GC 170 1st Edition Exam 1 Study Guide Lectures 1 5 Lecture 01 January 20th Scientific Process and the Keeling Curve Just focus on the Keeling Curve What environmental variable is being measured Project to calculate levels of CO2 in the air started by Dave Keeling in Pasadena CA Where are the measurements made Project moved around the United States to find fluctuations in CO2 levels throughout the day o Except in the middle of the afternoon everywhere there were 310 ppm s Why was the sampling location chosen The project is now situated in an observatory on top of a tall mountain in Hawaii Mauna Loa o No industries o No nearby cities o Far from vegetation o No inversion layers What are the units of measurement Parts Per Million ppm What do the wiggles represent Fluctuations o Late summer CO2 stored in leaves Low Points o Winter Leaves have decayed CO2 in air High Points Lecture 02 January 22nd Quantify Global Change and Group activity Understand how to read a time series plot Know how to draw a mean line and describe the trends variance and oscillations Measure of an environmental variable at a given point in time o Description Mean average of x axis values A mean line is drawn Trend lack of increasing or decreasing direction of the mean line Variance the height of the values amplitude above or below the mean How high or low the values go above below the mean Periodic perfect fluctuations Up and Down pattern Wave like pattern Quasi periodic almost regular fluctuations Random no pattern to the fluctuations Rate of change Change in variable change in time o Exponential Rate of Change The change increases instead of behaving linear Lecture 03 January 27th Forms of energy Electromagnetic Spectrum and radiation Know the forms of energy potential kinetic thermal and electromagnetic radiation Energy what we need to complete physical actions o Ability to move heat o Measures the capability to create change or do work move heat o Objects possess energy o Energy cannot be destroyed but it can change from one form to another Thermal can be transferred between objects Potential energy o Energy of an object that could be doing something but is not Kinetic energy o Energy of movement the ability of an object to do work because it is in movement Thermal or heat energy o Volume of air within moving particles o Microscopic o Result of kinetic energy Understand how electromagnetic radiation is transmitted through space Energy is transmitted as waves and particles o Both the sun and earth transmit energy as electromagnetic radiation Sun short wave Earth long wave Review how to describe a wave frequency wavelength Lecture 2 What is the relationship between wavelength and energy transmitted Wavelength distance between wave crests Frequency number of wave crests passing a fixed point sec The longer the wavelength the lower the frequency lower energy o Intensity of radiation increases with the decrease of wavelength How is the electromagnetic spectrum organized Energy The Driver of Climate Climate Science Investigations South Florida Web 25 Jan 2015 What are the wavelength bands which are relevant for global change UV Visible Light IR Ultraviolet Visible Light Infrared Which wavelengths are emitted by the sun and earth Sun short wave Earth long wave What is the concept of flux Def amount of energy of photons that passes a perpendicular surface per unit area Intensity of radiation covering one area o Measured in watts meters2 o The poles of the earth receive less radiation compared to the equator How does the flux energy per unit area depend on angle of incidence and distance to the sun The flux W m2 decreases because the amount of radiation is measured per unit area The Same amount of radiation is spread over a larger area therefore there is less energy per unit area What are the global change examples of the flux concept More radiation is absorbed per unit area at the equator WARMER At the poles radiation strikes the earth at an angle less radiation per unit area is absorbed COOLER Lecture 04 and 05 January 29th February 3rd Radiation Laws Understand the Inverse Square law and how this influences the variation of temperature on earth Inverse Square Law If we double the distance from the source the intensity of radiation decreases by for the same unit area As the distance from the source increases the intensity decreases exponentially Understand how the Inverse Square law influences the temperature of earth relative to Venus Mars Venus receives much more radiation per unit area than the earth and mars o It has a thicker atmosphere with more CO2 than the earth Understand the graphic and explanations for each of the Radiation Laws 2 4 Planck Function Law o The Planck function relates the intensity of radiation to the wavelength emitted by a blackbody emits at 100 wavelengths Wien s Law o A blackbody has a maximum radiation flux that is inversely related to the temperature of the blackbody The lower the temperature of a body the longer peak wavelength lower energy flux The higher the temperature of a body the shorter the peak wavelength higher energy flux The Stefan Boltzman Law o Total energy emitted proportional to the body Why are these laws important for global change The physical laws help us predict how the earth system will respond to increasing temperatures What do they help us to predict or measure The physical laws help us predict how the earth system will respond to increasing temperatures Lecture 05 February 3rd Atmosphere structure and composition Know the four layers of the atmosphere Troposphere 0 10km o Temperature decreases with altitude Ex Mt Lemmon o Warm at bottom cold at top o Most of the greenhouse gases are concentrated o Decreasing temperature o Composition Nitrogen 78 Oxygen 21 Argon 0 9 Water Vapor Carbon Dioxide CO2 and H2O are greenhouse gases Stratosphere o Ozone Layer o Increasing temperature Mesosphere o Decreasing temperature Thermosphere o Increasing temperature How does temperature change within each layer Troposphere o Decreasing temperature Stratosphere o Increasing temperature Mesosphere o Decreasing temperature Thermosphere o Increasing temperature Where are the greenhouse gases concentrated Troposphere Where is the ozone layer Stratosphere Understand the three processes of heat transfer Thermal energy heat microscopic movement of molecules in a substance o Molecules have kinetic energy which is what is converted to heat o The warmer the substance the faster the