Geo 324 Exam 3

What are the general steps involved when upgrading bitumen?

1) Hydrocarbons cracked at 500°C

2) Removing N & S (nitrogen and sulfur) while adding hydrogen through hydrogenation reactions

3) Transported over long distances between production stages

(oil sands get extracted, NG is added, and syncrude is produced)

What is the importance of boreal forests in the context of carbon storage?

Contains 47 metric tons of carbon per kilometer square, acting as a carbon sink.

What is reclamation debt?

The environmental disturbance difference between of disturbed and reclaimed land.

Are the carbon dioxide emissions from oil sand operations four times greater than those of conventional oil?

- The amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of oil sand operations can be equivalent to some GHG emissions of some conventional oil operations
- are greater for in situ operations relative to ex situ operations

What is the benefit of mixing diluent with bitumen when transporting bitumen via pipeline?

It will lower bitumen's viscosity, making it easier flow through pipelines and ultimately to transport.

Why was the clean-up of spilled dilbit at Kalamazoo more difficult than the clean-up of a conventional oil spill?

Lots of physical removal and dredging of waterways.

What is the difference between point source and nonpoint source polluters?

Point source are localized, stationary source of pollution
Nonpoint source are widely distributed and mobile source of pollution

What are the health impacts of PM2.5 exposure?

Smaller so it’s easier to ingest; absorbed into lung and cardiovascular tissues
-Premature death in people with heart or lung disease
-Irregular heartbeat
-Aggravated asthma
-Decreased lung function
-Increased respiratory irritation of the airways ⇒ coughing or difficulty breathing

How is carbon monoxide and NOx produced during combustion?

Carbon monoxide results from incomplete combustion of fossil fuels (incomplete oxidation) due to insufficient amounts of oxygen or fuel/air ratios
NOx results when atmospheric nitrogen becomes oxidized at high temperatures during fossil fuel combustion
- Catalytic converters and staged combustion reduce NOx emissions

When and how are the secondary pollutants produced in the daily smog cycle?

- Ozone happens when elemental oxygen (NO2 reacts with UV rays and producesNO and O during noon/early afternoon) reacts with O2
- PANs ⇐ R'O2 + NO2
-NO2 happens when NO emitted reacts with oxygen

What is the atmospheric lapse rate?

Rate of temperature decrease with altitude

What are the general chemical reactions that take place when acid deposition occurs on alkaline soils?

Nutrients (Ca or Mg) leached out of soil into ground water and adjacent surface water
Acidity is buffered ⇒ Al minerals unaffected

What are the general chemical reactions that take place when acid deposition occurs on acidic soils?

Nutrients (Ca and Mg) leached out of soil and Al (toxic) mobilized
Buildup of sulfates/nitrates in soils ⇒ soil pH decrease and continued acid input

How are tree species like the Red Spruce and Sugar Maple affected by acid deposition?

Red Spruce:
- Calcium leached from needle membranes ⇒ fall out
- Decreased cold tolerance
-Increased freezing injury
Sugar Maple:
-Calcium & magnesium leached from soil
- Aluminum mobilized and taken up by tree
-Root and function and nutrition impaired

In aquatic ecosystems, which level of the food web is sensitive to low pH?

Lower levels of food web are more intolerant of low pH than most higher levels

How are aquatic organisms in upper levels of the food web affected by acid deposition?

Aquatic organisms in upper levels get lower nutritional quality (ex: lower phosphorous content in lower food web species)

How did the cap-and-trade system implemented under the Clean Air Act Amendments help reduce SO2 emissions?

Market based solution encouraged use of low-S coal and technology, including scrubbers and fluidized bed combustion
-If not meeting cap, company must buy from other company to not be penalized

What is the definition of climate change?

Changes in average atmospheric conditions that persist over multiple decades or longer.
Climate change encompasses both increases and decreases in temperature, as well as shifts in precipitation, changing risk of certain types of severe weather events, and changes to other features of the climate system.

How do we know the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere started off as organic carbon and not inorganic carbon (e.g., carbon from volcanoes)?

- Negative when
■ Sample < Standard
■ Organic

- Positive when
■ Sample > Standard
■ Inorganic
- You know that the carbon coming from a volcano is organic and is typically -2 to -6 the carbon released from a volcano would be in this range.

Definition of Emissivity

■ The measure of an object's ability to emit infrared energy

Definition of Transmissivity

The degree to which a medium allows something, in particular
electromagnetic radiation, to pass through it

Definition of Reflectivity

■ The property of reflecting light or radiation, especially reflectance as measured independently of the thickness of a material

Roughly speaking, what does the Stephan Boltzmann radiation law describe?

○ Relationship between the rate of energy radiated by an object and the temperature of that object

What is the relationship between Earth’s absorption spectrum and the greenhouse effect?

The more sunlight a surface absorbs, the warmer it gets, and the more energy it re-radiates as heat. This re-radiated heat is then absorbed and re-radiated by greenhouse gases and clouds, and warm the atmosphere through the greenhouse effect.

Based on the model, how is temperature contrast between the surface and the atmosphere expected to change if global warming is due to an enhanced greenhouse effect?

○ Pre-industrial atmospheric temperature = 250.2 K
○ Industrial atmospheric temperature = 250.8K
○ Prediction = Greater temperature contrast between upper atmosphere and lower atmosphere if greenhouse gas concentration increases over time.

What climate variables can be directly measured from the ice core?

○ Counting time in the cores
■ Seasonal difference in the amount of precipitation received at ice sheets are manifested as layers
■ Ice layers are compacted near bottom of the core but annual layers are still visible

How are proxy data used to understand ancient climates?

○ Measurements taken from natural "recorders" of past climate serves as a substitute for climate data we would like to measure directly

How do the rates of temperature change during ancient climate events compare with the modern warming rate?

Global temperature changes due to tectonic forcing occur at rates 2-5 orders of magnitude less than modern warming

What are the major reservoirs of carbon in the global carbon cycle?

• Deep ocean
  Plants & soils
  Sediments & rock

What do results from open air experiments tell us about the future capacity of the terrestrial reservoir?

Combined effect of increased atmospheric CO2 and increased temperature is "antagonistic"

* combined effect on biomass accumulation less than effect of wither warming of increased CO2 alone
* potential for plant biomass saturation

What do results from soil experiments tell us about carbon saturation in soils?

Experimental incorporation of organic carbon in agricultural soils indicates soils will become saturated in organic carbon on timescales of 50 -150 years

How is climate change expected to affect thermohaline circulation?

global warming and associated climate change expected to increase temps and precipitation at poles
warmer, buoyant water will sink at deep ocean at a slower rate
* physical carbon pump in ocean will slow down potentially by 60%

What is the link between chemical weathering and the lithosphere reservoir for carbon?

Atmospheric carbon dioxide takes on the form of carbonic acid. When this carbonic acid falls on silicate minerals they experience chemical weathering

What is solar radiation management (SRM) and commonly proposed SRM techniques?

SRM: ways to increase reflectivity of atmosphere/surface
* space reflectors
* atmospheric aerosols
* albedo modifications

What are commonly proposed ways to perform carbon cycle management?

reforestation
biochar and soil carbon sequestration
* ocean fertilization
* bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration
* enhanced weathering
* direct air capture

What is the premise behind ocean fertilization as a geoengineering technique?

increase rate of transfer of atmospheric CO2 into ocean surface waters and then into deep

* speed up biological component of the ocean CO2 pump by trapping more CO2 in organic carbon and letting it settle to ocean depths

What is the premise behind enhanced chemical weathering with olivine?

Increased absorption of CO2 in soil enhanced with olivine minerals, olivine is unstable and the resulting reaction will store CO2.
Three Applications:
* land-based
* ocean-based
* In situ

How does the extent of mining uranium compare to that of coal?

○ Coal
■ Fuel Consumption - 360 Tons coal per hour
■ Land Use - 17,000 acres
○ Nuclear
■ Fuel Consumption - 30 tons per year of uranium
■ Land Use - 1,900 acres

How do the carbon dioxide emissions and air pollution of a nuclear power plant compare with those of a coal power plant?

○ Coal
■ Air Pollutants - 400,000 tons per year
■ Carbon Dioxide - 1,000 tons per hour
○ Nuclear
■ Air Pollutants - 6,000 tons per year
■ Carbon Dioxide - 2 tons per hour

How is most of the nuclear waste in the U.S. stored?

○ 70,000 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel stored at operating and shutdown reactor sites in the US

What geological characteristics of Yucca Mountain made it attractive for long-term nuclear waste storage?

○ Potential to contain 70,000 tonnes of nuclear waste for thousands of years
○ Low permeability material