1. How is the sun's energy transferred to earth?
2. What is the effect of albedo on temperature change?
3. Explain why the greenhouse effect is important to life on earth.
4. Name the 2 most important greenhouse gases. What effect do they have on temperature change?
5. How can earth's forests affect earth's temperature?
6. What effect do clouds have on earth's overall temperature? Explain.
7. Explain the evidence we have that indicates climate change has occurred. (Proxy records)
ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!Please help with climate change questions?1) The Sun檚 Energy
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?How is the sun's energy transferred to earth?
The Sun emits heat energy in the form of shortwave solar radiation. Because it comes from an extremely hot source it has a very short wavelength. This heat energy is distributed throughout the solar system and some of it reaches us here on Earth; it檚 the warmth we feel from sunlight.
Some of the energy from the Sun is absorbed by the Earth and the things upon it, for example, buildings, roads and trees. As the ambient temperature drops this absorbed energy is reradiated back outwards. This time the source is much cooler and so the energy has a longer wavelength. We call this form of energy thermal radiation, the wavelength of which is ~4 micrometers, the same wavelength as the vibrational frequency of the greenhouse gases.
As a consequence the incoming energy from the Sun can pass through the atmosphere but once it檚 been converted into thermal radiation some of it is trapped as it makes it檚 way up through the atmosphere.
2) Albedo
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?What is the effect of albedo on temperature change?
Albedo is effectively the reflectivity of the planet. The brighter surfaces such as snow and ice are far more reflective than the darker surfaces such as bare earth and trees.
Much more incoming solar radiation is bounced off the brighter surfaces before it has a chance to become absorbed (dark surfaces absorb heat, light ones reflect it).
Any change in Earth檚 albedo will affect the amount of heat energy from the Sun that is absorbed. If this change is a negative one (less albedo) then more heat energy will be absorbed and more warming will occur.
A good example of this can be found in respect of the Arctic ice. The white snow and ice reflects as much as 80% of the incoming heat energy from the Sun but when it melts and is replaced by sea then only about 20% of the incoming energy is reflected by the darker surface of the water. Consequently the water absorbs more heat from the Sun than the ice would have done.
Less ice cover therefore means more energy from the Sun being absorbed and ultimately more energy available to contribute to the greenhouse effect.
3) Greenhouse Effect
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?Explain why the greenhouse effect is important to life on earth.
The greenhouse effect is basically what I described in my answer to question 1. It檚 determined by the presence and concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the more of these gases there are the more heat is retained.
If Earth had no greenhouse effect there would be no heat retentive capacity, we would effectively be an uninsulated planet. Our atmosphere wouldn檛 be able to retain heat and the average global temperature would fall by 33掳C. This would mean that the average temperature across the planet would be ?8掳C, Earth would be a ball of ice floating around in space.
Thanks to the greenhouse effect our planet has a habitable temperature, one suitable for the sustaining of life.
4) Greenhouse Gases
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?Name the 2 most important greenhouse gases. What effect do they have on temperature change?
The two greenhouse gases that have the most significant roles in relation to global warming are water vapour and carbon dioxide. For all intents and purposes water vapour is entirely natural and the amount within the atmosphere is more or less constant and governed by physical limitations.
The two most important manmade greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide.
In relation to their effects on temperature change?in respect of the manmade component of global warming, water vapour has almost no direct effect because the amount contained within the atmosphere is more or less constant. The amount is governed by factors such as temperature and pressure, when saturation point is reached excess water vapour is dissipated out of the atmosphere in the form of precipitation.
The presence of water vapour has in important indirect effect in that it affects the ability of the other greenhouse gases to retain heat.
Unlike water vapour, the other greenhouse gases are not constrained in respect of their atmospheric concentrations, they accumulate in the atmosphere and as the concentration increase so too does the capacity for the atmosphere to retain heat.
5) Forests
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?How can earth's forests affect earth's temperature?
Deforestation is the largest single contributor to global warming, it accounts for just under one quarter of the overall warming.
Trees act as a store for carbon dioxide, through the process of photosynthesis they absorb CO2 which is then converted into cellulose ?the material that makes up about two thirds of the mass of the tree (water being the other primary material).
When trees are cut down they can no longer absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. If the wood in the tree is allowed to degrade through burning, decomposition etc then the stored carbon is re-re-released back into the atmosphere. If the wood is retained, such as being used as a building material or in the construction of furniture, then the carbon will remain stored within the wood.
Furthermore, if a tree or other vegetable matter is left to rot then through the process of biomethanation or methanogenesis, methane gas is also produced, this gas is 23 times as potent as CO2 when it comes to causing global warming (specifically it has a 100 year GWP of 23).
When trees are cut down or planted there is also the albedo effect to take into account, as discussed in question 2.
6) Clouds
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?What effect do clouds have on earth's overall temperature? Explain.
Clouds can affect temperatures in numerous ways but perhaps the two most important are concerned with their reflective and insulative properties.
As already mentioned, incoming sunlight can be harmlessly bounced off reflective surfaces and clouds are one such surface. Certain clouds are more effective at reflecting sunlight than others, marine stratocumuli are particularly effective, their upper surface acting almost like a mirror.
You may have noticed that on a clear night it is often colder than on a cloudy night, this is because as night draws in and temperatures start to drop and the heat which has been absorbed by the Earth during the day is re-released. If there are no clouds much of this heat is lost throughout the vastness of the atmosphere but on a cloudy night the clouds form an insulative layer that prevents the heat from escaping.
A cloud is nothing more than a parcel of atmosphere overloaded with water vapour. When saturation vapour pressure is reached and the air can contain no more water vapour, the excess vapour forms tiny droplets of water by condensing around condensation nuclei such as dust or pollen grains. In time these droplets will fall to the ground as precipitation or be deposited on surfaces in the form of dew, rime frost, hoar frost etc.
7) Proxy Records
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?Explain the evidence we have that indicates climate change has occurred. (Proxy records)
There are various proxy records that are used to reconstruct historical temperatures. The most extensively used and the most accurate are obtained from ice-core samples.
In the colder parts of the world such as in much of Greenland and Antarctica, the snow and ice never melts, it just accumulates year after year (eventually it makes it檚 way to the oceans through glacial creep). With the passing of each season a fresh layer of snow falls, in time this is compressed into ice and the ice-pack builds up. Within the ice are bubbles of air that were trapped at the time the snow fell.
Rather like trees have rings, the ice has layers ?alternate dark and light bands indicating each passing year. By drilling down into the ice we can extract cores composed of ice that formed many years ago. These ice samples are melted in hermetically sealed chambers and the trapped air is released. This can then be analysed, of particular interest are the ratios of certain isotopic elements such as oxygen and deuterium. These are highly sensitive to temperature and the ratio of the different isotopes tells us what the temperature was at the time the snow originally fell.
The ice-core record has enabled us to reconstruct an accurate temperature record stretching back almost a million years. This has been an invaluable resource for observing how temperatures have fluctuated in the past and provides us with bench-marks against which the current warming can be compared.
Other proxy records include the analysis of pollen grain deposition, lake and ocean sediments, the dendrochronological (tree ring) record and boreholes. When these are analysed we檙e again looking for evidence of lifeforms and atmospheric components that are temperature dependent.Please help with climate change questions?1 the ground holds the heat
2. don't know will have to look it up
3.Green house gas holds the heat in the invisible bubble around the earth this warms things up each degree has an effect on the climate.
4 don't know will have to look it up
5 Trees act like a giant air conditioner and absorb carbon. the air conditioner part comes from them taking in water from the roots and carrying it all the way to the top. (save old growth not just for animals for you to.)
6 They are great on a hot days for a brief moment of shade suck on cool days for blocking ht sun and are great in the cold (Ak) winters they hold heat near the ground.
7. Take a look at the glaciers, If you don't live by any then look at photos from 10 yeras ago to now.
go to stagnet lakes and look for methane bubbles.Please help with climate change questions?1. In the form of Ultraviolet Waves, X-Rays, other radiation, magnetic waves and light.
2.Albedo Refers to reflectivity, i.e. the suns rays off of ice therefore if ice melts less light reflects off increasing the temperature.
3.because at the right levels it helps keep our planet warm, we are actually quite a ways from the sun, without the proper levels of greenhouse gases we freeze, and to much and we roast until the ice age comes.
4.Carbon Dioxide (CO2), and Methane (CH4), some might say water vapor (H2O). they all trap light rays causing them to reflect back and strike the earth's surface again raising the temp.
5.by disposing of CO2 and water vapor they cool the planet and by collecting the majority of light in their area they cool their area.
6. heat rises clouds stop heat from rising out into the upper atmosphere so it raises the temp. adversly it can also keep light out dropping the temperature if the clouds are too thick.
7 that is various and complex.
