Climate and Earth's Spheres

Climate as a Function of Spheres

• Climate operates through the interaction of different spheres
• Atmosphere consists of gases
• Hydrosphere includes oceans and bodies of water
• Lithosphere encompasses plate tectonics, where land creation influences ocean dynamics
• Orogeny is a process in which earth’s crust folds and deforms via lateral compression, forming mountain ranges
• Cryosphere is made of glaciers, ice sheets, and snow cover that changes with the seasons
• Biosphere includes vegetation, animals, and humans that inhabit Earth

The Climate System

• Climate has undergone constant change throughout Earth's history
• The planet experienced several worldwide ice ages over the last billion years
• In periods between ice ages, the global climate was slightly warmer than it is today
• Current climate concern focuses on the rate of temperature change, and the difference between natural and human-caused respiratory changes
• The age of Earth is approximately 4.6 billion years

Last Glacial Period

• During the last glacial period, 18,000 years ago, most of Canada was covered by ice, the exception of northern Yukon
• Lower sea levels exposed the Bering Land Bridge
• The bearing land bridge is no longer there due to rising sea levels

Recent Climate Trends

• Over the past 100 years there has been a rapid temperature increase
• The temperature increasing rapidly corresponds with human industry and GHG emissions

Factors Influencing Average Global Temperature

• Global average temperature trends are not evenly distributed across the planet
• Poles are warming faster than other regions
• Ocean currents cause very little global cooling in the south

Causes of Climate Change

• Climate change causes are variations in solar radiation
• Changes in the composition of the atmosphere
• Changes on Earths surface
• Variations in Earth's orbit

Variations in Solar Radiation

• Sun emits more energy during high sunspot activity
• Solar output changes regularly by 0.1-0.2% in relation to sunspot cycles, influencing Earth's temperature
• Sunspots are cool magnetic regions on the sun that peak every 11 years
• Sunspots cycles correspond with faculae, which are bright, high-energy areas
• More sunspots equate to more solar energy emitted
• Faculae are bright areas that emit high amounts of energy
• The Maunder Minimum (1645-1715), was a period with no sunspots that correlated with the Little Ice Age

Changes in Composition of the Atmosphere

• An increase of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane elevate global temperature
• Carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for 100 years
• Reducing carbon dioxide emission today won’t be felt for decades, making a warming climate inevitable
• Determining past climates using ice cores and dendrochronology

Ice Cores

• An ice layer's width indicates temperature and snowfall in a specific year
• New ice layers form annually and trap air bubbles
• Preserved data can be extracted from ice cores, dating back as far as 600,000 years

Dendrochronology

• The study of tree rings, corresponds to warmer and wetter years
• Tree ring data provides climate data for up to 1000 years

Changes in Earth’s Surface

• The continents have moved over time due to plate tectonics
• Previously, there was no Atlantic Ocean
• The collision of plates leads to uplift and the formation of mountains
• Affects winds, temperatures, and precipitations in the surrounding land

Variations in Earth's Orbit

• The Milankovitch Theory (1909) states three phenomena related to Earth's orbit lead to climate change
• Eccentricity has the biggest impact on the planet
• Precession wobbles earths axis every 23,000 years like a top
• Obliquity tilt changes every 41,000 years, and ranges from 22-24.5 affecting seasonal temperatures
• Earth's orbit changes shape from circular to elliptical on a 100,000-year cycle, which accounts for ice ages

The Greenhouse Effect

• GHGs let solar radiation pass through but absorb infrared radiation from Earth
• The greenhouse effect doesn’t allow all of earth's energy back, but Earth would be very cold without it
• Greenhouse gases allow solar radiation to pass through but absorb radiation from earth
• Main greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor

Concern Over the Greenhouse Effect

• Enhancement of the greenhouse effect via the addition of GHGs causes climate change
• More infrared radiation is absorbed from Earth
• CO₂ emissions are rapidly increasing in China and India as economies continue to industrialize
• Adding GHGs results in climate change by increasing carbon dioxide, which is the emission of infrared

Ozone

• Ozone composed of oxygen has a pungent smell and is naturally in the stratosphere
• Ozone also forms chemically in the troposphere

Ozone in the Stratosphere

• Makes up 7% of the suns radiation, also known as ultraviolet which is harmful to humans
• The ozone layer protects us from UV rays, and can cause great damage to unprotected skin

Destruction of the Ozone Layer

• Chlorofluorocarbons majorly depleted the layer during the 1900s, and were found mostly in appliances
• Non-essential uses of CFCs were banned, and the Montreal Protocol formed in 1987
• UV rays break up CFC molecules causing the release of chlorine, destroying the ozone
• CFC molecules can remain in the atmosphere for many decades
• CFCs have declined since the 1970s, but little decline has been recognized because of their residence time

Connection Between Stratospheric Ozone and Skin Cancer

• Decreased amounts of ozone in the stratosphere have resulted in increased cases of skin cancer
• Between the ozone layer and temperature, it has to do with our skin

Acid Precipitation

• Precipitation that combines with pollutants and turns acidic, comes from sulfur and nitrogen oxides
• Acid Precipitation Effects slows tree growth, reduces fish population, and erodes materials
• Canada has 14,000 acidified lakes
• PH scale measures acidity (7 = neutral, >7 is basic, <7 acidic)
• Precipitation is naturally acidic at ~5.5
• High acidic precipitation is most common in eastern North America
• Aquatic life cannot survive when pH < 4.8
• Canada and the US have an air quality agreement from 1991

Positive Feedback

• A process that encourages the continuation of the original process
• Less snow decreases solar radiation
• Therefore, after ice melts, solar radiation is absorbed

Ocean Warming

• Ocean warming is more accelerated in the polar regions
• With the loss of sea ice, only Ellesmere Island and northern Greenland will remain in summer of 2050
• Since 1980, arctic ice has declined by 30%

Global Temperature Estimation

• Climate models are used to estimate Earths warming in the future, by 1.5 degrees in the next 100 years
• Mathematical equations used can solve for GHGs, solar radiation, and climatological components

Human Impact

• Human activities alter Earth’s climate, adding to natural influences that have been present
• Natural influences cannot explain the strong increase in global temperatures
• The Kyoto Protocol in 1997 aimed to slow climate change emissions and reduce GHGs to 5% below 1990 levels by 2010

Climate Impacts

• Polar areas will warm the most
• Boreal forests will expand northward
• There will be increased intensity of tropical storms and hurricanes

Sea Level Rise

• As sea level rises, erosion affects areas further inland
• Sea level is projected to rise as global climate changes and ice sheets continue to melt
• Largest risk assessment include North American cities of Vancouver and Miami

Maldives Sea Level Rise

• The Maldives are an island nation of 300,000 people in the Indian Ocean
• Sea walls are an infrastructure to protect islands from sea level rise
• About 80% of the country is less than 1m from waves

Human Environmental Relations

• Climate change is affecting food production, tourism, and human health
• From mid 1970s climate change had caused 160,000 deaths, mainly attributed to increases in malaria

Loss of Biodiversity

• Warming temperatures will affect plant and animal habitats
• Coral extinction is expected at +1.7, plants at +2.1, polar bears at +2.8

Relation to Nature

• Differing views are humans are one component of nature and nature being exploited for economic gain

Two Realities of Natural Resources

• Resources are finite
• Resources create waste products
• Resistance to change to how resources are extracted

Wind Energy

• Over 30 GW of power was generated globally each year
• Up to 6 MW of power is generated from turbines
• The location of turbines is crucial to maximize production
• Turbines need a plan for days with little to no wind
• Wind energy is renewable and pollution free in areas with constant wind
• The prevention of wind farms is habitat distribution, appearance, noise, and cost
• The NIMBYism effects of cost cause noise, habitat disturbance, and bad appearance
• Ontario is dedicated to wind energy by locating possible future sites

Hydroelectricity

• The largest current project is Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China
• The world holds 3-4 times more hydroelectric power that we currently produce
• The construction of large projects cost land and population displacement
• Leaching chemicals flow into the ground water
• Can destroy habitats of creatures
• Small generators are more desirable

Earthquakes

• Earthquakes result from rock ruptures along a fault
• Earthquake magnitude is expressed as a number to one decimal place
• Energy released as seismic waves form
• The Richter scale was a way to measure the strength of a wave 100 KM from a centre
• Today the most common measure is the moment magnitude scale
• These effects help measure from area ruption, amount of movement or elastic in the crust
• There are more moderate earthquakes than great earthquakes per year

Earthquake Intensity

• Descriptors of earthquakes are given from the modified Mercalli Intensity Scale
• Qualitative based on damage and effect on people it is based on
• Earthquakes are most common near plate boundaries, and friction along these plates cause strain
• Sudden movement along a fault will create the movement or rupture called seismic waves
• Identifying faults are necessary to evaluate the risk

Fault Types

• Depending on displacement there are 2 fault types
• There are strike split faults and displacemnt that are horizontal
• As well as disp split faults having vertical displacement

Direction of Rupture

• San Andreas Fault is the best example of a strike slip fault
• 3 Types of Dip Split Fault
• 3 Types: Reverse faults
• Thrust and normal faults
• A footwall is miners placed their feet
• A hanger wall is where they placed lanterns

Fault Activity

• Fault activity is movement during or past 2.6 million years
• There is also no movement during
• At tectonic creep the movement is slow and caused by stress
• Also known as fault creep with a movement of a few cm per decade
• In terms of earthquakes, there are seismic waves and 2 ways they affect and travel
• Body waves are p and s waves that are generate by rupture

What are P and S waves?

• P waves or called primary and compression waves
• Fast push-pull motion and travel through solids and liquids
• S waves slowly move up and down
• Move through solids
• Waves then move to surface

Determine Experience Levels

• Listed by magnitude, direction of rupture, epocentre, type of rock and construction
• Seismopgrahps record wave at recording station and speed
• Earthquake shake decreases in distance in epincenture
• Locate at 3 times in 3 different station to draw a circle around the station in quake

Find Epocentre

• Epicentre with circle intersection and process is called triangulation
• Seismic Waves get less in spread but greater with depth
• Energy decreases and rediction refereed to in attenuation

Soil and Ground

• Geology of ground movement
• Hard to resist homogenous crust and movement
• Earthquake is more damaging for east with more areas being felt

Amplification

• Amplification and ground movement
• Waves slow when travel through soil
• Enhanced damage
• Two earquakes same magnitude with different damage

Understanding Earthquake Cycle

• Cycle is hyperthosis explains successive process on faults
• Idea strain is cut then repeats to next cycle
• As stress increases rupture starts an inactive perdio

The Active to Mainshock Progression

• Active with smaller earthquakes with foreshocks that are moderate then mainshock happens
• The largest quake followed by a series of small tremors called foreshocks and aftershocks
• aftershock occurs =Aftershocks on the frist day Number of days are given

Geographic Risk for Earthquake

• Not randomly distributed, most earth quakes is circle of fire
• Bith north america is victoria Seattle sf Vancouver and mexico city are high risk
• These are plate boundary from separating at lithopseric plate with thrust and strike earthquakes

Normal Faults and Earthquakes

• Transports are transformed with one another
• CA with San Andreas Fault in one of cases
• Normal ones are under oceans and smaller are generally under a M6 and normal is M9

Plate Earthquakes

• Not on plate edge and under interior
• Damage can result in lack of prepared ess
• There are ones like st lawrence and central valley

Missouri and 1822

• New maidrid missoui was m7.5 felt throughout conitnetn
• Several different effects happen and cause death and property to suffer
• Primary= ground and suface
• 2nd cause liquefaction and tsunami

Effects of Surface Rupture

• Fault and cause damage crackes surface
• Scarp from movement during and earthquake
• Can up root trees Liquefaction. Trans solid to fluid to water levels

Ground Effect

• Strong earthquake
• water force to suspend with soild
• sediment companies
• watery sand up

landslides

• A single one will cause hundreds
• Ground from shake, causes gas leak.
• This cause 1906 quake.

Function

• Path way downward
• Resources and scenery increase in land

Human Impact

• Causing earthquakes
• Small to mid caused from human
• Trigged earthquakes for oil

Minimizes of Earthquake - Hazard

• Forecasting is possible from risk
• Have goals like national networks with source
• Potential and communicat

Forecasting

• Possiblity based is seismic gaps with changes to ground level
• Precursrs by patterns and quake change
• After modic incidents and tested reports released
• Current to tell before
• Can have less stress with trauma and have little
• Facilitys is in safe Build to stand vibration Drills Colapse kill

Precations

• Away from windows or glass Lession 7

Volcanoes

• Mos near plate boundaries, fire around the place
• Magma is inside
• Lava is flowing
• Silicone
• Have gases and temper that effect Silica cools has high V

Viscosity and Magma

• Volacones and Magma is 4 type- shield , domes, volcanic is classified
• Largest volacones as broad arcs with basaltic lava
• Have gentle flow contain tephra Fragmented with tephra deposis

Composite Volacones

Have lava ash flows More dang explode lessfrequent Near west coast Canada

Dome And Cone Cinders

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