Atmosphere and Climate Change

1. Atmosphere and Climate Change Chapter 13

2. Essential Questions • What is a climate and what naturally promotes climate change? • What is the importance of our Ozone Shield? • What is global warming and how can we stop it?

3. Climate • The long-term prevailing weather conditions at a particular place based upon records taken

4. What factors determine a climate? • Latitude • Atmospheric circulation patterns • Oceanic circulation patterns • Local geography • Solar activity • Volcanic activity

5. Latitude • Degrees North of South of the equator • Equator is 0 • North Pole is 90 North • South Pole is 90 South

6. Low Latitudes • Day and night average 12 hours each every day • Always warm temperature

7. Equatorial Regions • Vertical Sunlight

8. High Latitudes • Changes daylight because sun hits at angles • As much as 16 hours of daylight during summer and only 8 hours of daylight during the winter • In the poles, it may be daylight out for 23 hours

9. Atmospheric Circulation • Cold air sinks • Warm air rises • Warm air can hold more water vapor • When warm air holding water vapor cools, it produces precipitation

10. Wind • As solar energy heats the earth, warm air rises • Cool air fills in the voids • This movement of air produces wind • Because there are different temperatures at different latitudes, winds blow in different directions

11. Prevailing Winds • Winds that blow in one direction throughout the year • Trade winds, westerlies, and polar easterlies

12. Surface Ocean Currents • Caused by wind and influenced by Earth’s rotation • Not all ocean currents, just surface ocean currents

13. El Nino • The name given to the short-term periodic change in the location of warm and cold water masses in the Pacific Ocean • Generally over a 6 - 18 month period • Pushes warm water eastward, increasing rain in Southern US and Central America • Winds push warm water eastward in the Pacific Ocean

14. La Nina • The second half of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle • Water is cooler than usual in the eastern Pacific Ocean

15. Topography • Mount Kilimanjaro is located at 4 latitude • How does it have snow on the top?

16. Volcanoes • How can volcanoes impact the atmosphere?

17. Ozone Layer • An area in the stratosphere where ozone is highly concentrated • Molecule made of 3 Oxygen atoms • Absorbs ultraviolet light

18. DNA Damage • Result of high UV radiation at Earth’s surface

19. CFC’s • Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) • Chemically unstable in stratosphere • One chlorine can destroy 10,000 ozone molecules

20. Ozone Hole • A thinning stratospheric ozone that occurs over the poles in the spring • 50 - 98% disappears • During Spring, warm winds bring heat to poles • Splits chlorine molecules and creates hole

21. Ozone Molecules • Decomposed by chlorine atoms

22. Effects on Humans • Skin Cancer • Premature Aging • Increased Cataracts • Weakened Immune System

23. Effects on Animals and Plants • Death of eggs • Genetic mutations • Reduction of populations • Death of phytoplankton • Disruption of food chain • Reduction in photosynthesizes • Interference with photosynthesis • Reduced crop yields

24. Montreal Protocol • An agreement to sharply reduce CFC’s • International limits on CFC production to protect the ozone layer • US pledged to ban all substances by 2000…..Its 2009 • CFC’s remain in atmosphere for 60 - 120 years, still destroying the ozone

25. Greenhouse Effect • Think about your car during the summer • Light energy gets into your car through windows, heating it up • Greenhouse use this principle, trapping the sun’s energy • A process by which the atmosphere traps heat radiate up from the Earth’s surface

26. Greenhouse Gases • Gases in the troposphere that can absorb and radiate heat • Water, Carbon Dioxide, Chlorofluorocarbons, methane, and nitrous oxide • Water Vapor and Carbon Dioxide account for the majority

27. What if we release more CO2? • We release carbon dioxide every time we burn fuel, either in our cars, power plants, generators, any time • More CO2 in the atmosphere means that more heat can be trapped • More trapped heat leads to greater global temperatures • That’s just taking into consideration CO2

28. CO2 • A greenhouse gas added to the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burned

29. Is Global Warming a Reality? • Is this just a naturally occurring cycle?

30. Consequences of a warmer Earth? • Melting Ice and Rising Sea Levels • Global Weather Patterns • Human Health Problems • Agriculture • Effects on Plants and Animals

31. Kyoto Protocol • Reduce carbon dioxide emissions 5% by 2011 • The US decided not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in 2001

32. Slowing Global Warming • Requires global unified effort • Compromised by economics, politics, and social factors • Big difficulties between developed and developing countries

33. Weather is a region’s: • Atmospheric conditions on a given day

34. As cold air sinks: • It compresses and warms

35. Elevation is a factor in climate because under most conditions: • Temperature falls as elevation increases

36. Seasonal changes in daylight hours and climatic conditions are caused by: • The 23.5 tilt of Earth’s axis

37. The ozone layer protects living organisms on Earth by: • Blocking solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation

38. Ozone holes appear in polar regions during springtime when ozone-destroying: • Chlorine atoms are released from polar stratospheric clouds

39. Though CFC production has been curtailed, the threat to upper atmospheric ozone continues because CFC’s • Persist and continue to destroy ozone for decades

40. Which of the following does not reduce CO2 in the atmosphere? • Animal respiration

41. A continuous record of annual average atmospheric CO2 concentrations from Mauna Loa, Hawaii, reveals: • A steady increase since 1958

42. Which of the following would not be a consequence of a rise in global temperature? • Increase polar ice mass