Climate Change, Green House

Effect

Let’s review last week: sometimes Venus, Earth and

Mars are called the Goldilocks planets
 Compare these Three:
Venus Earth Mars

Temp at surface 880 F 59 F -58 F

Pressure at surface ~ 90 atmospheres 1 atmosphere 0.007 atmospheres

(14.7 lbs/sq in)
Atmosphere CO2 and sulfuric Nitrogen, oxygen, CO2, nitrogen
composition acid clouds water vapor clouds,
Dist. from sun 0.7 A.U. 1 A.U. 1.5 A.U.

One word description?

Let’s look at atmosphere more carefully:

Venus Earth Mars
Carbon Dioxide: Nitrogen: 78% Carbon Dioxide:
96% 95%
Oxygen: 21 %
Nitrogen: 3.5% Nitrogen: 3%
Argon: 0.9%
Argon: 2%
Water: > 1%
Carbon Dioxide:
0.004% *
 How did Venus get so hot?
A planet with an atmosphere
Solar
radiation The greenhouse gases
comes in reradiate. Some of
the energy goes
towards the surface.

Greenhouse gases Planetary

radiation goes
out, but gets
absorbed

Planetary surface
 In class, or lab exercise: Greenhouse effect
Go to http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/greenhouse
How do greenhouse gases naturally get into the atmosphere?

Water: evaporation

CO2: vaporization of rocks,

release from volcanos,
vaporization of biotic material
(like fossil fuels), respiration

Methane: release from earth,

biology (bacteria, cows, rice)
1. Volcanos brought up gas trapped in rock

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2. Comets hitting the young earth brought
water, water vapor and carbon dioxide.

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3. Earth developed an oxygen atmosphere from plant life

What is happening to the atmosphere today? 9

Report on Global
Climate Change – “Warming of the climate system
IPCC 2013* is unequivocal, and since the
1950s, many of the observed
changes are unprecedented over
decades to millennia. The
atmosphere and ocean have
warmed, the amounts of snow
and ice have diminished, sea
level has risen, and the
concentrations of greenhouse
gases have increased .”

* Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: A total of 209 Lead

Authors and 50 Review Editors from 39 countries and more than
600 Contributing Authors from 32 countries contributed to the
preparation
 Articles published in peer review journals support
idea that this is happening, and that it is caused by
humans

Peer review, or refereed: article has been anonymously

approved by another expert in the field before publication
Global warming: a look at the data

These temperatures are derived from different methods

CO2 levels in ppm (parts per million)
Class exercise with Mauna Loa (top of volcano in Hawaii) data:
Plotting some data on the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere

Date CO2 (ppm) Each team will plot one yea

r’s worth of CO2 data
 Group #
395 ______
394
393
392
391
390
CO2 Concentration (ppm)

389
388
387
386
385
384
383
382
381
380
379
378
377
376
375
July

July

July

July

July

July

July
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Various effects of climate change today
Summary of effects:
Shrinking ice Sea level
sheets rise

Declining
arctic ice Global
temperature
rise

Melting
Warming
glaciers
oceans
What can we do to reverse this?

Currently, 30% of both the US House and Senate are on

record as denying climate change, or its importance.

Solution requires many nations to address the problem:

China in particular
What can we do…
•Buy more fuel efficient cars and trucks,
do less driving, do more car pooling, use
CFL (compact fluorescent) light bulbs,
use solar cooker…
•Develop Solar power on homes
•Burn less coal (which creates much of
our electricity)
•Develop alternative energy: wind,
nuclear
•What are your ideas?
 Take away message:
Earth’s temperature is increasing
because carbon dioxide concentration is
increasing.
All evidence is that this is caused by
human activity.

Lecture tutorial, Greenhouse effect

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Index: Change in earth’s temperature

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