HONR 1027 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Stable Isotope Ratio, Shortwave Radiation, Isotopic Signature
Document Summary
Ipcc - intergovernmental panel on climate change (un-organized) Remote sensing - satellite, buoys, ships, weather stations. Oxygen isotopes - evaporation and photosynthesis prefer light isotopes. This makes ice light" and ocean water heavy" in cold period. Proxy records - tree rings, pollen layers, ice cores with gas bubbles, sediment layers, coral and other natural material that grows on an annual basis. A stable isotope fractionation occurs when a natural process prefers a particular isotope of a given element. Over time the fractionation process will shift the overall abundance of each isotope in natural materials like ice and water. Temperature and isotopic compositions are often used interchangeably on graphs: long term - this occurs on billions to hundreds of thousands of years. The layout of the continents and the earth"s wobble can affect the amount of sunlight reaching the earth"s surface: short term - this occurs on hundreds of years.
