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Global Climate Change > The Atmosphere > Flashcards

The Atmosphere Flashcards

1
Q

changes in the system has profound effects on…

A

climate stability

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2
Q

Different layers of the atmosphere

A
  • Troposphere
  • Stratosphere
  • Mesophere
  • Thermosphere
  • Exosphere
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3
Q

Troposphere

A
  • 8-15 km high
  • Most of the weather processes occur here
  • 75% of the atmosphere’s mass (water vapor)
  • Where greenhouse gasses trap heat
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4
Q

Stratosphere

A
  • Up to 50 km high
  • Has the ozone layer
  • Scatters UV radiation from the sun
  • Contributes to the warming of the atmosphere
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5
Q

Mesosphere

A
  • Up to 85 km high
  • Colder than the layers below
  • Where meteors burn up
  • Plays a role in atmospheric circulation and balance
  • Boundary between the atmosphere
  • Regulates the energy balance of the layers below and above
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6
Q

Thermosphere

A
  • up to 600 km
  • absorbs intense solar radiation
  • influences atmospheric tides and some satellite operations
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7
Q

Exosphere

A
  • up to 10,000 km
  • outermost layer with very low density
  • minimal role in climate
  • transitional layer to space
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8
Q

What happens if there was no greenhouse effect?

A

our planet will be barren because it will be too cold to sustain life

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9
Q

What are the most common greenhouse gases?

A
  • CO2
  • Methane
  • Nitrous Oxide
  • Water Vapor
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10
Q

CO2

A
  • Fossil fuel combustion, deforestation,
    cement production, land-use changes
  • ~100-200 years
  • Primary driver of climate change; responsible for about 76% of anthropogenic GHG emissions.
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11
Q

Methane

A
  • Livestock digestion, rice paddies,
    landfills, natural gas leaks
  • ~12 years
  • More effective than CO₂ at trapping heat short-term; contributes to rapid warming due to high GWP. Methane reduction can provide significant short-term climate benefits.
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12
Q

Nitrous Oxide

A
  • 300x worse than CO2 and methane
  • Agricultural fertilizers, industrial
    processes, fossil fuel combustion
  • ~114 years
  • less abundant but very potent
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13
Q

Water vapor

A
  • evaporation from oceans and water bodies
  • increases humidity and reinforces greenhouse effect
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14
Q

what is the keeling curve?

A

used to measure CO2 since 1956

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15
Q

extreme weather events

A

more greenhous gases -> warmer planet -> heat waves -> affects human health, agriculture and food security, ecosystems (some experience more drought while some more rain), etc

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16
Q

what is an example of a feedback loop?

A

melting ice will cause sea levels to rise and the darker water exposed by the lack of ice will absorb more heat and melt more ice

17
Q

How do extreme weather events impact biodiversity of ecosystems?

A
  • +1.5C: 4% lose half their habitat
  • +2C: 8% lose half their habitat
  • +3C: 41% lose half their habitat
18
Q

What is light zonation?

A
  • is the concept of how the amount of sunlight penetration into water influences the structure of a body of water
  • These zones define various levels of productivity within an aquatic ecosystems such as a lake
19
Q

What is thermohaline circulation?

A

the process where deep-ocean currents are driven by differences in the water’s density, which is controlled by temperature and salinity

20
Q

What are ocean currents?

A
  • process of water moving heat from the equator
  • helps regulate the earth’s temperature
21
Q

The heat of global warming is going into:

A
  • oceans: 93%
  • melting ice: 3%
  • continents: 3%
  • atmosphere: 1%
22
Q

what are some negative ocean processes? And what are their consequences?

A
  • warming oceans -> ocean acidification -> coral bleaching
  • pollution -> disrupts fishing industries and coastal tourism
  • overfishing -> affects food web and fishing of big predators will cause overpopulation of other fishes
23
Q

What is the el nino phenomenon?

A
  • disrupts normal atmospheric circulation
  • Warmer waters shift eastwards and causes wetter conditions in the southern united states and drier conditions in SEA and australia
  • temporary spikes in global temperature
  • rooted in the interaction between the atmosphere and the ocean
24
Q

Ocean-atmosphere interactions

A
  • carbon cycle highlights relationship between the air and the ocean
  • can push the ocean absorption capacity to its limits
  • impacts its role in maintaining carbon in the carbon cycle
25
Q

What are feedback loops?

A

something that speeds up or slows down a warming trend

loops between the atmosphere and oceans can affect climate change

26
Q

Positive vs negative feedback loops

A

A positive feedback accelerates a temperature rise, whereas a negative feedback slows it down.

27
Q

What is albedo?

A

an expression of the ability of surfaces to reflect sunlight (heat from the sun)

28
Q

High albedo vs low albedo

A

Light-coloured surfaces return a large part of the sunrays back to the atmosphere (high albedo). Dark surfaces absorb the rays from the sun (low albedo).

29
Q

What is black body? And what is black body absorption?

A
  • Black Body Radiation refers to the radiation emitted by a black body, which absorbs all incident radiation regardless of wavelength or temperature
  • A blackbody is something that emits (or absorbs)
    electromagnetic radiation with 100% efficiency at all
    wavelength.
30
Q

Permafrost as an example of a feedback loop

A

warming decreases permafrost which increases methane which causes more warming

31
Q

what are urban heat islands

A

more urban areas are warmer and have lower air quality

32
Q

What is the IPCC? What do they do?

A
  • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
  • the scientific group assembled by the United Nations to monitor and assess all global science related to climate change
33
Q

What are climate models?

A

Climate models similate atmospheric trends to create scenarios based on different trajectories and can help policy makers and companies shape their actions on climate

34
Q

What is the point of mitigation and adaptation?

A

Mitigation and adaptation aim to help create strategies to combat the effects of climate change

35
Q

What is mitigation? Give examples

A

Action to reduce emissions that cause climate change

ex: Reduce emissions, Sustainable transportation, energy efficiency, clean energy

36
Q

What is adaptation? Give examples

A

Action to manage the risks of climate change impacts

ex: Manage risks of climate change impacts, Disaster management and business continuity, Infrastructure upgrades, Flood protection

Global Climate Change (6 decks)

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