Unit 9 - Global Change Flashcards
What is the ocean acidification equation?
CO2 + H2O → H2CO3 → CO3-2 + H+
What is albedo?
The amount of energy reflected by a surface
- sunlight on a light surface (ice) means more albedo
- sunlight on a dark surface (ocean) means less albedo (more is absorbed)
what are the greenhouse gases in order from least to most dangerous?
Water <1
Carbon Dioxide 1
Methane 25
Nitrous Oxide 300
Chlorofluorocarbons 1600-13000
What are UVA, UVB, and UVC?
UVA
Causes skin tanning, 1000x less effective than UVB in skin reddening but more reaches the surface
UVB
Causes blistering sunburns and is associated with skin cancer
UVC
Found only in the stratosphere and is largely responsible for the formation of ozone
what are chlorofluorocarbons?
Aerosols that damage the ozone layer - least abundant, most dangerous greenhouse gas
What are the direct impacts of permafrost melting?
- Releases methane
- Causes landslides
What is the most abundant anthropomorphic gas?
Carbon Dioxide
What does stratospheric ozone do?
It absorbs UV rays from the sun
What does anthropogenic mean?
man-made
What are the impacts of terrestrial warming?
- melting of permafrost
- loss of snow and ice
- change in albedo
- change in atmospheric circulation patterns
- heat waves
- change in soils
What is the process of ocean acidification?
- Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere dissolves into the ocean, forming carbonic acid (H2CO3)
- it lowers the pH of the water (making it more acidic)
- this impairs shells and skeletons made of calcium carbonate
- hydrogen ions released from the H2CO3 bind with carbonate (CO3^-2)
What are halocarbons (halons)?
fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine
- pesticides, fire-extinguishers
- burning biomass, volcanoes, marine algae
What are the effects of ozone depletion?
- reduction in crop production
- reduction in immune system effectiveness
- reduction in the growth of phytoplankton
- climate change
- cooling of stratosphere
- effects on animals (they don’t wear sunscreen)
- increase in cataracts
- mutations (UV changes DNA)
- skin cancer
- sunburn and skin damage
How is aquatic warming impacting sea levels?
- melting glaciers and ice increase the total volume of the water
- increased ocean temperatures lead to thermal expansion
What are the impacts of aquatic warming?
- melting of glaciers
- rising sea levels
- change in ocean currents
- coral bleaching
- ocean acidification
What causes CO2?
- 1 GWP
Burning of fossil fuels, burning of wood
What causes Methane?
- 25 GWP
Agriculture, fossil fuels, decomposition of landfill waste
What causes Nitrous Oxide?
- 300 GWP
Treatment of waste water, combustion of fossil fuels, burning biomass
What causes Chlorofluorocarbons?
- 1600-13000 GWP
Air conditioners, refrigerators, insulation, aerosol cans
What is the primary cause of stratospheric ozone depletion?
CFCs
How does the stratospheric ozone layer benefit life on Earth?
It absorbs 99% of incoming UV-B and UV-C radiation
What are the main characteristics of the hole in the ozone layer?
Main chemical:
CFCs
Location of hole:
South Pole
Energy entering Earth due to the hole:
Ultraviolet
What was enacted to reduce ozone depletion?
Montreal Protocol - CFCs
What best describes the cause of the greenhouse effect?
Gases in the atmosphere absorb infrared radiation and radiate the energy back towards the earth’s surface
