APES final/ap exam studyguide

Factors Affecting Climate

• Solar radiation

  • UV

  • Infrared

  • Visible

• Atmosphere

• Oceans

• Land albedo

• Aerosols

  • Soot: warms the atmosphere since it’s black

  • Sulfates: cools since it reflects light

Greenhouse Effect

• Solar radiation hits Earth’s surface

• Radiation absorbed by molecules

• The radiation speeds up molecules which makes them warm up, emitting infrared radiation. This is why things get warm on the surface

• GHG absorb and re-emit infrared radiation back to the surface

  • Warms atmosphere and surface

  • Infrared energy is emitted by the molecules on the surface, and the ghg absorbs and re-emits it back to the surface

Radiative forcing

Ability to absorb energy

Water Vapor (Greenhouse Gas)

• H2O

• Most abundant greenhouse gas in our atmosphere

• No anthropogenic source

• Warm temperatures -> increase H2O (Positive feedback loop)

Carbon Dioxide (Greenhouse Gas)

• CO2

• Second most abundant

• Anthropogenic

• Greatest radiative forcing

• Comes from burning fossil fuels

Also comes from deforestation

Nitrous Oxide (Greenhouse Gas)

• N2O

• Comes from feedlots, the waste

• Also comes from synthetic fertilizers

• Factories (Coal, oil)

• Contribute to photochemical smog

Methane (Greenhouse Gas)

• CH4

• Fastest growing greenhouse gas

• Livestock are a huge contributor of methane

• Burning fossil fuels

• Landfills, anaerobic respiration

• Growing rice, anaerobic respiration

Ozone (Greenhouse Gas)

• O3

• Heat combustion + UV

• Photochemical smog

Halocarbons (Greenhouse Gas)

• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC)

• 100% anthropogenic

• Aerosol can propellants

• Coolants, refrigerants

• Highest GW

Charles Keeling

Back In 1958, he measured atmospheric CO2 levels. This was a direct piece of evidence to climate change

Proxy Indicators (Evidence to climate change)

• Extract air from ice sheet and glaciers

• Drills cores into underwater sediment

• Tree rings

  • Width of tree ring = growth

  • The wider the ring is, the more the tree grew during that ring

Solutions to Climate Change

• Electricity

• Transportation

• Agriculture

• Forestry

• Waste management

• UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) 1992

• Kyoto Protocol 1997

• Paris Agreement 2015

• Cap and trade

• Carbon offset

Coal

• Most abundant fossil fuel

• Woody plant material

• Few decomposers present

• 50% of US electricity

• Dirtiest fossil fuel

• Coal combustion converts water to steam, which turns turbines to create electricity

Peat

• Precursor of coal

• Wet, near surface

• Not well compressed

Types of Coal

• Lignite

• Sub bituminous

• Bituminous

• Anthracite

  • Most expensive and powerful coal

Strip Mining

• Near surface

• Removes soil

• Damages vegetation

• Soil erosion

• Habitat loss

• Air, water, noise pollution

Subsurface mining

• Dig deep tunnels

• Less surface disruption

• Acid mine drainage

• Hazardous for miners

• You get the high energy coal and don’t alter the surface too much

Pollutants of Coal

• Sulfur

• Mercury

• CH4

• CO/CO2

• NOx

• Particulate matter

Petroleum

• Most used fossil fuel since 1960s

• Amounts for about 37% of global energy

• Used to make gasoline, plastics, cosmetics, and fabrics

• Formed from marine organisms

Oil Extraction

• Primary extraction

  • Natural pressure of the drilling is used to push out oil

• Secondary extraction

  • Water pumped under oil rock to increase pressure

  • Oil rock is just some rock shit that holds oil

Oil Refining

• 1. Distillation

  • Boiling oil to separate by heavy or light oils

  • Separated by length

  • Heavy is used for plastics and fabrics

• 2. Remove contaminants

  • Scrubbers

Fossil Fuels

• Burn → Heat boils H2O → Steam → Turns turbines → Electricity

• Highly combustible

• Formed from the anaerobic decomposition of organic tissue

• Produced by anaerobic decomposition

• Coal, oil, natural gas

Oil Pollutants

• CO/CO2

• CH4

• NOx

• Particulate matter

• (a little bit cleaner than coal, still shit tho)

Oil Extraction Harms

• Habitat loss

• Erosion 

• Oil spills

• Water contamination