*
Chapters 17 and 18
*
*
* Layers of the atmosphere
* Pressure and Humidity
* Solar energy and its role in creating seasons and air
circulation
* Role of atmosphere in creating weather and climate
* Cold fronts, warm fronts
* High pressure systems, low pressure systems
* Large Scale circulation patterns (Hadley, Feral, Polar Cells)
* Global wind patterns
* Threats from storms (hurricanes, tornadoes)
*
* Air pollution: the release of air pollutants
* Sources
* Developing Countries: wood fires,
* Industrialized Countries
* coal-burning power plants, cars, industry
* Outdoor (Ambient) Air Pollution is highly regulated in industrialized
nations
* Natural Sources
* Volcanic eruptions: aerosols form when sulfur dioxide reacts with
water and oxygen to form fine droplets, this can cool the atmosphere
and surface of the planet
* Fires: influenced by humans, but happen naturally
* Winds
* Largest problem today (for industrialized nations) may be
our release of greenhouse gasses which contribute to global
climate change
* Examples: carbon dioxide, methane
*
* Point versus Non-point sources
* Primary versus Secondary Pollutants
* Soot, carbon monoxide
* Ozone, sulfuric acid
* Residence Time
*
*
* Air Pollution Control Act of 1955
* Clean Air Act of 1963
* Research funding and emissions standards for cars/stationary
point sources
* Clean Air Act of 1970
* Stricter standards, added mobile point sources, provided funds
for control/research, allowed citizens to sue violators
* Clean Air Act of 1990
* Strengthens regulations on acid deposition, ozone depletion,
auto emissions, introduced emissions trading program for sulfur
dioxide and other pollutants
* Regulated by:
* EPA which sets national standards for emissions and
concentrations
* States which monitor, implement and enforce regulations
*
National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)
* Carbon monoxide
* Colorless, odorless gas from incomplete combustion of fuel
* From cars (78%), combustion of waste, industrial processes, wood burning
* Binds to hemoglobin in RBC and prevents it from binding with oxygen
* Sulfur dioxide
* Colorless gas with a pungent odor
* From the combustion of coal in electric power plants (sulfur in coal reacts
with oxygen to form SO2)
* Once in the air, it can reach to form SO3 AND H2SO4 which settles as acid
deposition
* Nitrogen dioxide
* Reactive, foul smelling red/brown gas, NOX
* Contributes to smog and acid deposition
* Result when nitrogen and oxygen react in combustion engine, or combustion
in industrial or electrical combustion
*
National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)
* Tropospheric ozone (ground level ozone)
* Not the same a ozone in the stratosphere
* Colorless gas with a slight odor that comes from the interaction of sunlight,
heat, NOX, and volatile carbon compounds (Secondary pollutant)
* O3 looses an oxygen atom that can injure living tissue and cause breathing
problems
* Most common pollutant to exceed EPA standards, must measure VOC’s
* http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/visual/animation.php?shortname=anm
_ozone_production
* Particulate matter
* Solids or liquids small enough to be suspended in the atmosphere
* Includes primary (dust, soot) and secondary (sulfates, nitrates) pollutants
* Can cause respiratory damage when inhaled
* Lead
* Heavy metal, particulate pollutant from gasoline additives, now banned in the
United States
* Accumulates in the food chain (bioaccumulation) and causes problems with the
central nervous system
*
* Technology and Policy go hand in hand
* Total emission have declined by 60% since the 1970’s Clean
Air Act
* Despite an increase in population, energy consumption, miles
traveled and GDP
* Carbon emission have increased 44% in that same time
* Technology
* Baghouse filters
* Electrostatic precipitators
* Scrubbers
* 188 toxic pollutants (cancer, reproductive, neurological,
developmental, immune, respiratory problems) are also now
regulated
*
Watch the following video and use your
textbook to diagram how a scrubber
works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG
Na5pioGUg&feature=related (2:24)
*
* Industrializing nations
* Increasing air pollution
from growing numbers of
factories and power plants
* Little government
regulation
* Traditional sources of fuel
* Rural Areas
* Drift from farms and
industries
* Feedlots
* Methane, hydrogen sulfide,
ammonia
*
* Our most common air quality problem is
industrial smog from carbon and sulfur
combustion
* Photochemical smog is formed when sunlight
drives the chemical reactions that turn primary
pollutants and normal atmospheric compounds
into smog
* Ozone action days
* Reduction
* Vehicle emission inspection programs (34 states)
*
Industrial smog
Photochemical smog
* This is what is often referred to as the
“hole” in the ozone layer, it is actually
a depletion of stratospheric ozone
* Man made halocarbons (most
commonly chlorofluorocarbons or
CFC’s)
* One free chlorine can destroy 100,000
ozone molecules
* Antarctic hole appears each spring
* Montreal Protocol addressed this
problem
*
http://ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov/
*
* Acid or acid-forming pollutants can land on
the Earth’s surface
* This can be from rain, fog, gases, or dry
particles
* Is affected by the pH of the deposition and the
acid-neutralizing capability of the substrate
* Impacts
* Leaching of nutrients from topsoil (calcium,
magnesium, potassium) when H+ take the place
of these ions and they move to the subsoil
* Mobilization of toxic metals (aluminum, zinc,
mercury, copper) that can be taken up by plants
and kill trees
* Acidification of waterways from runoff can lead
to the death of fish
* Addressing the problem
* Scrubbers
*
* Generally in higher concentration than outdoor air
pollution
* 2-3 million deaths per year worldwide
* The average U.S. citizen spends 90% of their time indoors
* Sources
* Burning fuelwood
* Tobacco smoke
* Radon
* VOC’s
*
*
*
*
*
*
Plastics
Perfumes
Carpets
Copy machines
New car smell
Pesticides
* Living thins (dust, mold, fungi)
* Sick Building Syndrome
*
7 STUPID THINGS PEOPLE SAY ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE!
http://www.buzzfeed.com/kellyoakes/7-stupid-thingspeople-say-about-climate-change-that-arent-a
*
* What is climate?
* What is the difference between global climate change and global
warming?
* Factors that regulate climate (which are most important?)
* Sun
* Atmosphere
* Oceans
* Movement of planet in space
* Factors that warm the lower atmosphere
* Greenhouse gases: water, ozone, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide,
methane, halocarbons
* Greenhouse effect (anthropogenic intensification)
* http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/visual/animation.php?shortnam
e=anm_greenhouse_effect
*
Greenhouse Gas
Relative Heat Trapping
ability (equivalent to
CO2)
Carbon dioxide
1
Methane
25
Nitrous oxide
298
HFC
14,800
• Carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas that we are most concerned about
• Why?
*
* Carbon dioxide (280ppm in 1700 to 389ppm in 2010)
* Where should most of it be? Where/why is it moving?
* Burning fossil fuels
* Clearing/burning forests (2x the harm….why?)
* Methane (2.5 time more now than 1700)
* Fossil fuels
* Livestock
* Landfills
* Some crops (rice)
* Nitrous oxide (18% more than 1750)
* Feedlots
* Chemical manufacturing
* Cars
* Fertilizers
* Ozone (36% more than 1750)
* Photochemical smog
*
*
* What is a positive feedback loop?
* What is a negative feedback loop?
* As tropospheric temperatures increase,
bodies of water on Earth should
increase rates of evaporation, leading
to more water in the atmosphere.
* Is this a positive or negative feedback
loop?
* How do aerosols and water vapor differ
in their impact on temperature?
*
* Radiative Forcing: The amount of change in thermal energy
that a given factor causes
* Positive forcing means…..
* Negative forcing means……
* Natural rate: 342 watts/m2
* Estimated change since 1750: 1.6 watts/m2
* What factors influence climate?
* Atmospheric conditions
* Milankovitch Cycles
* Axial Wobble = Variation of Tilt
* Solar Output
* Ocean Absorption
* Ocean Circulation
*
* Past: Paleoclimates
* Proxy indicators
* Ice cores: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr02VF3ralc
* Pollen grains
* Tree rings
* Pack rat middens
* Present
* Direct Measurements
* Thermometers, rain gauge, anemometers, barometers, computers
* Charles Keeling, 1958, Mauna Loa Observatory
* Only about a century of data
* Future
* Modeling
*
* Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
* Established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)N
* Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for its work in informing the
world of trends and impacts of climate change
* 2007 was the last time they released a report (their 4th Assessment
Report)
* Major trends observed and predicted
* Global physical indicators
* Regional physical indicators
* Social indicators
* Biological indicators
*
* Temperatures are rising
* Precipitation is changing
* Ice and Snow are melting (this has far reaching impacts)
* Sea levels are rising
* Coral reefs are threatened
* Organisms and ecosystems are affected
* Humans are affected
* Agriculture
* Forestry
* Health
* Economics
* Impacts will vary regionally
* This drive some of the debate between scientists
*
* U.S. Global Research Program
* Created by congress in 1990 to coordinate federal research, reviewed in
1990
* Major predictions
* Average rise of 2.2-6.1 degrees Celsius (4-11 F) by the end of the century
* Worse droughts and floods
* Longer growing seasons and higher CO2 levels will favor crops, but drought,
heat, pests and disease will decrease most yields
* Snowpack decrease in West, water shortages worsen
* Colder weather illness decline, heat related problems will increase
* Tropical diseases will spread north
* Sea level will rise and storm surge will erode beaches and destroy wetlands
and real estate
* Alpine ecosystems and barrier islands will begin to vanish
* Droughts, fire, and pets will alter forests (loss of sugar maples, some
replacement of forest with grasslands and/or deserts)
* Melting permafrost will hinder Alaskan buildings and roads
*
* Its all about greenhouse gasses……..
* “Climategate”
*
* Mitigation: pursue actions that reduce greenhouse gas
emission to lessen the severity of climate change
* Energy efficiency, renewable/clean energy sources
* Adaptation: pursue strategies to minimize the impacts of
climate change on us
* Flood walls in the Maldives
2004 Pacala and Socolow projection
2011 Pacala and Socolow update
* http://www.upworthy.com/one-
guy-with-a-marker-just-made-theglobal-warming-debate-completelyobsolete-7
*
Pascala and Socolow: “When the job is too big, break it into small
parts!”
*
* Electricity Generation
* Largest source of U.S. greenhouse gasses
* Issues of conservation and efficiency
* Current sources of electricity?
* Potential new sources?
* Carbon capture/sequestration
* Transportation
* 2nd largest source of U.S. greenhouse gasses
* Automotive technology is in place
* Consumer choices
* Other ways to reduce emissions?
* Agriculture
* Forestry
* waste management
*
* Kyoto Protocol
* 1992, U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC)
* Voluntary, nation-by-nation approach
* 1997, mandatory outgrowth that required signatory nations to
reduce emissions to pre 1990 levels
* U.S. refused to sign and remains the only developed nation to not sign,
they say this is because of the inequality between developed and
developing nations
* Copenhagen Conference
* 2009, inteneded to be a successor to the Kyoto Protocol
* Never formally adopted
* States and Cities
* In the U.S. there is no federal action, so 1000 citites in all 50
states have signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement
*
* Will emission cuts hurt the economy?
* Can market mechanisms address climate change?
* Cap and Trade Emission
* Carbon taxes
* Carbon offsets and Carbon neutrality
* Will it just take the action of caring citizens who want to
reduce their carbon footprint?