Review questions and study materials

Environmental Review

The carbon in the atmosphere comes partially from ancient (and ongoing) volcanic activity, through the above-ground decomposition of organic material, and through the respiration of non-plant organisms. Plants pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere during photosynthesis; this carbon is transferred to other organisms when it is eaten, buried to become other substances (fossil fuels), or decomposed to release everything back to the atmosphere.

The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is collected by and dissolved in rainwater, forming carbonic acid and making rainwater slightly acidic even without unnatural levels of carbon or other pollution.

The large amounts of oxygen necessary to support much of the life on this planet likely originated from cyanobacteria or blue-green algae, which began exhaling oxygen as a byproduct of photosynthesis sometime between three-and-a-half- and two-point-seven-billion years ago. This began in small amounts, but built up over time to the abundant levels there are today, that facilitate the existence of many complex organisms dependent on oxygen.

10) Large fires and volcanic eruptions are the most common and prevalent sources of natural air pollution; human industry and the burning of fossil fuels, particularly for the production of electricity, are the most common human sources of air pollution

11) There is evidence both in the fossil layer and in core samples from the polar ice caps that suggest there have been variations in the heat reaching the Earth from the Sun and lost from the Earth's surface

12) the heat in the Earth's atmosphere is spread through the process of circulation; differences in the solar radiation and heat delivered at the poles and the equator create imbalances in the pressures in the atmosphere, and the rotation of the Earth also contributes to the air currents that move heat around.

Chapter 12

8) Air that has circulated to high altitudes in the atmosphere settles back to lower altitudes at 30 degrees both North and South of the equator, and at the two poles.

9) in addition to the colder temperatures that would be experienced with the passing of a cold front, increased precipitation and thunderstorms can occur due to the lower pressure that occurs when the cold front lifts the warmer air mass that it replaces.

10) the locations of oceans and seas, which are determined by the movement of continental plates, affect the ability for ocean waters to circulate heat around the Earth, and thus can have a major effect on the climate of the planet.

11) Jet streams can have abundant influence on ground-level weather by creating low-pressure centers that can lead to storms, and the streams can continue to steer these storms once they are formed

12) Thunderstorms and tornadoes are more likely to occur in the mid-afternoon because they come as the result of heated air that then rises in a column and the rapidly cools; the initial heating is more likely to reach adequate levels for causing a storm during the later afternoon.

Chapter 13

5) Oxygen isotopes found in rocks can vary greatly as they are subjected to different temperatures, with hotter temperatures creating "overwriting" of isotopes left by cooler temperatures. The preservation of certain rocks and their oxygen isotopes can yield clues about climate in ancient times.

6) One major problem that climatologists face in using computers to try and model future weather is the lack of adequate and reliable data, as accurate collecting methods have not been around for very long. The sheer complexity of modeling weather patterns is also largely prohibitive to accurate modeling.

7) the aspects of the Earth's movements that are taken into account in Milankovitch theory are the eccentricity of its orbit, axial tilt, and the precession or reorientation of the rotating axis.