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50 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Where can one find trade winds?
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near the equator
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Where can one find westerlies?
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in temperate zones, generally at mid latitudes
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Where can one find easterlies?
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near the polar regions at either very high or low latitudes
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What are some differences between El Nino and normal conditions?
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Warm water flows eastward; walker cell circulation weakens and reverses; high pressure is now found in the west rather than east and vice versa for low pressure; reduced upwelling; warm surface water; heavy precipitation
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What are some effects of severe El Ninos?
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impact on marine and bird life, floods, droughts, coastal erosion, coral reef damage, and tropical storms
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What are some differences between a La Nina and normal conditions?
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basically intensified normal conditions; a more intense thermocline, more upwelling; more intense high and low pressure; more cold water has moved westward
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Who proposed the Astronomical Theory of the Ice Ages
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Milankovitch
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What is the period of the tilt and how much does it fluctuate?
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40,000 years and from 22.1 to 24.5 degrees
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What is the period of orbital eccentricity and what is the closest and farthest distances called and how far are they?
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100,000 years; Aphelion is farthest(94.5 million miles) and Perihelion is closest(91.5 million miles)
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Glacial periods occur when summers in high northern latitudes are unusually _____
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cool
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What does a high 18O:160 signify?
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more glaciers
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Every 100,000 years is there usually more ice or less ice?
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More ice
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What is a strong possibility to how there are glacial and interglacial periods?
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if the conveyor belt is turned on or off
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When is the biological pump more efficient?
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during glacial periods; because there are more nutrients available
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When is there more iron available in the ocean?
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during glacial periods; this is a result of a dryer, cooler environment
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Is the normal period of earth a glacial or interglacial period?
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a glacial period
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What are the 4 steps leading to a glacial period?
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1. Relatively cool summers in northern hemisphere; 2. Ice accumulates in North America and northern Europe;
icebergs discharge and high latitude North Atlantic gets less salty; 3. Great ocean conveyor belt slows down; 4. Positive feedbacks amplify the northern hemisphere cooling->Global cooling 5. |
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What are the 4 steps leading to a interglacial period
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1. Relatively warm summers in northern hemisphere 2. Ice pack stops accumulating in North America and northern Europe; high latitude North Atlantic gets more salty 3. Great ocean conveyor belt flows 4. Positive feedbacks amplify the northern hemisphere warming->Global warming
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What are some of the major global energy sources
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Petroleum, natural gas, coal, hydroelectric, nuclear, wood, geothermal, solar, wind
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How many million metric tons of C are we producing through global fossil carbon emissions?
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over 8000
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According to the Mauna Loa Observatory by how much is atmospheric CO2 increasing by each year?
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4200 million metric tons
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Without the greenhouse effect what would the average temp of the earth be?
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-18 degrees C/0 degrees F
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With the greenhouse effect what is the average temp of earth?
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15 degrees C/ 60 degrees F
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What is the rate of increase of global temp in terms of C in year
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.8 degrees C +/- .2 degrees C
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In the next 100 years what is the range of CO2 concentration in ppm?
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560 ppm to 1000 ppm
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In the next 100 years what is the range of temperature increase?
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2 degrees to 10 degrees
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What are some impacts of climate change?
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sea level rise, ocean acidification, agriculture and food supply, fresh water resources, extreme weather events, ecosystems, and human health
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What is the most determining factor in temperature?
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CO2
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If all the ice were to melt in Antarctica, Greenland and the glaciers were to melt, how would sea level be effected
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72.5 meter rise(240 feet); in order 65m, 7m, .5m
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What are the two types of sea level change?
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eustatic(deals with water) and isostatic(vertical movement of the land)
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Name some eustatic changes?
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terrestrial water storage, building of reservoirs, ocean warming causing water expands, exchange of the water stored on land by glaciers and ice sheets with ocean water
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Name some Isostatic changes
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Subsidence in river delta region, land movements and tectonics displacements
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What is the rate of global river sea rise?
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2.8 +/- mm/yr
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What is the total sea level change from 1880 to today?
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about 20 cm
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From most of data, what is the amount of sea level change in 2001?
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anywhere from 21 cm to 70cm
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How would lower pH effect oceans
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lower biodiversity
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What are the four major things we can do about climate change?
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abatement, sequestration, adaptation, and geoengineering
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What are some ways we can achieve abatement?
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energy conservation, change mix of fossil fuels, and greater reliance on non-fossil energy sources
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What are some ways we can achieve sequestration?
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forests, ocean and burial
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What are some ways we can achieve adaptation?
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genetic modification of important plant crops and construction of dikes
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What are some ways we can do geoengineering?
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stimulate biological pump and increase earth's albedo
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What are some specific examples of sequestration, adaptation and geoengineering?
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aerosols in stratosphere, iron fertilization of sea, pump liquid CO2 to deep sea, giant reflectors in orbit, pumping liquid CO2 into rocks, grow trees, chemicals to save ozone, cloud seeding, greening deserts and genetically engineered crops
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How man moles of Fe are there to C
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1 to 10,600
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Walker circulation cell
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this is caused by the pressure gradient force that results from a high pressure system over the eastern Pacific Ocean and a low pressure system over Indonesia
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When has glocal ice volume peaked?
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every 100,000 years?
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When have "wrinkles" happened in each cycle occurred?
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have come at intervals of 23,000 and 41,000 years
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What are some causes of current sea level rise?
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thermal expansion, glaciers, Greenland, Antarctica, ice sheets, permafrost, sediment deposition, terrestrial storage
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What is warming the planet? What is cooling the planet?
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long lived greenhouse gases, ozone, water vapor, solar irradiance: total aerosol and surface albedo
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If we increasingly reduce CO2 emissions how long will it take the following things to reach equilibrium? CO2; temperature; sea level rise due to thermal expansion; sea level rise due to ice melting
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100 to 300 years; a few centuries; centuries to millennia; several millennia
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With constant Fe fertilization, in 100 years by how much would CO2 concentration decrease
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btwn 45-50 ppm
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