Global Climate Change - Chapter 18
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39 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Climate changes | Contributing to the complex evolutionary history of the earth system |
| Earth system | Interactions between atmosphere and oceans and solid earth and biosphere |
| Weather | What is occuring now or in the near future in terms of temperature, pressure, cloudiness, precipitation |
| Climate | Average of the weather over longer time periods |
| Monitoring | Regular collection of data for a specific purpose |
| Real-time monitoring | Collecting data while a process is actually occuring |
| Major climate zones | Controlled by global circulation and movement of air masses |
| Nitrogen (78%) Oxygen (21%) Argon (0.9%) Carbon Dioxide (0.03%) | Atmosphere is mainly |
| 1. Amount of sunlight 2. Amount of solar energy reflected and absorbed 3. Amount of heat retention | Temperature of earth determined by 3 factors |
| Electromagnetic radiation | Earth receives energy from the sun in the form of |
| Hotter objects | More electromagnetic energy is emitted from |
| Greenhouse effect | Trapping of heat in the atmosphere by water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and chlorofluorocarbons |
| Equal | When in balance the total carbon dioxide emissions and removals from the entire carbon cycle are |
| Burning of oil, coal and gas | Human activities that increase CO2 concentrations in atmosphere |
| Methane | Important greenhouse gas |
| Bacteria in marsh areas (70%) | Biggest discharge of methane comes from |
| Coal mining Landfills Natural gas production Domesticated livestock Total = 50% | Human activities that result in methane release |
| Instrumental record | Started in 1860s today temperature measured at about 7000 stations around the world |
| Historical record | People's written recollections of the Medieval Warm period and the Little Ice Age |
| Medieval Warming Period | 300 year period where earth was considerably warmer than normal |
| Little Ice Age | Mind 1400-1700. Resulted in crop failures, climate can have tremendous effect on population |
| Paleo-Proxy Record | Study of past eliminate has provided some of the strongest data to support and test theories of recent change |
| Tree rings | Growth of trees influenced by climatic conditions |
| Pollen | If climate cools there will be a change in the assemblage of pollen in sediments that reflects the change in climate |
| CO2 and Methane in Ice Cores | Measurement in this confirm the link between greenhouse gas levels and global warming |
| Global warming | The observed increase in the average temperature of the near-surface land and ocean environments of earth |
| Carbon 14 | Produced in upper atmosphere by collisions between neurons and nitrogen-14 |
| 14, 7.5 | Since, US emissions of CO2 have increased by __%, CH4 by __% |
| Eemian | Last major interglacial warm period, even warmer than today (sea level was also a few meters higher than it is today) |
| 1970s | Most of the increase in climate as been in the |
| Ocean Conveyor Belt | - global circulation of ocean water, may contribute to change - warm surface water is transported westward and northward to near Greenland, where it cools from contact with cold Canadian air - as water increases in density, it sinks to the bottom and flows south, then east to the Pacific, where upwelling occurs |
| Positive forcing | Earth will warm |
| Negative forcing | Earth will cool |
| 1.5, 4.5 | Doubling greenhouse gases cause _ to _ degree increase in average global temperature |
| Glacial ice | Forms as snow accumulates over a period of years, is compressed from the weight of overlying snow, and recrystallizes as a granular ice known as firn |
| 10 | Glacial ice only covers __% of the earth |
| CO2 and methane | Thawing of permafrost releases |
| 50 | Permafrost affects __% of Canada |
| Expand and rise | Warming of the ocean causes the sea water to |
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