Millennium Development Goal 7

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

Target 7A: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into
country policies and programs; reverse loss of environmental resources
Target 7B: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant
reduction in the rate of loss
Proportion of land area covered by forests
CO2 emissions, total, per capita and per $1 GDP
Consumption of ozone-depleting substances
Proportion of fish stocks within safe biological limits
Proportion of total water resources used
Proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected
Proportion of species threatened with extinction
Target 7C: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable
access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
Proportion of population with sustainable access to an improved
water source, urban and rural
Proportion of urban population with access to improved sanitation
Target 7D: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the
lives of at least 100 million slum-dwellers
Proportion of urban people living in slums

Using what you·ve learned in class so far, why do you

think the United Nations wrote this goal? Is it
c
feasible?
 Today·s understandings

c Earth·s atmosphere

c Shortwave and longwave radiation

c How changes in solar radiation, albedo, and longwave

radiation affect the energy balance

c Natural causes of climate change

The Earth·s Atmosphere
Layers, Composition, and Radiation

c
Earth·s Atmosphere
 Layers

c 4 Main Layers
c Troposphere
c Stratosphere
c Ozone
c Mesosphere
c Thermosphere
 Chemistry

Composition of dry atmosphere, by volume

ppmv: parts per million by volume

GasVolume

Nitrogen (N2) 780,840 ppmv (78.084%)

Oxygen (O2) 209,460 ppmv (20.946%)
Argon (Ar) 9,340 ppmv (0.9340%)
Carbon dioxide (CO2) 390 ppmv (0.039%) c Notice the small amount of CO2.
Neon (Ne) 18.18 ppmv (0.001818%)
Helium (He) 5.24 ppmv (0.000524%)
ethane (CH4) 1.79 ppmv (0.000179%)
orypton (or) 1.14 ppmv (0.000114%)
Hydrogen (H2) 0.55 ppmv (0.000055%)
Nitrous oxide (N2O) 0.3 ppmv (0.00003%)
Carbon monoxide (CO) 0.1 ppmv (0.00001%)
Xenon (Xe) 0.09 ppmv (9 × 10Ë6%) (0.000009%)
Ozone (O3) 0.0 to 0.07 ppmv (0 to 7 × 10Ë6%)
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) 0.02 ppmv (2 × 10Ë6%) (0.000002%)
Iodine (I) 0.01 ppmv (1 × 10Ë6%) (0.000001%)
Ammonia (NH3) trace

Not included in above dry atmosphere:

Water vapor (H2O) ~0.40% over full atmosphere, typically 1%-4% at surface
 Shortwave radiation

c Shortwave radiation: sunlight,

in the broad sense, is the total
frequency spectrum of
electromagnetic radiation
given off by the Sun. On
Earth, sunlight is filtered
through the Earth·s
atmosphere, and solar
radiation is obvious as
daylight when the Sun is
above the horizon.
 Longwave radiation

c Longwave radiation: the energy leaving the earth as infrared

radiation at low energy.
 Energy Balance

c Energy balance: all gains of

incoming energy and all losses of
outgoing energy. The planet is
approximately in equilibrium, so
the sum of the gains is
approximately equal to the sum of
the losses.

c Energy balance video:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
Experiments/PlanetEarthScience/
GlobalWarming/GW_Movie2.ph
p
 Energy Balance Video
Questions

c What does the temperature of the earth depends on?

c About how much radiation does the earth absorb?

c What is, ´radiative equilibrium?µ

c How do we determine the temperature of the earth?

c What would happen to longwave radiation if shortwave

radiation were to increase?
 Albedo

c Albedo: a measure of how strongly an object reflects light

from light sources such as the Sun.