Chapters 17 and 18. * Layers of the atmosphere * Pressure and Humidity * Solar energy and its role in creating seasons and air circulation * Role of.

Chapters 17 and 18

*Atmosphere Resources

*Air Pollution

*Review Atmosphere Basics*Layers of the atmosphere

*Pressure and Humidity

*Solar energy and its role in creating seasons and air circulation

*Role of atmosphere in creating weather and climate

*Cold fronts, warm fronts

*High pressure systems, low pressure systems

*Large Scale circulation patterns (Hadley, Feral, Polar Cells)

*Global wind patterns

*Threats from storms (hurricanes, tornadoes)

*Air Pollution

*Air pollution: the release of air pollutants

*Sources

*Developing Countries: wood fires,

* Industrialized Countries

* coal-burning power plants, cars, industry

* Outdoor (Ambient) Air Pollution is highly regulated in industrialized nations

*Natural Sources

* Volcanic eruptions: aerosols form when sulfur dioxide reacts with water and oxygen to form fine droplets, this can cool the atmosphere and surface of the planet

* Fires: influenced by humans, but happen naturally

*Winds

*Largest problem today (for industrialized nations) may be our release of greenhouse gasses which contribute to global climate change

*Examples: carbon dioxide, methane

*Outdoor Air Pollution*Point versus Non-point sources

*Primary versus Secondary Pollutants

*Soot, carbon monoxide

*Ozone, sulfuric acid

*Residence Time

* Sketch a graph showing the residence time of the following substances:

Ozone, CO, CO2, CFC’s, SO2, NO2, NO, NH3

*Clean Air Legislation*Air Pollution Control Act of 1955

*Clean Air Act of 1963

*Research funding and emissions standards for cars/stationary point sources

*Clean Air Act of 1970

*Stricter standards, added mobile point sources, provided funds for control/research, allowed citizens to sue violators

*Clean Air Act of 1990

*Strengthens regulations on acid deposition, ozone depletion, auto emissions, introduced emissions trading program for sulfur dioxide and other pollutants

*Regulated by:

*EPA which sets national standards for emissions and concentrations

*States which monitor, implement and enforce regulations

*EPA’s Criteria Pollutants

National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)

*Carbon monoxide

*Colorless, odorless gas from incomplete combustion of fuel

* From cars (78%), combustion of waste, industrial processes, wood burning

*Binds to hemoglobin in RBC and prevents it from binding with oxygen

*Sulfur dioxide

*Colorless gas with a pungent odor

* From the combustion of coal in electric power plants (sulfur in coal reacts with oxygen to form SO2)

*Once in the air, it can reach to form SO3 AND H2SO4 which settles as acid deposition

*Nitrogen dioxide

*Reactive, foul smelling red/brown gas, NOX

*Contributes to smog and acid deposition

*Result when nitrogen and oxygen react in combustion engine, or combustion in industrial or electrical combustion

*EPA’s Criteria Pollutants

National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)

* Tropospheric ozone (ground level ozone)

* Not the same a ozone in the stratosphere

* Colorless gas with a slight odor that comes from the interaction of sunlight, heat, NOX, and volatile carbon compounds (Secondary pollutant)

* O3 looses an oxygen atom that can injure living tissue and cause breathing problems

* Most common pollutant to exceed EPA standards, must measure VOC’s

* http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/visual/animation.php?shortname=anm_ozone_production

* Particulate matter

* Solids or liquids small enough to be suspended in the atmosphere

* Includes primary (dust, soot) and secondary (sulfates, nitrates) pollutants

* Can cause respiratory damage when inhaled

* Lead

* Heavy metal, particulate pollutant from gasoline additives, now banned in the United States

* Accumulates in the food chain (bioaccumulation) and causes problems with the central nervous system

*Current picture of the United States*Technology and Policy go hand in hand

*Total emission have declined by 60% since the 1970’s Clean Air Act

*Despite an increase in population, energy consumption, miles traveled and GDP

*Carbon emission have increased 44% in that same time

*Technology

*Baghouse filters

*Electrostatic precipitators

*Scrubbers

*188 toxic pollutants (cancer, reproductive, neurological, developmental, immune, respiratory problems) are also now regulated

*Scrubber VideoWatch the following video and use your textbook to diagram how a scrubber works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGNa5pioGUg&feature=related (2:24)

*Industrializing and Rural Areas*Industrializing nations

*Increasing air pollution from growing numbers of factories and power plants

*Little government regulation

*Traditional sources of fuel

*Rural Areas

*Drift from farms and industries

*Feedlots

*Methane, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia

*Smog

*Our most common air quality problem is industrial smog from carbon and sulfur combustion

*Photochemical smog is formed when sunlight drives the chemical reactions that turn primary pollutants and normal atmospheric compounds into smog

*Ozone action days

*Reduction

*Vehicle emission inspection programs (34 states)

*Diagram the formation of smog

Industrial smog

Photochemical smog

*Ozone*This is what is often referred to as the “hole” in the ozone layer, it is actually a depletion of stratospheric ozone

*Man made halocarbons (most commonly chlorofluorocarbons or CFC’s)

*One free chlorine can destroy 100,000 ozone molecules

*Antarctic hole appears each spring

*Montreal Protocol addressed this problem

http://ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov/

*Acid Deposition

*Acid or acid-forming pollutants can land on the Earth’s surface

* This can be from rain, fog, gases, or dry particles

* Is affected by the pH of the deposition and the acid-neutralizing capability of the substrate

* Impacts

* Leaching of nutrients from topsoil (calcium, magnesium, potassium) when H+ take the place of these ions and they move to the subsoil

*Mobilization of toxic metals (aluminum, zinc, mercury, copper) that can be taken up by plants and kill trees

*Acidification of waterways from runoff can lead to the death of fish

*Addressing the problem

* Scrubbers

*Indoor Air Pollution*Generally in higher concentration than outdoor air

pollution

* 2-3 million deaths per year worldwide

* The average U.S. citizen spends 90% of their time indoors

* Sources

* Burning fuelwood

* Tobacco smoke

* Radon

* VOC’s

* Plastics

* Perfumes

* Carpets

* Copy machines

* New car smell

* Pesticides

* Living thins (dust, mold, fungi)

* Sick Building Syndrome

*Global Climate Change

7 STUPID THINGS PEOPLE SAY ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kellyoakes/7-stupid-things-people-say-about-climate-change-that-arent-a

*Climate is dynamic

*What is climate?

*What is the difference between global climate change and global warming?

*Factors that regulate climate (which are most important?)

* Sun

*Atmosphere

*Oceans

*Movement of planet in space

*Factors that warm the lower atmosphere

*Greenhouse gases: water, ozone, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, halocarbons

*Greenhouse effect (anthropogenic intensification)

* http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/visual/animation.php?shortname=anm_greenhouse_effect

*Global Warming PotentialGreenhouse Gas Relative Heat

Trapping ability (equivalent to CO2)

Carbon dioxide 1

Methane 25

Nitrous oxide 298

HFC 14,800

• Carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas that we are most concerned about• Why?

* Where do our increased greenhouse gasses come from?

*Carbon dioxide (280ppm in 1700 to 389ppm in 2010)

*Where should most of it be? Where/why is it moving?

*Burning fossil fuels

*Clearing/burning forests (2x the harm….why?)

*Methane (2.5 time more now than 1700)

*Fossil fuels

*Livestock

*Landfills

*Some crops (rice)

*Nitrous oxide (18% more than 1750)

*Feedlots

*Chemical manufacturing

*Cars

*Fertilizers

*Ozone (36% more than 1750)

*Photochemical smog

*Graph the change in greenhouse gasses over the

last 2000 years(include CO2, CH4, N20, H20, O3)

*Feedback loops

*What is a positive feedback loop?

*What is a negative feedback loop?

*As tropospheric temperatures increase, bodies of water on Earth should increase rates of evaporation, leading to more water in the atmosphere.

*Is this a positive or negative feedback loop?

*How do aerosols and water vapor differ in their impact on temperature?

*How do we measure change?*Radiative Forcing: The amount of change in thermal

energy that a given factor causes

*Positive forcing means…..

*Negative forcing means……

*Natural rate: 342 watts/m2

*Estimated change since 1750: 1.6 watts/m2

*What factors influence climate?

*Atmospheric conditions

*Milankovitch Cycles

*Axial Wobble = Variation of Tilt

*Solar Output

*Ocean Absorption

*Ocean Circulation

*How do we study climate change?

*Past: Paleoclimates

*Proxy indicators

* Ice cores: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr02VF3ralc

*Pollen grains

*Tree rings

*Pack rat middens

*Present

*Direct Measurements

*Thermometers, rain gauge, anemometers, barometers, computers

*Charles Keeling, 1958, Mauna Loa Observatory

*Only about a century of data

*Future

*Modeling

*Who monitors what is changing*Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

*Established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)N

*Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for its work in informing the world of trends and impacts of climate change

*2007 was the last time they released a report (their 4th Assessment Report)

*Major trends observed and predicted

*Global physical indicators

*Regional physical indicators

*Social indicators

*Biological indicators

*What is changing?*Temperatures are rising

*Precipitation is changing

*Ice and Snow are melting (this has far reaching impacts)

*Sea levels are rising

* Coral reefs are threatened

*Organisms and ecosystems are affected

*Humans are affected

*Agriculture

*Forestry

*Health

*Economics

*Impacts will vary regionally

*This drive some of the debate between scientists

*Changes in the United States*U.S. Global Research Program

*Created by congress in 1990 to coordinate federal research, reviewed in 1990

*Major predictions

* Average rise of 2.2-6.1 degrees Celsius (4-11 F) by the end of the century

*Worse droughts and floods

* Longer growing seasons and higher CO2 levels will favor crops, but drought, heat, pests and disease will decrease most yields

* Snowpack decrease in West, water shortages worsen

* Colder weather illness decline, heat related problems will increase

* Tropical diseases will spread north

* Sea level will rise and storm surge will erode beaches and destroy wetlands and real estate

* Alpine ecosystems and barrier islands will begin to vanish

*Droughts, fire, and pets will alter forests (loss of sugar maples, some replacement of forest with grasslands and/or deserts)

*Melting permafrost will hinder Alaskan buildings and roads

*Are we responsible?*Its all about greenhouse gasses……..

*“Climategate”

*How should we respond?*Mitigation: pursue actions that reduce greenhouse gas

emission to lessen the severity of climate change

*Energy efficiency, renewable/clean energy sources

*Adaptation: pursue strategies to minimize the impacts of climate change on us

*Flood walls in the Maldives

2004 Pacala and Socolow projection

2011 Pacala and Socolow update

*What should we be doing?

* http://www.upworthy.com/one-guy-with-a-marker-just-made-the-global-warming-debate-completely-obsolete-7

Click icon to add picture

Pascala and Socolow: “When the job is too big, break it into small parts!”

*Where do our emissions come from?*Electricity Generation

*Largest source of U.S. greenhouse gasses

* Issues of conservation and efficiency

*Current sources of electricity?

*Potential new sources?

*Carbon capture/sequestration

*Transportation

*2nd largest source of U.S. greenhouse gasses

*Automotive technology is in place

*Consumer choices

*Other ways to reduce emissions?

*Agriculture

*Forestry

*waste management

*Policies and Regulation*Kyoto Protocol

*1992, U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC)

*Voluntary, nation-by-nation approach

*1997, mandatory outgrowth that required signatory nations to reduce emissions to pre 1990 levels

*U.S. refused to sign and remains the only developed nation to not sign, they say this is because of the inequality between developed and developing nations

*Copenhagen Conference

*2009, inteneded to be a successor to the Kyoto Protocol

*Never formally adopted

*States and Cities

*In the U.S. there is no federal action, so 1000 citites in all 50 states have signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement

*Economic Questions*Will emission cuts hurt the economy?

*Can market mechanisms address climate change?

*Cap and Trade Emission

*Carbon taxes

*Carbon offsets and Carbon neutrality

*Will it just take the action of caring citizens who want to reduce their carbon footprint?