MAIN AIR
POLLUTANTS
POLLUTANT
SOURCES
PARTICULATE MATTER
CLEAR DAY
PM-10 m
PM-2.5 m
POLLUTION
The smaller the particle, the longer it remains
suspended, and the higher the likelihood of lung
penetration.
DENVER, COLORADO, USA
1.
2.
3.
4.
Sunlight dissociates NO2
O reacts with O2 to create O3
(O3 would normally be destroyed by NO)
Hydrocarbons (pollution) can react with NO
O3 levels reach high levels.
STRATOSPHERIC
OZONE IS GOOD!
(absorbs ultraviolet
radiation)
TROPOSPHERIC
OZONE IS HARMFUL
Pollution in USA
LESS DISPERSAL
HIGHER CONCENTRATIONS
OVER SMALLER AREA
MORE DISPERSAL
LOWER CONCENTRATIONS
OVER LARGER AREA
EFFECTS PRONOUNCED
WHERE SOIL BASES ARE
IN SHORT SUPPLY
(eg. Canadian Shield)
Figure 18.4
KOPPEN CLIMATE
CLASSIFICATION
Iquitos, Peru
Timbo,
Guinea
SEE
LETHBRIDGE
CLIMOGRAPH
FOR ANOTHER
EXAMPLE!
Denver, Colorado
SEE PHOENIX, ARIZONA
CLIMOGRAPH (Fig. 18.14)
HUMID
SUBTROPICAL
CLIMATE
Mobile, Alabama
MARITIME CLIMATE
Port Hardy, BC
MEDITERRANEAN CLIMATE
HUMID
CONTINENTAL
CLIMATE
Des Moine, Iowa
(only marginally humid)
SUBPOLAR CLIMATE
POLAR CLIMATE
POLAR ICE CAP
CLIMATE
Eismitte, Greenland
Climate Through the Ages
Figure 19.4
Data important for estimating past climate include:
lake bottom sediment, pollen in ice caves, fossil evidence, written
documents, coral isotopes, calcium carbonate layers in caves,
borehole temperature, and dendrochronology or tree ring data.
These data have helped identify the Younger-Dryas cold spell that
broke a warming trend in this current interglacial period.
Milankovitch Theory of Climate Change
Climate change may be driven by
changes in earth's a) orbit
(eccentricity), from ellipse to circle at
100,000 year cycles, b) wobble
(precession), from the north pole
pointing toward or away from the sun
in June at 23,000 year cycles, and
c) tilt (obliquity), from 22° to 2
4.5° at 41,000 year cycles.
EFFECT OF MT PINATUBO ERUPTION
Source: IPCC
Source: IPCC
Source: IPCC
Ice core data
Temperature,
CO2 and CH4
are all in
phase
Are the gas
concentrations
a cause or an
effect of
warming or
both ?
2xCO2 ENVIRONMENT
Source: IPCC
1. Reduced Biodiversity
(rapid change)
2. Sea level rise and coastal flooding
(melting ice and thermal expansion)
3. Expansion of tropical disease range
4. Soil Moisture Decreases and
Desertification ?
5. Increased frequency of heat illness
(problem for the elderly)
6. Increased frequency of severe events?
7. Engineering problem of thermokarst
(transportation and housing)
8. Affect on outdoor winter recreation
and winter tourism
1. Increasing NPP?
2. Increased food production?: CO2
fertilization, range & growing season
(depends on soil moisture/depth/nutrients)
3. Increased water-use efficiency
4. Increased nutrient-use efficiency?
5. High latitude warming
(positive and negative)
Source: IPCC