Test 4_GW&Ozone Flashcards
(33 cards)
How long have the glacial periods lasted?
100,000 years
How long have the interglacial periods lasted?
10,000 - 12,000 years
What type climatic period are we in now?
Warmer interglacial
What are the two major greenhouse gases?
Water and carbon dioxide.
Who first described the greenhouse effect?
Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius in 1896.
What are some minor greenhouse gases?
methane, nitrous and sulfer oxides, CFC’s HFC’s (These halons can have up to 12,000 times the effect of CO2)
What has been the average concentration of carbon dioxide over the past 160,000 years?
2.5ppm now over 3.85ppm
Is there a correlation between average atmospheric CO2 and climate? If so what is the correlation?
yes,direct
What three greenhouse gases have shown major increase since the 1800s?
CO2, Methane, N2O
Where did this increase in CO2, C4H4, and N2O come from?
Fossil fuels, deforestation/burning, rice paddies and use of inorganic fertilizers.
What country produces the bulk of greenhouse gases?
Australia – this is per capita . US and then China and then the European union are the biggest overall prducers.
What evidence of global warming is there?
Ice caps and glaciers melting, warm climate organisms moving northward (we didn’t use to have road runners and cattle egrets in central Arkansas but now do), sea level rising, coral reef bleaching
What effects might continual global warming have?
Flood coastal cities, flood islands, shift agriculture farther toward the poles, cause the extinction of species, destroy coral reefs
What are the possible ways to decrease or eliminate man caused global warming?
Cut down on CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions
What is the IPCC?
Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change
Why do the CEOs of the largest 1000 world corporations believe that global warming is the most critical problem facing humanity?
because it affects the whole world.
What did the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio do re global warming?
106 nations approved a Convention on Climate Change agreed to do something about CO2 emissions.
What is the gist of the161 nation 1997 Kyoto Protocol?
Require 38 developed nations to cut 1990 CO2 emissions by 5.2% by 2012 178 nations have signed on.
Why is the US one of the few nations who haven’t ratified the treaty?
Bush (2001) thought would hurt our economy and LDC not required to follow guidlines.
What layer of the atmosphere contains the bulk of the ozone?
Lowest part of Stratosphere
What does that layer protect life on earth from?
uV
Where does the major seasonal thinning of this layer occur?
over poles
Where is there not a measurable seasonable thinning of this layer?
tropics
What class of chemicals are the primary culprits in the thinning of that layer?
CFC’s
