Environmental

Sciences – CHY1002
module 7

Dr. Krishnendu Biswas

krishnendu.biswas@vit.ac.in
#2, 1st floor annex
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Module-7 Global Climatic Change and
Mitigation
Climate disruption, Green house effect, Ozone
layer depletion and Acid rain. Kyoto protocol,
Carbon credits, Carbon sequestration methods
and Montreal Protocol. Role of Information
technology in environment-Case Studies
Climate disruption - Green House
effect
 GHGs

Change in dipole
moment – IR active

H2O (36-72%), CO2

(9-26%), CH4 (4-9%),
N2O, O3 (3-7%),
CFCs

Global warming potential (GWP) – relative ability
of one molecule of a given greenhouse gas to
contribute to global warming.

CO2 concentration – 33% past 200 years.

Burning of fossil fuels, deforestation
 Impacts of Enhanced Green
House effect

Global temperature increase – 1.5-5.5 °C by 2050

Rise in sea level – 3 °C rise – 0.2-1.5 m rise – 50-

100 years

Effects on human health – change in rainfall

pattern – vector borne diseases

Effect on agriculture – 2 °C rise harmful to crops

– soil moisture decrease - pest growth increase
Measures to check Global warming

Cut down current rate of use of CFCs and fossil
fuels

Use energy more efficiently

Renewable energy resources

Coal
natural gas, methane to be trapped as

fuel

Stabilize population growth

Plant more trees

 Kyoto Protocol
Kyoto Protocol (1997) – Developed nations are legally
bound to reduce green house gas emissions

By 2012, reduce 6 GHGs (CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs &

SF6) to 5.2% below 1990 levels
 Implementation

Possible measures
◦ Enhancing energy efficiency
◦ Protecting/enhancing GHG sinks
◦ Promoting sustainable agriculture
◦ Promoting renewable energy and
environmentally friendly technologies
◦ Tackling transport sector emissions

Innovative mechanisms
◦ Joint implementation,
◦ Clean development mechanism (CDM)
◦ Emissions trading

Maximize the cost-effectiveness of climate change
 Carbon credits

Certificates to countries which reduce GHG
emissions

Certified emission reductions (CERs) –
1 carbon credit = 1 tonne of CO2

Carbon trading – Kyoto protocol

Developed countries that have exceeded the
levels can either cut down emissions, or
borrow or buy carbon credits from
developing countries.
 Carbon credits are always
expressed in terms of
‘carbon dioxide
Greenhouse Gas Global Warming equivalence’ (CO2e)
(GHG) Potential (GWP)

Carbon dioxide 1 e.g. 1 tonne of CO2 = 1

tCO2e
Methane 21 (= 1 carbon credit = 1
CER)
Nitrous oxide 310
e.g. 2 tonnes of CH4 = 42
Perfluorocarbons 6,500 – 9,200 tCO2e
(= 42 carbon credits = 42
Hydrofluorocarbo CERs)
140 – 11,700
ns
Sulphur
23,900 e.g. 2 tonnes of SF6 =
hexafluoride
47,800 tCO2e
(= 47,800 carbon credits
13 = 47.8 kCERs)
Clean development mechanism

CDM – GHG exchange program
 Carbon sequestration

Carbon capture – Geo-engineering technique for the
long-term storage of CO2

Ways of storing
◦ In plants and soil - Terrestrial sequestration (carbon sinks)
 Photosynthesis – stored as biomass – depends on species
of tree, type of soil, regional climate, topography &
management practice
◦ Underground - Geological sequestration
 Rock formations - retain large amounts of CO2 over a
long time period - Held in small pore spaces
◦ Deep in ocean - Ocean sequestration
 Direct injection into the deep ocean involves the capture,
separation, transport, and injection of CO2 from land or
tankers
◦ As a solid material (under development)
Contd…
Contd…
 Ozone depletion

Reduction in Ozone concentrations
 Ozone – UV absorber

Ozone formation
◦ O2 hν O+O
◦ O2 + O O3

Distributes in stratosphere convert back to
oxygen
hν
◦ O3 O2 + O

Equilibrium concentration -10 ppm – 40 km

Dobson units (DU) – 1DU = 0.01 mm thickness
at 1 atm

Temperate – 250 DU, tropics – 250 DU, polar
450 DU
 Thinning of ozone layer

Antarctic ozone hole – Dr. Joe C. Farman (1957) – 90 DU in Oct ‘93

CFCs main reason – CFC-11, CFC-12 – Stratosphere – 65-110 yrs
O3 + Cl
O2 + ClO
ClO + O
Cl + O2
Cl
O3 + O
2O2

HCl and ClONO2 – inactive

Water droplets entering polar vertices during winter (-90°C) – ice
crystals
ClONO2(g) + HCl(s)
Cl2(g) + HNO3(s)
ClONO2(g) + H2O(s)
HOCl(g) + HNO3(s)
HOCl(g) + HCl(s)
Cl2(g) + H2O(s)
hν
HOCl(g)
Cl(g) + OH(g)
hν
Cl2(g)
2Cl(g)

Antarctic is more effected than Arctic (10-25%)
 Effects of ozone depletion

More UV-B rays (290-320 nm) – affect DNA –
mutation and cancer

Increase in cataract

Melanin will be destroyed

Phytoplanktons population decrease

Vital crops like corn, rice, cotton etc yield decrease

Degradation of paints, plastics – economic losses

Montreal protocol

Protect the ozone layer – treaty signed in Sept 1987
– effective since 1989

Adherence to the treaty – recovery by 2050

Different phase out schedules for MDCs and LDCs
– 191 countries signed

ODS (ozone depleting substances) - Cl, Br
containing compounds, CFCs –
◦ CFC-12 (aka R-12 or F-12), Halon1301, CCl4, CH3CCl3,
HCFC-22, HBFCs, CH2ClBr, CH3Br
Approaches:
 Production Control
 Consumption Control
 Trade, Import, export and re-import control
 Adaptation to Ozone Friendly technology
 Training and Capacity Building
 Acid rain

Oxides of S, N from industrials and fossil fuels

Rain water pH <5.6 – acidic

H2SO4 (major), HNO3, other acids

Urban areas – Ca2+, Mg2+, NH4+ neutralize

Absence of rain – dry deposition – surface of
water bodies, vegetation, soil – dissolve as acid

Acid droplets – nuclei for water condensation

Kodaikanal – 5.18

Minicoy – 5.52

Mohanbari – 5.5
 Effects

Below pH 5.1 most harmful
◦ Deterioration of buildings mainly marble made – The
Taj Mahal
◦ Damage stone statues (Greece, Italy)
◦ Metals and car finishes
◦ Aquatic life badly affected - Al, Hg, Mn, Zn, Pb leak due
to acidity
◦ Damage foliage and weaken trees

Control
◦ Pollution control equipments to control NO2, SO2
from industries
◦ Liming of lakes
◦ Inert polymer coating – inside of drinking water pipes
 IT in environment and human health

Database on environment and health – distribution
information centres (DICs)

Ministry of environment and forests – compiling a database
on various biotic communities

Environmental Information System (ENVIS, 1982) – 85
ENVIS nodes planned 81 established – database on pollution
control, clean technologies, remote sensing, coastal ecology,
biodiversity, Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats,
environmental management, media related to environment,
renewable energy, desertification mangroves, wildlife,
Himalayan ecology, mining etc.

Major objectives
◦ Build up a repository and dissemination centre
◦ Gear up modern technologies of acquiring, processing, storage,
retrieval of environmental info.
◦ Support and promote research, development and innovation in
environmental information technology
◦ Provide information relevant to present needs and capable to
development to meet future needs

National Management Information System
(NMIS) – DST, R&D projects along with
information about research scientists and
personnel involved

Geographical Information system (GIS) – satellite
imageries – info about physical and biological
resources, state of degradation through remote
sensing.

GIS – very effective tool in environmental
management – superimposing various thematic
maps using digital data on a large number of
inter-related or inter-dependent aspects.

Applications of GIS
◦ Useful for future land-use planning
◦ Interpretations of polluted zones, degraded lands or
diseased cropland etc
◦ Planning for locating suitable areas for industrial
growth – zoning atlas
◦ Check unplanned growth and related environmental
problems
◦ Information about forest cover, success of
conservation efforts etc.
◦ Atmospheric information – monsoon approach, ozone
layer depletion, inversion phenomena, smog etc
◦ Explore new reserves of oil, minerals etc.
◦ Identifying several disease-infested areas which are
prone to some vector/water-borne diseases like
malaria, cholera etc.
Remote sensing – how it works?

#Google Image
#Google Image
WWW
End of module 7
END OF SYLLABUS!!