Week 9

Question 1

Climate model

Answer 1

Defined as a mathematical representation of the climate system based on phyical, biological and chemical principles

Question 2

Earth’s climate arises from interaction of 5 major components

Answer 2

Atmosphere, land, ocean , ice and biosphere

Question 3

Climate system changes naturally

Answer 3

Due to solar radiation and the ways it changes daily and annualy etc

Question 4

Atmospheric gases absorbing radiation

Answer 4

Natural greenhouse effect

Question 5

Carbon dioxide

Answer 5

Very absorbing of terrestrial radiation- transparent to radiation coming from the sun

Question 6

Main drivers of climate change

Answer 6

Aerosols, Clouds, Ozone, SWR (short wave radiation), Green houses gases and large aerosols ( LWR)

Question 7

Surface albedo changes (SWR)

Answer 7

Ocean colour, wave height, ice/snow cover, vegetation changes

Question 8

Main drivers of climate change diagram

Answer 8

See lecture slides

Question 9

OLR

Answer 9

Outgoing longwave radiation

Question 10

Positive feedback

Answer 10

Output acts to enhance input

Question 11

Negative feedback

Answer 11

Output acts to reduce input

Question 12

Water vapour in atmosphere feedback

Answer 12

Absorbs radiation from the earth which warms - positive feedback

Question 13

3 groups of tipping elements

Answer 13

Melting ice bodies
Changing circulation of the ocean and atmosphere
Threatened large scale ecosystems

Question 14

Köppen climate classification

Answer 14

Divides climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature.

Question 15

Tipping elements

Answer 15

Changes can cause rapid changes to the climate systems

Question 16

Interactions between drivers of the climate system

Answer 16

Vary with different spatial and time scales

Question 17

Abbe (American Meteorologist)

Answer 17

Recognised meteorology is essentially the application of hydrodynamics and thermodynamics in the atmosphere and identified the system of mathematical equations that govern the evolution of the atmosphere.

Question 18

Bjerknes (Norwegian Scientist)

Answer 18

Undertook more explicit analysis of the weather prediction problem from a scientific perspective; meteorology is an exact science ; weather can be predicted by solving systems of partial differential equations

Question 19

Richardson (English mathematician)

Answer 19

Attempted a solution of the equations of motion (6-hour forecast after 2 years of calculations by hand)- ‘forecast factory’

Question 20

ENIAC (1945)- (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)

Answer 20

The first general purpose electronic computer commissioned by the US army to calculate dynamics of projectiles

Question 21

First Global Circulation Models

Answer 21

3 pioneering climate models of the late 1960s, at GFDL, UCLA, and NCAR, were each built by a pair of scientists, one American and one Japanese

Question 22

Carbon cycle and greenhouse effect

Answer 22

The carbon cycle affects carbon dioxide concentrationand thus the greenhouse effect, effects of dynamical processes onozone hole formation (the stratospheric polar vortex, stratospheric ice clouds), vegetation affects absorption of sunlight and evaporation from land surfaces

Question 23

The climate modelling pyramid

Answer 23

A visual representation of the increasing complexity of climate models. It illustrates how different components of the Earth’s climate system are incorporated into models of varying complexity.

Question 24

For the earth to have constant temperature:

Answer 24

The same amount of energy needs to radiate back (accounting for the fraction reflected) as heat radiation (thermal) which is determined by the earth’s temperature

Question 25

The Earth is not a perfect black body

Answer 25

Some radiation is re-emitted back (greenhouse effect = there is an atmosphere!)

Question 26

Mass conservation

Answer 26

Mass is preserved and doesn’t vanish or appear. Therefore, what flows into the box increases mass, what flows out decreases mass

Question 27

Fluid flow follows

Answer 27

• Conservation of momentum (change in momentum requires a force or friction):
• Conservation of energy (this is more complicated: energy can take form of velocity, temperature, etc)

Question 28

Mathematical representation of climate system

Answer 28

Expressed as computer codes