Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Climate change
How we know Earths climate history:
O18 (oxygen isotope) ratios from organisms shells give temperature for last 540 million
years O18 ratios from ice cores give temperature for last 740,000 years
Characterize Earths current climate on different time scales:
Millions of years: cold, Pleistocene Ice Age
Hundreds of thousands of years: 100,000-year-cycles of glacial periods and warm
interglacials
Thousands of years: current interglacial since ~15,000 years ago
Decades: dramatic warming of last century (with mid-20th century plateau)
Causes of long-term climate change:
Tectonic: positions of continents, rates of movement
Shifts in Earths orbit: Milankovitch cycles, 100,000-year ellipticity cycle, angle of axial
tilt, precession
Earths atmosphere: composition, greenhouse effect, list of greenhouse gases, relative
importance
Climate modeling: temperature increases of end 20th century, correlation between CO2
levels and temperature for last million years, forcing mechanisms (solar, volcanic,
anthropogenic)
Atmospheric CO2: typical glacial period, typical interglacial, present levels (in ppm)
Estimate of temperature increase over next century
Expected effects of 21st century warming: pattern of warming, precipitation changes,
sea level rise
Efforts to remove CO2 from atmosphere
Energy Resources, continued
Nuclear power: recent decline, abundant but non-renewable uranium
Chain reaction of fission, proportion of U-235 and U-238
Events of accidents at Chernobyl 1986, Fukushima 2011
Radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain (advantages, disadvantages, history)
Comparison of safety and pollutants from coal, oil, natural gas, uranium
Types of hydropower conventional, run of the river dams, tidal power, ocean current
power, wave converters
Names and examples for types of solar energy: passive and active, low-, medium- and
high-temperature, thermal and photovoltaic
Advantages, disadvantages, innovations of wind power
Examples of bio-energy: plant waste, urban waste, methane gas, bio-diesel, ethanol
(corn or sugar cane), algae (absorbs CO2 and forms hydrocarbons)
Characteristics, requirements and drawbacks of geothermal electricity, geothermal
heating
Minerals Reserves: Mineral deposits that are economically and legally extractable now
Economically cost and price in the market
*Reserves may be considered a working inventory of mining a companies supply of an
economically extractable mineral commodity.
Increase New discoveries/Improved technology(accessible or cost-efficient)/Rise in
Price
Decrease Deposits that have mined/ illegal/price drop
TEST QUESTION!!!Reserve!!! amount kept for future use
Climate change on scale of millions of years can largely be attributed to tectonic causes
Landmasses at poles
Last million years: earth has been in a cold stage (temperature below average, on the
time scale of millions of years), with glacial periods and brief warm interglacials
Variations to Earths orbit: ellipticity (100,000-year cycle), axial tilt (41,000-year cycle)
andprecession (21,000-year cycle)
100,000-year cycle: Glacial periods dominate (70-100,000 years) with brief warm
interglacials (10-20,000 years) warm period is usually short in length
Greenhouse effect of Earths atmosphere keeps Earth at habitable temperatures
1)
Albedo: reflectivity of surface
High Albedo surfaces (e.g. white surfaces, snow) reflect sunlight as short
wavelength visible light
Low albedo surfaces (e.g. blacksurface) convert sunlight to long wavelength [lose
some energy] infrared radiation which emits heat
[Human cant see infrared unless that it is so strong that it emits too much heat]
Greenhouse gases are transparent to short wavelength visible light from the Sun but
block long wavelength infrared radiation from the ground. analogy to the car under the
sun
Greenhouse Gases
Water vapor H2O 1)difficult to quantify volume and overall greenhouse effect
2)its not a very sever human cause (thats why it is not mentioned a lot)
Carbon dioxide CO2 most important, increasing at a amazingly fast speed, strong
greenhouse effect, long-life in atoms (almost 100-200hundred years before they really
break down, making it very hard to remove) even if we stop emitting more CO 2, the
amount remains
Methane CH4 lower levels in atmosphere (less than 2ppm), contradicting reports
of rate of increase short-life in atmosphere(no sign of increasing), strongest
greenhouse effect and cleanest fossil fuel
Test question:
What is the trend of the modern climate change
Increasing 1 half plateau in the middle of the 20th century increasing since 1980 to
present 2015 hottest ever
Many factors can be called upon to explain climate trends on long-time scales, up
until 20th century
Greenhouse effect, tectonic factors, Milabkovitch cycles, positive feedback cycles
Dramatic warming of late 20th century how to explain?
Need to consider major forcing variables variables which force temperature up or
down beyond those discussed for long-time scales
Forcing variablessome elements that change the climate in one specific
direction]:
1) Stratospheric volcanic aerosols
2)Solar radiation fluctuations
3)Anthropogenic sulfate aerosols
4)Anthropogenic greenhouse gasesCO2
Scientists have determined that global warming is due to anthropogenic greenhouse
gases, especially CO2
Volcanic Forcing
Volcanic eruption: Vast amount of aerosol particles into the air
Aerosols: Reducing solar radiation to Earths Surface
Episodes of volcanic eruptions having a significant contribution to the cooling of
the Little Ice Age
Ash cloud caused by the massive volcanic eruption go up because they are hot and
they can stay there Stratosphere] for a while blocking sunlight and cooling the
planet
Little Ice Age (14th century corresponding to period of minimum solar activity)
Mid 20th century: air pollution reduced incoming solar energy by 10%, which
offset up to 50% of the expected warming
Late 20th century: reductions in air pollution result in increase in temperature
Temperatures have increased about 1 degree over last century
CO2 & Climate
CO2/ppm
Temperature/degree
Average Ice Age
200
6
Average interglacial
300
14
Current
400
14.5
Year 2100
500-700
17-20
Differences between global warming and seasons/ specific pattern in specific
region/
Will lead to significant changes of rainfall and soil moisture (drought and flood)
Will affect the frequency, intensity, and distribution of natural hazards, such as
hurricanes and other storms
Once human changed the climate so much that one day we might be not able to undo
those changes
[Sea level Rise and Global Warming]
Expansion of oceans on heating
Melting of glacial (hot water takes up more space)
An estimated 40-200 cm (16-18 inches wide range of rise in sea level for the next
century
Risk of extinction due to land-use change and habit shift wild animals, forests
unable to migrate
[Paris climate talk might be on the extra credict]
CO2 from the atmosphere, especially some techniques that can be used on a large scale]
[reducing the Impact of Global Warming]
But the panel, in making the case for more research into geoengineering,
said, It may be prudent to examine additional options for limiting the risks
from climate change.
The committee felt that the need for information at this point outweighs
the need for shoving this topic under the rug, Marcia K. McNutt,
chairwoman of the panel and the editor in chief of the journal Science, said
at a news conference in Washington.
Geoengineering options generally fall into two categories: capturing and
storing some of the carbon dioxide that has already been emitted so that
the atmosphere traps less heat, or reflecting more sunlight away from the
earth so there is less heat to start with. The panel issued separate reports
on each.
NYT 2/10/15 Panel Urges Research on Geoengineering as a Tool
Against Climate Change
Nuclear Power
Provides 19% of the U.S. electric power
Out of favor recently
Non-renewable resource but no immediate U shortage
439 unclear reactors provide 19% of global electricity needs
Graphite moderator
no fatalities
2 workers with radiation burns///37 workers with physical injuries// 16,000 killed
by the earthquake and tsunami///In April 2010,29 coal miners were killed in upper
Big Branch mine in WV/// 6000 coal miners killed in PRC in 2004
Would you be in favor of publicly financed facility (not nuclear power plant)
on Long Island that would:
cost billions of dollars to build
cost many millions of dollars a year to maintain
result in deaths of 10s of people every year
result in injury to 100s of people every year
result in personal property damage of many millions of dollars every year
lead to destruction of 10s to 100s of square miles of relatively pristine land
seriously endanger drinking water, pollute the air
Renewable Energy sources
Hydropower: hydroelectric dams, tidal power
Solar: growing rapidly; passive, active (hot water), thermal, photovoltaic
Wind: capacity is now 3% of global electricity demand; 18% potential
Biomass: wood, charcoal, burning of municipal waste, ethanol, algae,
biodiesel
Geothermal: electricity, heating
Hydropower
provides 15% of electricity
potential is 30 to 50% of electricity
large dams already well developed, could dam smaller streams
Environmental problems with dams
kills off fish or prevents migration
trap sediment, turn rivers into series of lakes
rare, deadly form of energy release collapse
Solar Energy
Passive Solar
Photovoltaic:
Forest debris (storms destruction, loggingwhen only trunks are taken, fire
prevention for huge forest fire)
Used vegetable oil processed into bio-diesel [oil used for French fries]
Ethanol [Alcohol] from fermentation of sugars of many plants (corn, sugar cane,
wheat, sugar beets)
can be mixed with gasoline
is corrosive to pipes, requires special tanker transport [long-term damages unkown]
net energy savings is small or non-existent
Biofuel make hydrocarbons from biologic sources
Algae can be genetically modified to consume more CO2 and can be processed to
produce hydrocarbon [places that is totally inappropriate for agriculture only needs
sunlight]
Can use waste water from variety of sources or ocean water as nutrients
Waste material can be used as fertilizer
Not yet cost-efficient, but approaching breakthrough
DOE[organization]: would require 15,000 square miles of algae production to
replace petroleum [huge amount1/7 land area devoted to corn production]
Electric generation from heat and pressure of naturally-occurring hot water and
steam, from hot water spring, geysers, fumaroles ( magma chamber in depth)
Geothermal field- most and best along major tectonic plate boundaries with high
heat flow
Low temperature (<85 degrees C)
High temperature
Dry steam: boiling occurs below ground-vapor drives turbines directly
Wet steam: mostly high temperature liquid is super-heated; steam forms in
pressure release vessel that drives turbine
For graphs that are not cited, credits will be given to Wikipedia.