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36 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is a greenhouse gas ? How to they work ?
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Gases that keep heat in, reflect short waves
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What are today's major greenhouse gases ?
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Methan, co2, and water vapor
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Why is the oceans circulation important to understand climate?
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Oceans circulation transport heat
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How does it compare to the atmospheric circulation?
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They are equal players, but they have regional sophistications
Ocean : tropics Atmospheric: (Mid latitude??) |
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What are the drivers of the ocean circulation?
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Temperature and the salt content (thermohaline circulation)-density of the water
Wind stress, the amount of momentum that is passed on from the atmosphere |
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What is the Ekman transport? How is it oriented with respect to the wind?
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Spiral circulation due to winds, it is oriented perpendicular (right in northern) left in southern
50-100m |
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What is the thermohaline circulation?
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Circulation that is due to density differences
Is an example of abrupt climate change |
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Can you name climate events in which it played an important role ?
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Younger dryas and other versions of abrupt climate change
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How does the seasonal cycle work ?
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Mostly depends on tilt of the earth and the rotation
Temperature differences creates pressure differences Winds going into low pressure converge, create clouds, and then rainfall occurs |
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What are monsoons? Why are they important?
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Tropical storms Occur during summer every year, seasonal reversal of winds. Important to bringing water to earth
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What does ENSO stand for? How does it work?
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Elnino southern oscilation
Eastern pacific is heated Trade winds not as strong toward western pacific so mor warm water in the e pacific. Warmer temps mean warmer water means more rainfall. This creates a low pressure zone in the eastern pacific so it rains more there ENSO is a coupled interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere El nino water circulation weakens La nino water circulation strengthens |
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What is its average recurrence time?
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2-7 years
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What is the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)?
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Difference in sea level in the north altantic climate can vary because of it
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What is the difference between climate & weather ?
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What is the difference between climate & weather ?
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What is the difference between climate & weather ?
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Climate variations arise because of differences in pressure
Climate feedback – internally, and involves interactions between a system Feedbacks are loops and they involve interactions between different systems Positive-hurricanes, venus Negative-stefan-boltzman law, carbon cycle Positive feedbacks, hurricanes, venus (water vapor feedback) Negative feedback works really slowly Negative feedback- long term carbon cycle, increasing co2 increases temperature, increase water vapor, increase percepition, weathering, rocks are brocken and washed out |
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What controls the long-term carbon cycle? (on timescales of millions of years)
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What controls the long-term carbon cycle? (on timescales of millions of years)
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What controls the short-term carbon cycle? (on timescales of decades)
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Burning fossil fuels puts 7 gigatons of carbon into atmosphere. Oceans suck 2 gigatons, biosphere sucks 2 gigatons. 3 gigatons stays in atmosphere
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What type of proxy data do paleoclimatologists use to learn about past climates?
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Ice cores, corals, sediment cores, tree rings
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Were there episodes where the Earth was ice-free? If so, when and can you
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Yes, during the dinosaur era (Mesozoic)
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What are glaciers?
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Perennial mass of ice which moves over land
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Where are they today?
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Antartica, Himalayas, Greenland
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What defines Ice Ages?
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A geological period of long term reduction in the temperature of the earths surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers
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How to we know about Ice Ages?
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Moraines, isotopes present in sediments, and geographical distribution of fossils
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What do they teach us about climate and CO2?
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It teaches us that c02 and climate go hand in hand but c02 is mainly a response to climate
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What do they teach us about climate and CO2?
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It teaches us that c02 and climate go hand in hand but c02 is mainly a response to climate
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When did the Last Glacial Maximum happen?
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20,000 years ago
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What happened during the deglaciation?
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Melted ice water goes into ocean changing the salinity balance causing abrupt climate change
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What defines abrupt climate change?
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The climate system id forced to transition to a new state at a rate that is determined by the climate system itself, and which is more rapid than the rate of change of the external forcing. The term is also used within the context of global warming to describe sudden climate change that is detectable over the time-scale of a human lifetime
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What is responsible for its abrupt nature?
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A feedback process, in which a warming event causes a change which leades to further warming. This can also apply to cooling. Complex systems like climate behave abruptly in the vicinity of bifurcations points (tipping points – the point which an obkect is displaced from a state of equilibrium to a new state)
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Cite 2 examples of abrupt climate change.
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Dansgaard oscher events, younger dryas
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Cite 2 important processes that could lead to abrupt climate change.
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Gas hydrates (methane clathrate are thought to have caused abrupt CC) and permafrost melting (layering of soil that used to stay permantly frozen, when it thaws the organic matter can be respired by bacteria which turn into co2)
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How do scientists reconstruct the climate of the past millennium?
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Medieval warming period, little ice (numerous glacial/interglacial periods)
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What is the Hockey Stick controversy?
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Huge spike in termperature
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The Little Ice Age ?
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Was a period of cooling that occurred after a warmer era known as the medieval warm period (1650-1850)
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The Medieval Warm Period?
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Time of warm climate in north atlantic region between 950-1250
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Site 2 civilizations whose collapsed was triggered by climate change
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Akkadian, Vikings, anasazi Indians
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