CHAPTER ONEGlobal climate, the prevailing weather patterns of a planet/region over timeGreen house gases are gases that warm a planet’s surface by absorbing outgoing infrared radiation (radiant heat) and reradiating some of it back towards the surface, natural process that keeps the surface warmer then it would be in the absence of an atmosphereGlobal Warming, increase in Earth’s temperature brought about by a combination of industrial and agricultural activitiesOzone layer is a chemically distinct region within the stratosphere, protects Earth from UV raysInterglacial period a warm interval marked by the retreat of the Northern Hemisphere’s ice sheetsSystem is a group of components that interact Earth System: hydrosphere, biota, atmosphere, solid Earth- Atmosphere, thin envelope of gases that surroundEarth- Hydrosphere, composed of various reservoirs ofwater, including ice (cryosphere)- Biota, all living organismsForcing, external influence Keeling Curve- Manua Loa was chosen as the measurement sightbecause the air blowing over it’s summit is removed from pollution- Concentration of atmospheric gas measured in part per million (ppm)- Seasonal oscillation have to do with “breathing” of Northern Hemisphere’s forests- CO2 levels on the rise since 1958Surface temperature does not increase as uniformly or at the same rate as atmospheric CO2CO2 is cumulative, SO2 is notThermal Expansion, gradual warming of the ocean, water expands when heatedStratosphere, extends between 10-50km of altitude, where most of Earth’s ozone is located, absorbs UVOzone hole over Antarctica, believed to be caused by breaking down of CFCs and chlorine monoxide (ClO)K-T Boundary, stands for the transition between two time intervals, the Cretaceous and the Tertiary (dinosaurs disappeared around this timeSun produces its energy through nuclear fusion joining of two or more light atomic nuclei to form one heavier nucleus The sun’s luminosity should gradually increase as it depletes its hydrogen fuelFaint young sun paradox, sun has gotten brighterGaia Hypothesis, states that earth is a self-regulating system in which the biota planan integral roleAge of the universe 14 billion yearsAge of earth 4.5 billionCHAPTER TWOComponents, parts of a system- Reservoir of matter (mass/volume)- Reservoir of energy (temperature)- Attribute of the system (body temp or pressure) - Subsystem State of a system is the set of important attributes that characterize the system at a particular timePositive coupling a change (increase/decrease) is one component is a stimulus thatleads to change of the same direction in the linked component, when one componentincreases a positively coupled component responds by increasing Negative coupling a change in one component stimulates a change of the opposite direction in the linked component, when one component increases a negatively couple component responds by decreasing Feedback is a self-perpetuating mechanism of change and response to thatchange Equilibrium state will not change unless disturbed, stable, represented bya valley on a graph- Valleys or regions of stability are defined by the hills around themUnstable, positive feedback loops, represented by a hill on a graph- No region of stability, a disturbed ball will rolldown the hill and land in a valley, on its own theball can not return to the original equilibriumstate, the slightest disturbance pushes the state of the system towards a new stable equilibrium Perturbation, temporary disturbanceForcing, a more persistent disturbanceDaisy World-Used to demonstrate that natural systems can be self-regulating ona global scale with out need for intelligent intervention- The amount of sunlight absorbed by the planet depends on thearea of the darker/bare soil relative to the area of lighter daisies -The more sun absorbed the higher the surface temp-Growth/spread of daisies depend on the temperature around themDaisy Coverage vs. Surface Temp-The more daisies the more albedo, less sun absorbed, the cooler thesurface temp (daisies increase, temperature decreases) negativefeedback Albedo reflectivity of a surface, dark has low albedo, light has highAs Long as daisies can survive they can moderate the planet - Earth’s albedo 0.3CHAPTER THREESun emits about 50% of its energy in the form of visible lightElectromagnetic radiation is a self-propagating electric and magnetic wave that is similar to a wave that moves on the surface of a pondA wave of any form of electromagnetic radiation move at a fixed speed, ‘c’, the speed of light 3.00 x 10^8 m/sWavelength distance between two adjacent crests Frequency, v (nu)λv=cFrequency = c/λThe longer the wavelength is the lower the frequencyVisible radiation 400-700 nm- Red = longest wavelength- Blue/violet = shortestVisible Light Spectrum indicated that the light has been separated into its component’s wavelengthsInfrared Radiation (IR) significantly longer then those of visible light, 700nm 1um = 1000 nm Ultra Violet (UV) wavelengths shorter then visible spectrum, 400nm-10nm Flux is the amount of energy or material that passes through a given area, perpendicular to that area, per until time- Flux is the amount of energy (or # of photons) in an electromagnetic wave that passes perpendicularly through a unit surface area per unit time- Magnitude depends on distance form source, not how big the surface is, defined by intensity per unit area- W/m2Inverse-square lawS=S0 (r0/r)2S represents solar flux at some distance, r, from the sourceS0 represents the flux at some reference distance r0If we double the distance from the source to the observer the intensity of the radiation is decreased by a factor of (1/2)2 or ¼Temperature is the measure of the internal heat energy of a substance Blackbody radiation has characteristic wavelengths distribution that depends on the body’s absolute temperature Wien’s Law, the flux of radiation emitted by a blackbody reaches its peak value at a wavelength (λ max)λ max = 2898/TStefan-Boltzmann Law, states that the energy flux emitted by a blackbody is related to the fourth power of the body’s absolute temperatureF=σ T4Where T is temp in Kelvin, and is a constant numerical value of 5.67 x 10^-8Convection is a process in which heat energy is transported by the motion of a fluid Conduction is the transfer of heat energy by direct contact between moleculesSnow/Ice Albedo Feedback-Snow has a much higher albedo then land/water there fore increases in