ATOC 1060: EXAM 2
70 Cards in this Set
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Why does air rise?
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it is heated density decreases
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What part of the earth receive more energy that they raiate to space?
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Tropics
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Why doesn't the Hadley cell extend all the way from the equator to the poles?
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The Earth's rotation prevents it from doing so
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On which planet does it actually do this?
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Venus has a circulation cell that extends further because it rotates more slowly
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What kind of weather would you get near the ITCZ?
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Rainy and cloudy. Why? Because ITCZ = intertropical convergence zone (special emphasis on “convergence”). Convergence at surface = rising air = air cooling down = water coming out.
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Coriolis force turns things which way? Which way to gyres turn
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Coriolis turns to right, gryes go clockwise in N hemisphere
Left, counterclockwise in Southern Hemisphere
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Ocean circulation:
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bounded by land
slow compared to wind
driven by surface winds
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Ekman transport:1
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Forces:
surface winds blow water one way
coriolis turns that water right or left
friction causes movement of water to slow down as you go deeper down
ocean water moves to the right of the wind direction in N Hemisphere (left in S)
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Ekman transport:
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pushes stuff to center of gyres (geostrophic balance with high pressure and inward coriolis)
convergence, downwelling in center of gyres
divergence, upwelling near edges of gyres (like equator, for instance)
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Walker Circulation
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he east-west circulation of winds in the equatorial Pacific
(normal conditions)
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ENSO 2
Normal conditions:
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easterly winds blow from Peru to Australia, moving warm water west, away from Peru
this is great for fishermen in South America (SA) since it causes upwelling off the coast and upwelling brings nutrients that fish and things like
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Southern Oscillation
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negative correlation between sea level pressure between western and central Pacific
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El Nino:
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surface air pressure lowers over central and eastern Pacific causing trade winds weaken warm water is not being forced west anymore
thermocline lowers near SA and there are warmer surface waters than usual
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La Nina:
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stronger than normal easterly trade winds. “enhancement of normal conditions”
thermocline closer to surface.
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When is 14C made?
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made in upper atmosphere when 12C is hit by radiation.
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14C
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it has a half life of about 5500 years
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If the 14C/12C ratio of an air bubble extracted from an ice core is 1/16 that of the current atmosphere, approximately how old is the ice core sample?
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1/16 = (1/2)^4 so 4 half lives passed. 1 half life ~ 5500 years, so 4 half lives ~22,000
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How much do continents move and how often do they clumped together?
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continents move at about 4cm/year
continents clump together every 500 million years or so
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When was the last time the continents clumped together?
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300 millions years ago
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Mid-ocean ridge
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plate moving apart = new sea floor created. Example: Atlantic Ocean
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Trenches
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plates colliding = sea floor destroyed. Example: Pacific/Mariana Trench
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Marine Inorganic carbon cycle
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biggest, CO2 dissolves in ocean, reacts to create CaCO3 (limestone)
when CO2 in air increases, CO2 in ocean increases, which makes ocean more acidic (acidic = low pH)
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marine organic(carbon cycles)
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ritters are made up of carbon and so are their shells. When they die, some of the carbon in them sinks to bottom of ocean and stays there (until sea floor is destroyed)
terrestrial organic: trees, plants, animals made up of C. When they die, sometimes the get turned into fossil fuels`
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CH2O
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carbohydrate (what makes up biomass, you can consider CH2O to be plant/animal fat/matter in these equations if it helps)
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CH2O (carbohydrate) + O2
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CO2+ H2O + sunlight
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Respiration:
CH2O + O2
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energy + CO2 + H2O
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Anaerobic Decomposition:
2CH2O
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CO2 + CH4
it's anaerobic, so there is no O2, and it's decomposition so you're taking biomass (carbohydrates) and turning it into something else (in this case CO2 and CH4)
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Residence time:
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calculate residence time divide the size by the rate`
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the living biomass reservoir is 600Gt (giga tons). Pretend photosynthesis takes place at 30Gt/year, find the residence time
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(600Gt)/(30Gt/yr) = 20 years.
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upwelling
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brings up nutrients from bottom of ocean, so lots of stuff grows (high productivity
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ownwelling
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akes dissolved CO2 away from surface of ocean, so more CO2 can dissolve.
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Advection
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horizontal transport of materials by wind
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Thermocline
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layer of ocean where temperature decreases rapidly with depth
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Thermal Inertia
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high thermal inertia just means that it doesn't like to change temp. Therefore it takes a long time and energy to heat up/cool down. This is why places near the coast have more mild seasons and why we get the land/sea breeze.
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average salinity of ocean
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35 parts per thousand
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themohaline conveyor belt recycles time
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1,000 years
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Biomass consumer %
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1% consumers, 99% producers
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How much snow cover last in N hemisphere lasts in summer
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10%
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How much water can thermafrost contain
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30%
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How much has CH4 concentrations risen since 1750
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150%
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What is the IPCC$ prediction for permafrost reduction by 2050?
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20/30%
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How thick do glaciers have to be before they melt under their own pressure?
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4km
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How high will sea level rise if Antartica melts?
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56 m
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If we burn all fossil fuels, CO 2 would increase
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600%
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Approximately what fraction of global heat transfer from the tropics to the poles does ocean circulation contribute (as opposed to atmospheric circulation)?
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B. Nearly half
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Which of the following is not considered part of the cryosphere?
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Cloud ice
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What is the importance of the cryosphere in determining Earth’s climate?
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A. Its high albedo leads to a positive feedback.
B. Its latent heat of fusion and insulating properties lead to high thermal inertia.
C. Permafrost melting can release CH4.
D. All of the above.
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How long can permafrost stay frozen?
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Thousands of years
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Which region on Earth is experiencing the fastest climatic warming?
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The Arctic
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If increasing temperature leads to decreasing sea ice cover, which leads to reduced insulation over the ocean, what type of feedback process is this?
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Positive
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Which of the following things does not contribute to Ekman transport?
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Ocean temperature
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Which direction does Ekman transport push surface water in the gyres?
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To the center of the gyres
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What does Ekman transport cause to happen in the center of gyres?
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Convergence and downwelling
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In what way are the gyres in geostrophic balance?
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High pressure is balanced by an inward coriolis force.
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What do we call the negative correlation between sea-level pressure between the western and central Pacific?
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The Southern Oscillation
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Which of the following is not true of an El Niño event?
A) Surface air pressure lowers over the central and eastern Pacific.
B)The thermocline raises in the eastern Pacific.
C)The trade winds weaken.
D)Surface waters warm in the central and eastern Pacific.
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The thermocline raises in the eastern Pacific.
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True or false: La Niña can be considered an enhancement of the normal conditions in the tropical Pacific
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True
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What effect did the 1997-1998 El Niño event have on the United States?
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There were mud slides along the California coast.
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What is the importance of the cryosphere in determining Earth’s climate?
A)
The high albedo of ice and snow leads to a positive feedback with changes in temperature.
B)
Ice/Snow's latent heat of fusion and insulating properties lead to high thermal inertia.
C)
Permafrost melting…
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All of the above.
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What happens when snow accumulates dust?
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Its albedo is lowered and it melts faster
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What is happening along the mid-ocean ridges?
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Formation of new sea floor
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In the inorganic carbon cycle, dissolved minerals and CO2 combine to form what substance on the sea floor?
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CaCO3
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What happens to the oceans when the atmospheric concentration of CO2 increases?
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The oceanic CO2 concentration increases and the pH decreases.
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Which cycle on Earth sequesters the most carbon?
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The marine inorganic carbon cycle
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2CH2O = CO2 + CH4
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2CH2O = CO2 + CH4
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Which of the following is the chemical formula for respiration?
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CH2O + O2 = energy + CO2 + H2O
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What type of organism primarily comprises marine producers (autotrophes)?
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Phytoplankton
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Where is the marine ecosystem the most productive?
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In regions of deep upwelling
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How many times more dissolved carbon do oceanic reservoirs contain than atmospheric reservoirs?
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50 times
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What do we call a type of ecosystem classified by its climate?
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A biome
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ATOC 1060: EXAM 2