ENWC201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Carbon Sink, Shortwave Radio, Flowering Plant
15 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Weather vs Climate
Broad time frame, not just days or months or even years
○
•
The greenhouse effect
Shortwave is high energy and can get through gases
From the sun
§
Bounces off and goes back out as greenhouse gases
§
○
Longer waves have a harder time getting through
○
Some go out, most get back
Without the greenhouse gases reflecting some back our planet
would be at 0 degrees
§
○
More greenhouse gases = more radiation staying in the atmosphere
Increases temp of the planet
§
○
•
Cretaceous CO2
Very high cardon levels
○
Warm planet
Anoxic (lack of o2)
§
Wet
§
○
Angiosperms develop - flowering plant
Taking CO2 out of the atmosphere - alters the atmosphere
§
Plants that died didn’t decay
§
○
What happened to the cretaceous plants/plankton?
Became our Fossil fuels
§
Level of co2 in atmosphere was decreased because they didn’t dcay
and release it back
§
○
Limestone deposits
Another carbon sink
§
○
Asteroid hits the earth, ends cretaceous, plants die, extinction
○
What replaced the cretaceous plants?
Tertiary trees
§
Another carbon sick - drops co2 levels in atmosphere again
§
○
•
Tertiary climate
Glaciers/ice ages every 10,000 years 4 times
○
Glacial cycling
○
10,000 yrs ago ice age stopped
○
•
Industrial revolution ~ 150 years ago
Started using fossil fuels
○
Finally releasing all this co2 back to the atmosphere - very quickly
○
Also using carbon while burning trees
○
30% increase in gases since pre-industrial revolution
Increases long wave radiation coming back to the planet - increases
planets temperature
§
○
•
Global temperature
Rising - and at an increased rate
○
Sea levels increasing
○
Snow/ice cover decreasing
○
Many other changes
○
•
Temperature
Increasing
○
Impacts from rising temperatures
Loss of species and habitat
Coral reefs
Thermal bleaching
®
□
Range of tolerance and ability to adapt play a big role in how
well species will survive climate change
Increasing temps cause increased disease
®
□
§
Shifts in time and space among species
Time shifts - timing when animals do things
Time to first leaf - increasing or decreasing 8 days
Other species that rely on the trees or each other
may not exhibit that same changed pattern
Mismatched phenology
}
Differential responses/mismatch
Can cause a resource gap for animals
like hummingbirds who rely on a
continuum of different blooms
–
}
◊
®
□
Space shifting - moving locations to remain in preferred
temperatures
Ex polar bears and brown bears shifting closer to each
other
Causes them to mate with each other
◊
®
□
§
○
•
Ice
Levels decreasing
○
Feedback loops
Increased absorbed sunlight --> melting of sea ice --> lowered
albedo --> increase in absorbed sunlight --> etc
§
○
Impacts from melting ice and snow?
Freshwater storage loss
Melting snow from tops of mountains
This is melting much faster
®
Not as much getting caught underground
®
□
Habitat loss
Polar bears need ice to hunt seals underwater at ice
holes
®
When there is no ice seal populations change and then
everything changes
®
□
Flooding
Animals impacted
®
□
§
○
•
Precipitation
Rapid increase in human population because of increased precip
○
Decreased precip = decreased water for people so we are locking more of
it up
Lake mead - colorado river
Declining to lowest level in history□
§
○
Impacts from precipitation changes
Changes to disturbance patterns
Floods□
Droughts□
Erosion□
§
Habitat and species loss
§
○
•
Sea levels
Rising
Warm water = increased volume (thermal expansion)
§
Ice melt
§
○
Evidence to support this
○
Impacts of sea level rise
Loss of land
Key deer
In vulnerable zones for sea level rise
®
□
§
Increased storm flooding and erosion
Erosion and plovers
Building walls to prevent them from losing their nesting
habitat and our costal neighborhoods
®
□
§
salt water intrusion
Salt water intruding into fresh water□
Plants need to be able to live in salt water
These plants Need to come in as the water comes in
®
□
§
○
•
Ocean acidification
Rising
○
Oceans act like a sponge for co2
○
Calcium tied up in the oceans
Decreases the growth of them??
§
○
•
Where will we end up at?
80 mil years long
○
Slowly depositing in the back
○
We are pulling it out as fast as we can
○
In terms of wildlife - If a species can not adapt as fast as changing
conditions then …. ?
○
•
Climate Change
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
2:15 PM
Document Summary
Broad time frame, not just days or months or even years. Shortwave is high energy and can get through gases. Bounces off and goes back out as greenhouse gases. Longer waves have a harder time getting through. Without the greenhouse gases reflecting some back our planet would be at 0 degrees. More greenhouse gases = more radiation staying in the atmosphere. Taking co2 out of the atmosphere - alters the atmosphere. Level of co2 in atmosphere was decreased because they didn"t dcay and release it back. Asteroid hits the earth, ends cretaceous, plants die, extinction. Another carbon sick - drops co2 levels in atmosphere again. Finally releasing all this co2 back to the atmosphere - very quickly. Increases long wave radiation coming back to the planet - increases planets temperature. Range of tolerance and ability to adapt play a big role in how well species will survive climate change. Time shifts - timing when animals do things.
