Week #12: Course Review

GEOG1003
Week Date Coursework Topics Lectures

1 01-Sep Introduction Introduction to global environmental issues

#1 released
2 08-Sep Climate Change Introduction to climate change
(Due 22-Sep)

3 15-Sep Climate Change Causes of climate change

4 22-Sep Climate Change Climates of the past

5 29-Sep Climate Change Global atmospheric change
Progress Report
6 06-Oct Climate Change Consequences of climate change
(Due 20-Oct)
7 13-Oct NO CLASS! Reading Week
#2 released
8 20-Oct Water resources crisis Water resources and pollution
(Due 3-Nov)
9 27-Oct Overpopulation Overpopulation and urbanization

10 03-Nov Air/land pollution Air pollution, acid deposition, land pollution

11 10-Nov Natural hazards Earthquake and tsunami

12 17-Nov Natural hazards Thunderstorm, tornado and hurricane

Final Project
13 24-Nov Course review Course review
(Due 3-Dec)
14 01-Dec NO CLASS! Revision Period
 GEOG1003
Objectives
This course introduces a number of major
global environmental issues and links them to
contemporary socio-economic and political
considerations while maintaining a
geographical perspective.
Week #1: An Introduction
Components of Ecosphere
 United Nations List of Global Issues

“climate change is the single biggest threat to

human welfare in the 21st century”

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 Global Climate
Change

• Identifiable change in the climate of

Earth as a whole that lasts for an
extended period of time (decades or
longer)
– When due to natural processes, it is usually
referred to as climate variability or natural
climate change.
– Nowadays often refers to changes forced
by human activities.
Where To Set A Station To Measure CO2?
Week #2: Introducing Climate Change
 Weather vs. Climate
• Weather refers to the state of the atmosphere at a
given time and place. It is constantly changing,
sometimes from hour to hour and other times from
day to day.
• Weather systems arise mainly due to atmospheric
instabilities, the evolution of which is governed by
non-linear chaotic dynamics.
• That is why weather is not really predictable beyond
a week or two into the future.
 Elements of Weather

The most important elements are:

(1) air temperature (hot/cold…)
(2) air humidity (dry/wet)
(3) cloudiness, type and amount of
(4) precipitation, type and amount of
(5) air pressure (High clear sky, fair weather; Low  cloudy,
rainy)
(6) wind, speed and direction of (air movement)
 Weather vs. Climate
• Weather refers to the state of the atmosphere at a
given time and place. It is constantly changing,
sometimes from hour to hour and other times from
day to day.
• Climate is the average of daily weather parameters
over many years (typically >30yrs) and characterizes
seasons as well as geography.
Climate = What you expect Climatology, Climatologist
Weather = What you get Meteorology, Meteorologist
Climate tells what clothes to BUY, but
weather tells you what clothes to WEAR.
 Weather vs. Climate
• Interactions between weather & climate.
• Their status are not fixed (i.e., changeable).
 Global Warming vs. Climate Change
• “Climate change” and “global warming” are often used
interchangeably but have distinct meanings.
• Climate change refers to a broad range of global phenomena caused
predominantly by burning fossil fuels, which add heat-trapping
gases to Earth’s atmosphere. These phenomena include
temperature increase described by global warming, and encompass
other changes such as sea level rise, snow/ice melting, more
drought/flood and extreme weather.
• Global warming refers only to the Earth’s rising surface
temperature, while climate change includes warming and the “side
effects” of warming.
• What is the physical explanation for global warming?
• Why are there seasonal cycles in the atmospheric CO2 concentration?
• Why can scientists use ice cores to study past CO2 concentration and
temperature change?
• Why could global warming cause the increase in both droughts and floods?
• Why are polar regions experiencing faster global warming?
Week #3: Causes of Climate Change
 What causes climate to change?
Climate forcing: A factor that can cause climate to change.
 External Forcing:
The agent of change is outside of the Earth’s climate
system.

 Internal Forcing:
The agent of change is
within the Earth’s climate
system itself (i.e., natural
changes in the
components of the climate
system and their
interactions).
 External forcing affects the total energy
received. Internal forcing mostly affects
the inside energy distribution. Schematic of the Climate System from IPCC Report 2007
External Forcings:

 Variations in solar output

 Orbital variations

 Volcanic eruptions

 Continent Drift

 Meteors

 Greenhouse Gases (to the extent that they are not

part of the climate system itself)
 Climate Change and Variations in Solar Output

The Maunder Minimum was not unique.

Is the Sun causing global warming?

Figure 1: Global temperature (red, NASA GISS) and Total solar

irradiance (blue, 1880 to 1978 from Solanki, 1979 to 2009
from PMOD).
Orbital changes
 Milankovitch theory:
 Variations in the Earth’s orbit
– Changes in shape of the earth’s orbit around sun:
 Eccentricity (100,000 & 413,000 years)
– Changes in the tilt of earth’s axis:
 Obliquity (41,000 years)
– Wobbling of the earth’s axis of rotation:
 Precession (26,000 years)
Is orbital forcing causing global warming

• Cycles in the Earth's orbit happen so slowly that they

cannot account for the rapid warming we are seeing
today.
• The current position of the Earth's orbit should result
in cooler temperatures, but instead, the opposite is
happening.
Volcanic Eruptions and Climate Change

 An eruption can cause warming and cooling.

• An addition of carbon dioxide contributes to
greenhouse warming.
• An addition to sulfurous gases induces cooling,
because they turn into droplets of sulfuric acid that
absorb and reflect sunlight, and cut down the
amount of heat that reaches the ground.
 But most documented cases show a net
cooling effect.
Volcanic Eruptions and Climate Change

 Volcanic particles can cause occurrences

such as:
• Global cooling
• Ice ages
• Mass extinctions
Contribution of each GHG to greenhouse effect

• In order, the most abundant greenhouse • Ranked by their direct

gases in Earth's atmosphere are: contribution to the GH effect

Gas Contribution(%)
H2O 36 – 72%
CO2 9 – 26%
CH4 4 – 9%
O3 3 – 7%
N2 O 1 – 4%

• Water vapor accounts for the largest percentage of the GH effect

(Then why we are not much concerned?)
• The residence time of water vapor in the air is only nine days.
• Human activity does not significantly affect water vapor concentration at the
global scale.
• The atmospheric concentration of water vapor depends largely on
temperature (high temp-->more water vapor).
Why global warming will continue even if GHG emissions
are cut down dramatically?
• Atmospheric lifetime: The residence time of a gas in the air

Chemical Lifetime GWP for given time horizon

Gas name
formula (years)
20-yr 100-yr 500-yr
Carbon
CO2 30-95 1 1 1
dioxide
Methane CH4 12 72 25 7.6

Nitrous oxide N2O 114 289 298 153

CFC-12 CCl2F2 100 11 000 10 900 5 200

HCFC-22 CHClF2 12 5 160 1 810 549

Global warming potential (GWP)

• A relative measure of how much heat a GHG traps in the

atmosphere.
• It compares the amount of heat trapped by a certain mass of
the gas in question to the amount of heat trapped by a similar mass
of CO2.
• A GWP is calculated over a specific time interval, commonly 20, 100
or 500 years.

Chemical Lifetime GWP for given time horizon

Gas name
formula (years)
20-yr 100-yr 500-yr
Carbon
CO2 30-95 1 1 1
dioxide
Methane CH4 12 72 25 7.6

Nitrous oxide N2O 114 289 298 153

CFC-12 CCl2F2 100 11 000 10 900 5 200

HCFC-22 CHClF2 12 5 160 1 810 549

Week #4: Climate of the Past
Paleoclimate: Climate in the past
(paleo = Greek word for “ancient”)
Paleoclimatology: The study of past climate prior to the
period of instrumental measurements.
 Informs about long-term (multi-centennial and longer) climate
variability, against which the recent changes can be compared to
assess whether or not they are unusual.
 Documents transitions between different climate states, including
abrupt events.
 Provides quantitative information on the Earth system response to
external forcings.
 Facilitates understanding of Earth system feedbacks on time scales
longer than a few centuries.
 Types of Paleo Data
Tree
rings Lake sediments Loess

Pollen
Ice cores
Cave deposits
Corals

Historical

Ocean
sediments
 How do we know past climate?

1. Changes in growth (e.g., tree rings)

2. Changes in organism/plant distributions (e.g.
pollen)
3. Changes in isotope ratios (e.g. corals, ice cores,
sediments)
4. Historical records (descriptions, measurements)
Proxy Records of Climate
 Proxies that record annual
growth patterns can indicate year
to year variations in climate
-tree rings
-ice cores
-coral reefs
Generally limited to the last
2000 years

 Proxies going back more

than 2000-yrs generally have
low resolution
- lake/ocean sediments
 • Weather and climate information can be found in ships logs,
farmers’ diaries, local gazetteers (地方誌), and other written
records, and art work (painting).
Europe: Grape Harvest Date
Warm summer means early grape harvest date
 Pros and Cons

Pros:
• A source of independent information, especially
for regions where other proxies are not available

Cons:
• Mostly descriptive, providing qualitative, not
quantitative information
• Non-continuous
• Confined to several regions
• As snow and ice accumulate in
polar glaciers a paleoclimate
record accumulates of the
environmental conditions of the
time of formation.

• Ice cores can be analyzed:

-- stable isotope approaches for
water as a record of temperature

-- air bubbles within the ice as a

record of past atmospheric gas
concentrations (e.g. CO2, CH4,
N2O, dust)
Temperature: the last 420,000 years
From the Vostok ice core (Antarctica)

8
 Latewood (Autumn)

Earlywood (Spring)
 TREE-RING RECORD

PROS:
• Annually (even seasonally) resolved.
• Exactly dated.
• Largely available on lands.
• Sensitive to climate at many locations.
CONS:
• Covering only past ~2000 yrs at most locations.
• Climate signal may be intervened biological trends.
Week #5: Global atmospheric change
Albedo –
Fraction of total radiation reflected by an object (surface).
Heat capacity –
the amount of heat required to change the temperature of
a substance by a given amount.

• Water has a high heat capacity –

can take in or lose much heat
without changing temperature
 Earth’s Climate System
• Components of the Earth’s climate system

• Albedo
• Heat capacity
• Circulation

Five major components: air (atmosphere), water (hydrosphere),

ice/glacier (cryosphere), vegetation (biosphere), and land (lithosphere).
Major processes: energy cycle, water cycle, carbon cycle, …
 Response Time
• Time it takes for the climate system to react to a
change in forcing
• Response time = amount of time it takes to get
50% of the way toward equilibrium
• Response time depends on “materials” or
“components”.
Response Times of Various Climate System Components
 Climate Feedbacks
A feedback is a mechanism whereby an initial change in a process
will tend to either reinforce the change (positive feedback)

or weaken the change (negative feedback).

Positive Feedback: Example #1
(Water Vapor Feedback)
 Negative Feedback: An Example
(Cloud Radiative Feedback)

Initial Change
Climate
warming

Uncertain
Reduced
Warming Uncertain

Increased
clouds

Greater
reflected
radiation
 What is El Niño?

• Unusual warming of sea surface

waters in the east-central tropical
Pacific Ocean.
• Peaks around Christmas season,
“Christ Child”, “The Boy”.
• EN events occur about every 2-7
years.

• La Niña: The opposite phase of EN.

“The Girl”.

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Normal conditions in the Pacific Ocean
• Strong winds from east to west over the Pacific
• Warm water piled up in western Pacific
• Sea surface temperature warm in west and cold in east
• Rainy over SE Asia, dry over S. America.
• Upwelling off South American coast
 How El Niño will change under global warming?

• 1/3 climate models say “more extreme”

• 1/3 say “no change”

• 1/3 say “less extreme”

(IPCC, 2007)

Instrumental records are too short to capture the full behavior of El Nino
海面溫度
 What is a monsoon?
• Arabic word “mausim” means “season”
• The seasonal reversal of wind direction associated with
large continents, especially Asia.
In winter, the wind blows from the land to the ocean
In summer, it blows from the ocean to the land
 Physical Ingredients for a Monsoon
• Land-Sea differences: land and water have
different heating capacities & water can store
more heat because it is a fluid and can mix heat
down for future release
• Planetary rotation: introduces swirl and much
stronger winds
• Moisture: water vapor, collected over oceans
through evaporation, condenses over land and
marginal seas releasing vast quantities of heat
• Orography: acts as elevated heat source which
intensifies flow & also ducts flow.
Weakening of the South Asian summer monsoon
under global warming

Long-term variability of the Indian monsoon, based on all India

precipitation.
Why is monsoon weakening with global warming?
A question yet to be answered.

Possible reasons:
• More aerosols over Asia
• Rapid Indian Ocean warming
• Shift in ITCZ
• etc…

(Goswami,2005)
Week #6: Consequences of climate change
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC)
 Why was it created?
 Established in 1988 by two UN
organizations, the World Meteorological
Organization (WMO) and the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP).
 Its mission is to assess on a
comprehensive, objective and transparent
basis the scientific, technical and socio-
economic information relevant to
understanding the scientific basis of climate
change, its potential impacts and options
for adaptation and mitigation
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC)

 What do they do?

 Review current scientific and technical literature
relevant to global climate change
 Publish special reports on their findings at regular
intervals (~5 years)
 Reports are designed to be politically neutral and of
high scientific and technical standards
 Key findings of the IPCC
Fifth Assessment Report:
• “Warming of the climate system is
unequivocal”, as is now evident from
observations of:
– Increases in global sea and air temperatures
– Widespread melting of snow and ice
– Rising global sea level
– Increase in GHGs
Arctic vs Global annual temperature anomalies (°C)

Reasons:
1) Albedo decrease caused
by sea ice melting.
2) Heat transport from the
tropics.
3. Heat accumulates on
surface, no strong downward
transport in ocean.

Note different scales

Global Warming Attribution
 Understanding and Attributing Climate Change

• Human influence on the climate system is clear. This is

evident from the increasing greenhouse gas concentrations
in the atmosphere, positive radiative forcing, observed
warming, and understanding of the climate system.

• Most of the observed increase in globally averaged

temperatures since the mid-20th century is extremely likely
(95%) due to the observed increase in anthropogenic GHG
concentrations.

• This is an advance since the AR4’s conclusion that “most of

the observed warming over the last 50 years is very likely
(90%) to have been due to the increase in GHGs”.

Conclusions from IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, 2013

Projection of Future Climate Change
 Terminology: Projection

To recognize this uncertainty, climate scientists describe

a simulation of possible future climate as a projection.

• To reconstruct past climate

• To forecast weather
• To project future climate (low confidence)
• To predict future climate (high confidence)
 Emission Scenarios
• Model simulations into the future depend on assumptions
about future emissions of GHGs, which in turn depend on
assumptions of human behavior.

• Descriptions of future emissions of GHGs are called

emission scenarios, which depend on:
-- Population growth
-- Economic growth
-- Sources of energy generation
-- Energy use efficiency
 Emission Scenarios
• A set of four scenarios, the Representative Concentration
Pathways (RCPs), were used for the IPCC AR5 climate model
simulations.
CO2 level
421 ppm
538 ppm
670 ppm
936 ppm
 Projections of Future Changes in Climate
Atmosphere
• Global surface temperature change for the end of the 21st century
is likely to exceed 1.5°C relative to 1850 to 1900, but is unlikely
to exceed 4°C.
• It is virtually certain that there will be more frequent hot and
fewer cold temperature extremes over most land areas on daily
and seasonal timescales.
• It is very likely that heat waves will occur with a higher frequency
and duration.
 Projections of Future Changes in Climate
Sea level
• Global mean sea level will continue to rise during the 21st
century.
• The rate of sea level rise will very likely exceed that observed
during 1971–2010 due to increased ocean warming and increased
loss of mass from glaciers and ice sheets.
 How to cope with climate change?
Adaptation and Mitigation
• Mitigation: Aims to reduce the causes of climate change
Two ways: either by reducing the sources or by increasing the sinks of
greenhouse gases.

• Adaptation: Aims to reduce the effects of climate change

Enhancing adaptive capacity
Adaptation through local planning
Agricultural production
Weather control
Migration
etc….
 Climate Policy
Policies are available to governments to realize mitigation
of climate change:
-- Subsidies for low carbon emission technologies (e.g.,
solar technologies)
-- Performance standards (e.g., fuel efficiency)
-- Cap-and-trade system (international treaty sets
emission limits for each country; Industries buy and
sell right to emit CO2)
-- Carbon tax (unlimited emissions of CO2, but emitters
pay tax; If tax is set properly leads to a reduction in
emission)
 Weighing the uncertainty:
Why should we act?
• The Precautionary Principle: The principle of prevention
being better than cure.
-- Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage,
lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for
postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental
degradation.
Week #7: Water resources crisis
 Ocean and Freshwater Distribution

Only 0.02% is readily available for human use

~70% of the
Earth is
covered by
water
 Driving forces and pressure on
water resources

• Population growth particularly in water short regions

(most fundamental)
• Major demographic changes as people move from
rural to urban regions
• Higher demands for food security and socio-
economic well-being
• Increased competition between users and usages
• Pollution
• Climate change (the wet gets wetter the dry gets
drier)
Water Use and Resource Problems
 Fall into three categories
 Too little water (drought, water shortage)
 Too much water (flooding)
 Poor quality (pollution)
 TOO LITTLE FRESHWATER
 Our water options are:
 Get more water from aquifers and rivers
-> Withdraw groundwater
-> Build dams and reservoirs
-> Diverge water from one place to another
 Desalinate ocean water
 Waste less water
 Trade-Offs
Withdrawing Groundwater

Advantages Disadvantages

Useful for drinking Aquifer depletion from

and irrigation overpumping

Available year- Sinking of land

round (subsidence) from
overpumping
Exists almost
Polluted aquifers for
everywhere
decades or centuries
Renewable if not Saltwater intrusion into
overpumped or drinking water supplies
contaminated near coastal areas

No evaporation Reduced water flows

losses into surface waters

Cheaper to extract Increased cost and

than most surface contamination from
waters deeper wells
Provides water Flooded land
for year-round destroys forests
irrigation of or cropland and
cropland displaces people

Large losses of
water through
evaporation
Provides
water for
drinking Downstream
cropland and
Reservoir is estuaries are
useful for deprived of
recreation nutrient-rich silt
and fishing

Risk of
Can produce failure and
cheap devastating
electricity downstream
(hydropower) flooding
Downstream
flooding is Migration and
reduced spawning of
some fish are
disrupted
 TOO MUCH WATER

 Heavy rainfall, rapid snowmelt, removal of vegetation,

and destruction of wetlands cause flooding.
 Forests and wetlands help provide natural flood and
erosion control, maintain high water quality, and
recharge groundwater.
Forested Hillside
Oxygen How forests work
released by
vegetation

Diverse
ecological Evapotranspiration
habitat
Trees reduce soil
erosion from heavy
rain and wind

Agricultural
Steady land
river flow

Leaf litter
improves soil
fertility

Tree roots stabilize Vegetation releases

soil and aid water water slowly and
flow reduces flooding
Water pollution

• Any physical,
biological, or
chemical change in
water quality that
adversely affects
living organisms or
makes water
unsuitable for
desired use.
 Water pollution
• Point source: discrete and identifiable
sources of pollution; sources from which
pollution is discharged from a specific
location
• Drain pipes, ditches, sewage outfalls
• Relatively easy to monitor and enforce
regulations
• Non-point source: scattered or diffuse;
having no specific location of discharge
• Example: Agriculture runoff, water that
runs off roads
Week #8: Overpopulation and urbanization
Reasons for human population increase

• Increases in food production and distribution.

• Medical care (antibiotics, vaccines) help control the
infectious diseases.
• Improvements in public health (water and sanitation).

Lower infant mortality rate and longer life expectancy

 Demography

• Demography-the statistical study of human populations.

• Population size
• Population density and distribution
• Age structure
• Sex ratios
 Age Structure: Age pyramid

 Age Structure: The number of males and females in

young, middle, and older age groups.
 Determine how fast a population grows or declines.

 Age structure categories:

• Prereproductive ages (0-14 yrs)
• Reproductive ages (15-44 yrs)
• Postreproductive ages (45+ yrs)
Age Structure: Age pyramid

Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female

Expanding Rapidly Expanding Slowly Stable Declining

Guatemala United States Japan Germany
Nigeria Australia Italy Bulgaria
Saudi Arabia China Greece Russia
Prereproductive ages Reproductive ages Postreproductive ages
0–14 15–44 45–85+

1.5–3% 0.3–1.4% 0–0.2% negative

What Factors Influence the Size of the
Human Population?

 The average number of children born to women in a

population (total fertility rate) is the key factor that
determines population size.
 Migration: immigration and emigration
 Population size increases because of births and immigration
and decreases through deaths and emigration.
 Population change =
(births + immigration) –
(deaths + emigration)
 Demographic transition

• Refers to the transition from high birth and death rates to low birth
and death rates as a country develops from a pre-industrial to an
industrialized economic system.
• Demographic transition stages: Preindustrial  Transitional 
Industrial  Postindustrial.
Pre-industrial stage: high death rates and high birth rates
Transitional stage: death rates fall due to rising food production and better
medical care. Birth rates remain high, so population surges.
Industrial stage: birth rates fall, as women are employed and as children
become less economically useful in an urban setting. Population growth rate
declines.
Post-industrial stage: birth and death rates remain low and stable; society
enjoys fruits of industrialization without threat of runaway population
growth.
 Demographic transition

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4

Preindustrial Transitional Industrial Postindustrial
Population Population grows rapidly Population growth Population growth
grows very because birth rates are high and slows as both birth levels off and then
slowly because death rates drop because of and death rates declines as birth
of a high improved food production and drop because of rates equal and
birth rate health improved food then fall below
(to compensate production, health, death rates
(number per 1,000 per year)

for high infant and education

Birth rate and death rate

80 mortality) and a
70 high death rate
Total population
60
Birth rate
50
40
30
20 Death rate

10
0
Low Increasing Very high Decreasing Low Zero Negative
Growth rate over time
Urbanization

 Urbanization
• Creation and growth of urban and suburban areas
• Increase in percentage of people living in such areas
 Urban growth: Rate of increase in urban populations
• Natural population increase (births – deaths)
• Immigration from rural areas
• Immigration from other countries (especially in the
developed countries)
• Reclassification of urban boundaries to encompass
formerly rural areas
Trends in urbanization

 Four major trends:

1. Proportion of global population living in urban areas
is increasing
2. Number and size of urban areas is mushrooming
• Megacities (10-20 million), hypercities (20-40 million).
3. Urban growth slower in developed countries
4. Poverty is becoming increasingly urbanized; mostly
in less-developed countries.
 Environment of Cities
• Dense buildings, few trees, little parkland
– Heat island, and dust dome.
• An urban heat island (UHI) is a metropolitan area that
is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas
due to human activities.
 Urban Heat Island
• Building & paving materials absorb more heat than natural
surfaces
• Automobiles, air conditioning & other machines make city
warmer than surroundings
• Evapotranspiration helps keep rural areas cool
– Urban asphalt & concrete has little evapotranspiration
Week #9: Air/Land pollution
 What is air pollution?

Introduction into the atmosphere of chemicals, particulates,

or biological materials that:
 cause discomfort, disease, or death to humans
damage other living organisms such as food crops
 damage the natural environment or built environment
Air is never perfectly clean. Natural sources of air
pollution include:
• Ash/smoke from forest fires/volcanoes
• Salt particles from ocean spray
• Pollen/spores from plants
• Windblown dusts.
 Air Pollutants
Air pollutants are airborne particles and gasses that occur in
concentrations that endanger the heath and well-being of
organisms or disrupt the orderly functioning of the
environment.

Pollutants can be grouped into two categories:

(1) primary pollutants, which are emitted directly from identifiable
sources, and
(2) secondary pollutants, which are produced in the atmosphere
when certain chemical reactions take place among primary
pollutants.
 Six common or “criteria” air pollutants

• Carbon monoxide (CO)

--- colorless, odorless gas emitted from combustion processes
--- reducing the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood, thus oxygen delivery to
the body's organs (like the heart and brain) and tissues.
• Ozone (O3)
Good Up High (againt UV), Bad Nearby (harmful to breathe, damaging crops,
trees and other vegetations)
• Nitrogen dioxide (NO2): adverse respiratory effects, especially asthma
• Sulfur oxides (SOx): adverse respiratory effects e.g., bronchoconstriction
and asthma
• Particulate Matter (PM2.5 & PM10): can get into the lungs and even
bloodstream, causing health problem.
• Lead (Pb): adversely affect the nervous system, kidney function, immune
system, etc.
 Air Quality Index (AQI)
• AQI is a standardized indicator for reporting daily air quality.
• AQI is calculated for five major pollutants: ground-level ozone,
particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen
dioxide.
• Ranges from 0 to 500.
 Factors that affect air pollution

• Emissions (traffic, industrial, domestic)

• Geography (terrain)
• Weather conditions (rain, winds, humidity)
• Season
• Time of day
• Population density
• Indoor vs outdoor
 Atmospheric conditions affecting
the dispersion of pollutants
• Two of the most important atmospheric conditions
affecting the dispersion of pollutants are:
(1) the strength of the wind
(2) the stability of the air
• They together determine atmospheric mixing and
temperature inversion.
 Air Mixing
• Atmospheric stability determines the extent to which
vertical motions will mix the pollution with cleaner air
above the surface layers.
Higher stability --> Low mixing depth
• The vertical distance between Earth's surface and the
height to which convectional movements extend is called
the mixing depth.
Greater mixing depth-->
Better air quality.
 Inversions
• Temperature inversion means an increase in temperature with height.
• It represents a situation in which the atmosphere is very stable and the
mixing depth is significantly restricted.
• When an inversion exists and winds are light, diffusion is inhibited and
high pollution concentrations are to be expected in areas where
pollution sources exist.
• Inversions aloft are associated with sinking air that characterizes
centers of high air pressure (anticyclones).
 Acid deposition
• Acid deposition formed when sulfur and
nitrogen oxides produced as by-products of
combustion and industrial activity are converted
into acids during complex atmospheric reactions.
• Acid deposition, which consists of rain, snow,
dust, or gas with a pH lower than 5.6, is
commonly called acid rain.
 Emissions

SO2 NOx
Acid
HO
deposition 2 2 O3
PANs Others

Direct damage to Reduced Increased

leaves and bark photosynthesis susceptibility to
and growth drought, extreme
cold, insects,
mosses, and
disease organisms

Soil acidification Tree death

Leaching Release Root Reduced nutrient

of soil Acids of toxic damage and water uptake
nutrients metal ions

Lake

Groundwater
 Land pollution
Land and soil can be polluted by two main types of
substance:
 solid waste – such as plastic,
metal, paper and other man-
made substances
--- represents pollution and
unnecessary waste of resources.

 hazardous (chemical) waste

– such as herbicides and
pesticides, crude oil and waste
from industrial processes.
--- contributes to pollution, natural
capital degradation, health problems,
and premature deaths.
How Should We Deal with
Solid Waste?

 A sustainable approach to solid waste is first to

reduce it, then to reuse or recycle it, and finally
to safely dispose of what is left.
How Should We Deal with
Hazardous Waste?

 A sustainable approach to hazardous waste is

first to produce less of it, then to reuse or recycle
it, then to convert it to less hazardous materials,
and finally, to safely store what is left.
Week #10/11: Natural hazards
 Natural Hazards

• Natural hazards- Natural processes that will have a negative

effect on people or the environment.
-- The qualifier "natural" eliminates such exclusively manmade
phenomena such as air/water pollution, and nuclear leakage.
-- Human intervention can increase the frequency and severity of
many natural hazards (e.g., deforestation and landslides).
• May become a natural catastrophe/disaster when the
damage to people, property or society require a long recovery
or rehabilitation process.
• Typically unpredictable or difficult to predict.
 Types of Natural Hazards
• The nature of hazards can be considered into three groups of
processes:
• Geological
-- Driven by the Earth’s internal energy (earthquakes,
volcanoes, tsunamis, etc).
-- Resulting from land-surface processes (landslides, rock/snow
avalanches, river/coastal flooding, etc.)
• Atmospheric (hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, floods,
lightning strikes, heat waves, etc.)
• Biological (epidemics, endemic parasites, invasion of insects or
plants, etc.)
• Many nature hazards could be caused by more than one factor
(e.g., landslides, river flooding).
 Measures of Natural Hazards
• Considered in terms of their magnitude (intensity of energy
released) and frequency (recurrence time).
• Generally an inverse relationship between magnitude and
frequency.
-- Larger events occur less frequently, and
have a longer return time (recurrence interval)
 Measures of Natural Hazards
• Speed of onset: length of time between the first appearance or
warning of an event and its peak.
Example: Slow-onset hazards (drought and soil erosion)
Rapid-onset hazards (floods and earthquakes)

• Duration: The period of time over which it occurs.

Example: Droughts: seasons or years
Floods: days or weeks
Thunderstorms or Tornados: minutes or hours

• Areal extent: The area that a natural hazard affect.

Example: Landslides or Avalanches: short and narrow belt of the landscape.
Droughts or floods: several hundred km2.
 Impacts of Natural Hazards
• Impact of a natural hazard is not just related to magnitude of
a event, but is also closely related to human factors, such as:
• size and density of affected population
• remedial or preventative measures may be taken to mitigate the
likelihood of occurrence or its impact.
• economic resources to either mitigate a potential disaster
and/or recover afterwards.
• Human vulnerability is a condition or process resulting from
physical, social, economic and environmental factors, which
determine the likelihood and scale of damage from the impact
of a given hazard.
 Earthquake
• Earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in
the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves.
• At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by
vibration, shaking and sometimes displacement of the ground.
• The underground point of origin of the earthquake is called
the focus.
• The point directly above the focus on the surface is called
the epicenter.
 Earthquake
• Stress is the force per unit area acting on a plane within a
body. -- Three types: tension, compression, and shearing
• Rocks under stress accumulate strain energy over time.
• Rock breaks when stress exceeds strength of rocks.
• Strain energy is released as seismic waves.
Types of seismic waves
• Body waves -- travel through interior of the earth
• Surface waves -- travel on surface of the earth
 Earthquake
Specific Body Waves:

• Primary or "P" Waves: Primary waves

-- Highest velocity
-- Causes compression and expansion in direction of wave travel.
-- Particle motion is parallel (backward/forward) to the direction of
propagation
• Secondary or "S" Waves: Secondary or shear waves
-- Slower than P waves but faster than surface waves.
-- Causes shearing of rock perpendicular (up-down) to direction of
wave propagation
-- Cannot travel through liquids
 Earthquake
Surface Waves:
• Love (“L”) Waves:
-- Particle motion is horizontal (left-right) and perpendicular to the
direction of propagation.
-- Amplitude decreases with depth.
• Rayleigh (“R”) Waves:
-- Generated by the interaction of P- and S- waves at the surface
of the earth.
-- Rayleigh waves include both longitudinal and transverse motions.
-- Amplitude decreases with depth.
 Seismogram Printout

• P-wave travels fastest, and is the first-arriving energy on a

seismogram. Generally smaller amplitude and higher frequency
than the S- and Surface-waves.
• Surface waves have largest amplitude, most destructive.
• Measure time delay between P&S wave arrival to determine
distance to earthquake.
• but we don't know the direction from which they came.
Time-Travel Curve
 Magnitude and Intensity

• Magnitude – a measure of
energy released by an
earthquake.

• Magnitude is determined from

measurements on
seismographs.

• Moment Magnitude Scale: A

single number of 1-10 to
quantify the amount of
seismic energy released.
-- Logarithmic scale: Increase
in one unit represents 10
times greater magnitude.
 Magnitude and Intensity
• Intensity --the strength of shaking produced by the
earthquake at a certain location.

• Intensity is determined from effects on people, human

structures, and the natural environment.

• Modified Mercalli Scale: A scale of 12 grades to classify

observed effects of an earthquake.
-- Qualitative descriptions. Lower number indicates less
damage.
 Tsunami
• A Japanese word meaning “harbor wave”.
• Tsumani is a series of water waves caused by the displacement
of a large volume of water, typically by large underwater
earthquake in an ocean or a large lake.
• In DEEP OCEAN tsunami has long wavelength, travels fast
(>800kph), small amplitude (<1m) - doesn’t affect ships.
• AS IT APPROACHES SHORE, it slows (<50kph). Since energy is
conserved, amplitude builds up (>10m) - very damaging.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBkMLYUyUZg
 Thunderstorms
• Thunderstorms are storms that are accompanied by
lightning and thunder.
• Occur when the atmosphere becomes unstable-when a
vertically displaced air parcel becomes buoyant and rises
on its own.
• The ideal conditions include warm, moist air near the
surface and a large change in temperature with height.
Types of Thunderstorms

1. Air-Mass or Ordinary Cell Thunderstorms

• Mainly associated with uneven heating

• Usually short-lived (1-hr) & harmless

2. Severe / Supercell Thunderstorms

• Associated with the lifting due to a frontal
movement or mountain slope.
• Can last for hours and can become very
strong.
• Associated with strong winds, tornadoes
and hail.
Stages of air mass T-storms:
• Developing (cumulus): updrafts dominate, cumulus grows
to cumulonimbus.
• Mature: The most intense stage, heavy rain/hail, downdrafts
side by side with updrafts.
• Dissipating: dominated by downdrafts and entrainment.
 SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS

•Strong winds aloft push the rain ahead, downdraft cannot

weaken updraft, and the storm can continue maturing.
•Large wind shear—wind changing significantly with height

Air-mass Severe
Hurricanes/Typhoons
 Tropical Cyclones
• A Tropical Cyclone is the general term for a cyclone
originating over tropical or subtropical oceans.
• Tropical cyclones are classified into three main groups,
based on intensity: tropical depressions, tropical storms,
and hurricanes.
 Hurricane Occurrences
and Geographic Distribution

SST climatology

• Not over the equator (5S-5N), b/c the

Coriolis force is too weak.
• Seldom form poleward of 20, b/c warm
SSTs (>27C) are necessary.
• Not over eastern South Pacific and
South Atlantic, b/c of ocean circulation
and upwelling of cold water.
 Forecast Process
• HURRICANE WATCH - A hurricane watch is issued for a
specified coastal area for which a hurricane or a hurricane-
related hazard is a possible threat within 36 hours.

• HURRICANE WARNING - A hurricane warning is issued when a

hurricane with sustained winds of 74 mph or higher is expected
in a specified coastal area in 24 hours or less.
Will hurricane become more frequent with global warming?

Power Dissipation Index (green), a measure of

hurricane activity which depends on the
frequency, duration, and intensity of hurricanes
over a season.

Vecchi et al., (2008) (Mei et al., 2015 Science Advance)

 GEOG1003 Final Exam

Time: 17 Dec, 2020 (Thu) 2:30-4:30 p.m.

Venue: Moodle
Type: Open book*
*Candidates are permitted to refer to any electronic/printed
materials in the examination. Internet searching is NOT
allowed.
 GEOG1003 Final Exam

• We’ll have two compulsory, essay type questions in the

final.
• Two questions are equally weighted (50 marks each, out of a
total of 100 marks).
• You’ll need to review and synthesize the contents to
show your understanding of a topic.
• In-text citations and references are not required per se.
• There is no specific word limit, but it is preferred that
your answer to each question is no more than 600 words.
 GEOG1003 Final Exam
• A detailed instruction on conducting the final examination will be
announced on Moodle on Friday, Nov-27, 2020.