1
Q
What are the 3 carbon reservoirs that are relevant for the issue of climate change?
A
Atmosphere as CO2(g)
Ocean as HCO3^-
Fossil fuels as hydrocarbons
2
Q
How does the Industrial Revolution impacted the carbon cycle?
A
Humans used fossil fuels instead of animals to produce energy.
- releases solar energythat was trapped stored in dead bodies
3
Q
How does deforestation impacted the carbon cycle?
A
- Carbon trapped in trees is released as CO2 when they are burned
- Removing trees eliminate a regulator of atmospheric CO2 levels
-> they remove CO2 to do photosynthesis
4
Q
What are greenhouse gases?
A
Gases that trap the sun’s heat in the atmosphre, instead of letting it radiate back out to space. (ex: CO2)
5
Q
What is the greenhouse effect?
A
- Natural process by which the sun’s heat is trapped into the atmosphere
- > keeps the atmosphere warm and allows life
6
Q
What is the consequence of adding greenhouse gases?
A
- Increases the heat trapped
- > lead to increase in average global temperatures that increases as the [CO2] increases.
7
Q
How do we know that the global climate change is because of us?
A
- Rate of CO2 and temperature increases: fast/correlates with the Industrial Revolution
-> Trapped air bubble in Antartic ice -> CO2 levles higher than any time before. - C^12/C^13 ratios rising: most of new CO2 in atmosphere is from burning fossil fueld and trees.
-> photosynthesis only uses C^12O2(g), therefore, fossil fuels are C^12 based. Only the concentration of C^12O2(g) is increasing, not C^13O2(g) - Lower atmosphere temperature is rising way faster than upper atmosphere: eliminate the possibility that changes is sun intensity is the cause.
8
Q
What are some predicted effects of the global climate change?
A
- Disruption of community interactions in ecosystems leading to extinction.
-> predicted rate = too fast for many species to adapt => extinction - Extremes in weather and flooding.
-> + flooding/+ droughts
-> + water level = flooding of cities
-> warming oceans makes stronger hurricanes
