of solar system
  • surface temp roughly 6000 degrees
  • core temp 15.6 million degrees
  • surface pressure 0.1 atm
  • core pressure 250 billion atm
  • core = 25% interior radius
  • nuclear fusion happens in core
  • rotates every 25.4 days
32
Q

What can happen to UV in the atmosphere?

A

Scattering
Absorbed
Reflected

33
Q

What is scattering?

A

light is distributed randomly (scattered) by particles in the atmosphere
- the amount of scattering depends on wavelength of light and size of particles

34
Q

What is reflection?

A

when the light is bounced back

35
Q

What is absorption?

A

When EM radiation is converted into heat energy

36
Q

How does UV react in the stratosphere?

A
  • biologically damaging UV is stopped by the upper atmosphere.
  • most passing through the upper atmosphere is prevented from getting to Earth by oxygen in the stratosphere. This continually creates and destroys ozone in a DYNAMIC EQUILIBRIUM
  • there is O, O2 and O3 in the atmosphere. (monoatomic, diatomic and triatomic oxygen)
  • O2 bond is broken by high energy UV radiation (photolysis) to form two O
  • other O2 can react with O to form O3
  • O3 bond is broken by high energy UV radiation (photolysis) to form O2 and O
  • etc etc etc.
37
Q

What is dynamic equilibrium?

A

The changes over time being brought back to a stable level by natural processes occurring

38
Q

How does the atmosphere delay the escape of infrared energy?

A
  • much of incoming visible light is absorbed, converted to heat and re-emitted as infrared energy
  • naturally occurring gases in atmosphere absorb this infrared, convert it to heat and increase temp of atmosphere
  • this raises Earth’s temp in two ways:
  1. warm atmosphere emits energy which is absorbed by Earth’s surface
  2. warm atmosphere reduces heat loss by conduction from land and oceans
39
Q

What is the Earth’s energy budget?

A

The balance between the energy that the Earth receives from the sun and the energy that it loses back to space

40
Q

Why is the atmosphere important in the Earth’s energy budget?

A

without the atmosphere and GE, due to GG, Earth would have an average temp of -19 degrees. This would make life very difficult if not impossible
- current average temp is 15 degrees

41
Q

How does energy get reflected back out from the Earth?
What are the percentage reflection for:
a) fresh snow
b) open ocean
c) fresh asphalt
d) forests
e) green grass
f) desert

A

Albedo

a) 80
b) 6
c) 4
d) 15
e) 25
f) 40

42
Q

How does the atmosphere distribute heat?

A
  • most energy from Sun absorbed by Earth’s surface is absorbed in tropical regions.
  • warm surface heats atmosphere above
  • warm winds carry heat to higher latitudes e.g. south-westerly winds that bring warm air to UK from Caribbean Sea
43
Q

How does the atmosphere create ocean currents?

A
  • wind blows over sea
  • creates currents that distribute heat by carrying warm water from tropical areas to higher latitudes e.g. North Atlantic Conveyor
  • currents can also distribute dissolved nutrients
44
Q

How does the atmosphere transport water vapour?

A

Winds carry water vapour to areas that would normally get little or no precipitation

45
Q

How do gases in the atmosphere support life?

A

Needed for building biological molecules used by living organisms

Lipids - carbon, oxygen, hydrogen
Carbs - carbon, oxygen, hydrogen
Proteins - carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen

46
Q

How does absorption of EM radiation support life?

A
  • biologically damaging solar wind prevented from reaching Earth by the upper atmosphere
  • most UV that gets through upper atmosphere stopped by ozone in stratosphere
  • too much radiation would kill cells
47
Q

How does delaying escape of IR energy support life?

A

atmo gases absorb IR, convert to heat, increase temp of atmo

Raises temp in 2 ways:
- warm atmo emits infrared, then absorbed by Earth’s surface
- warm atmo reduces heat loss by conduction from land/oceans

Warmth is good for enzyme and chemical reactions needed for life

48
Q

How does heat distribution support life?

A

The energy that is absorbed at the Earth’s surface from the sun is mostly absorbed at tropical regions

  • warm surface heats atmo above
  • heat distributed to higher latitudes by warm winds e.g. south westerly winds bringing heat to UK from Caribbean Sea

Environmental Science (3 decks)

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