GEOL 1330 Study Guide – Energy and Climate
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Characteristics of the Sun, the driver of Earth’s climate (e.g. TSI, temperature in
Sun’s core and at the surface)
What are sunspots, how do they influence the TSI? Recent sunspot activity?
Cyclicity?
Characteristics of orbital cycles/orbital parameters, their effect on incoming
radiation and Earth’s climate; Milankovitch Cycles
Composition and layers of Earth’s atmosphere, greenhouse gases and their
sources, Keeling curve (current approximate CO2 level?)
Ozone in troposphere and stratosphere, impact on climate
Electromagnetic radiation: ultraviolet, visible, infrared – how do they differ in
wavelength and energy transport
Incoming solar radiation at top of atmosphere vs. ground level; Distribution of
incoming energy at ground level?
What is the average irradiance received at the top of Earth’s atmosphere?
Incoming vs. outgoing radiation
General idea about Earth’s energy budget, e.g.: How much of the incoming solar
energy is absorbed at ground level? What happens to the “rest” of incoming solar
energy? How much incoming energy is reflected vs. emitted as heat energy?
What is the “atmospheric window”?
Greenhouse effect and enhanced greenhouse effect; what makes greenhouse gases
different from the main constituents of the atmosphere
What does the observed stratospheric cooling indicate?
What is radiative forcing? What can cause it? Approximate total anthropogenic
forcing?
What is global dimming? Example: Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991
What is the difference between climate sensitivity and radiative forcing?