GSC 110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 33: Little Ice Age, Satellite Temperature Measurements, Greenhouse Gas
2 Jan 2020
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Lecture 33: climate & sea level change iv. Water vapor is main & most important greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide number 2: methane is also one that is watched, this is the importance of the albedo effect. Climate warming & feedback: concern is that cool, freshwater melting off of greenland glacier will interrupt. Thermohaline circulation: an influx of cold freshwater would eliminate halocline gradient & warm gulf stream would cease flowing northward, this would act like a positive feedback loop in which cooler ocean temperatures may spawn another ice age. Greenhouse gases: dry air consists mainly of 3 gases: nitrogen, oxygen, & argon (+ water vapor, water vapor usually present in earth"s atmosphere in concentrations up to several percent, accounts for ~80% of natural greenhouse effect. Ice cores obtained from antarctic & greenland ice sheets contain samples of ancient atmosphere. Ice from vostok station in antarctica contains such a record extending back several.
