APES Unit 8 Notes
Global Climate Change
● Global Climate Change: changes in the average weather that occurs in an area over years or
decades
● Changes can be categorized as either natural or anthropogenic
○ Natural- El Nino occurring every 3-7 years
○ Anthropogenic- Combustion and deforestation contribute to global warming
The Greenhouse Effect
● The atmosphere is what prevents Earth’s temperature from wildly fluctuating between day and
night.
● The Greenhouse Effect: the absorption of outgoing radiation and subsequent re-emission of
radiation back to the Earth.
○ A natural process that is responsible for moderating the temperature of the Earth.
○ Without it, temperatures would plummet when the sun goes.
● The gases and clouds in the troposphere can limit the amount of radiation reaching Earth
○ and help moderate high temperatures.
● Certain gases in the troposphere absorb outgoing radiation and can re-emit that radiation
back to Earth leading to warming
○ prevents low-temperature extremes
● The Earth will use part of the absorbed energy to warm up. The Earth will release infrared
radiation.
○ Infrared radiation has a longer wavelength and lower energy.
● The infrared radiation that comes from the Earth can be absorbed by the greenhouse gases
in the troposphere.
Summary
● Greenhouse gasses absorb some of the energy and then re-radiate lower energy IR radiation in all
directions.
● Some of that re-radiated IR can be directed back to the Earth.
● This heats the Earth which allows lower energy infrared radiation to be given off by the Earth,
starting the above process over again.
Greenhouse Gases
● CO2 (carbon dioxide)
● CH4 (methane),
● H2O (water vapor)
● N2O (nitrous oxide)
● CFCs, and HFCs
Enhanced Greenhouse Effect
● Due to human activities, there is an increased ability of the atmosphere to warm the Earth.
Water Vapor
● Due to its abundance, water vapor has the greatest greenhouse effect out of all the greenhouse
gases.
● Global concentration has not changed over centuries so it is not viewed as a driving force behind
climate change.
Carbon Dioxide
● Carbon dioxide is the gas that has the greatest contribution to the enhanced greenhouse effect.
● The increase in CO2 comes largely from the burning of fossil fuels.
○ Combustion of the buried carbon adds new CO2 to the atmosphere.
● Demand for more land and housing has led to deforestation and increased atmospheric CO2.
○ Fewer trees = less atmospheric CO2 removed via photosynthesis
○ Removed trees decompose which releases their stored CO2.
● Overall, deforestation leads to an increase in atmospheric CO2 levels.
Methane
● Methane concentrations have risen
● The second most prevalent greenhouse gas emitted
● Due to:
○ Growing number of livestock is being raised
○ Increased rice production
○ Depositing waste in landfills
Nitrous Oxide
● Nitrous oxide (N2O) concentrations have risen
● Due to:
○ Agriculture
■ fertilizer use
■ Manure
○ auto emissions
Fluorinated Gas
● No natural sources
● HCFCs were developed as a substitute for ozone-depleting CFCs
● very high global warming potentials relative to other greenhouse gases
○ Small atmospheric concentrations can have disproportionately large effects on global
temperatures.
● Long atmospheric lifetimes
How to Gather Past Atmospheric Data
● Ice core/tree ring data can be used to analyze atmospheric composition.
● Ice core samples can be taken from Antarctica – each year new snowfall adds another layer to the
ice
○ Air bubbles trapped in the ice concentrations of greenhouse gases.
○ Temperatures can also be determined from isotope ratios
Climate Change Evidence
● Reliable weather since 1850
○ 2023 was the warmest year on record, by far
○ The 10 warmest years on record since 1850 have all occurred in the past decades
● Rising Global Temperatures
○ Each decade has been successively warmer
● Thinning Arctic Ice
○ Warmer temperatures lead to more ice-melting
○ Summer Arctic ice is thinning at a rate of 12.2% per decade
● Loss of Glaciers
● Sea Levels Rising
○ Sea levels rise due to increased ice melt and thermal expansion.
● Extreme Weather
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