Isaac+Notes+and+Research

toc

Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect
August 28th When the Sun’s rays hit the surface of the earth, some of those rays are reflected back out into space by clouds and ice especially, however some are retained. They are retained either by direct absorbance by the surface of the earth, such as the heating of pavement, or they are stopped by certain gases in the air called Greenhouse Gases. As the Greenhouse Gases trap the sun’s rays, they change that energy into heat, which warms the atmosphere, and in turn the surface of the Earth, and its oceans. Recently excess Carbon Dioxide has been released into the atmosphere due to the consumption of fossil fuels. This excess increases the greenhouse effect, which increases the temperature of the Earth. This can have adverse effects, such as making more water evaporate into the air, making ice melt, and raising sea level. Our climate is hugely effected by such changes, especially because water vapor is the largest Greenhouse Gas, ice is one of the most reflective surfaces on Earth, and the oceans absorb a lot of heat from the sun’s rays. Altogether it creates a cycle which is drawing the entirety of Earth down a dangerous path. However, humans can change way they live and work towards improving our alternative energy sources to reduce Carbon Dioxide emissions in an attempt to slow or reverse this process.

Goldilock's Principle Assignment

 * August 29th **

The Earth, Venus and Mars are three planets that are well situated to benefit from the energy output of the sun, yet all 3 have very different atmospheres and surface conditions. Scientists who first probed the potential of increased greenhouse gases effects on Earth’s climate looked for clues about our future by examining the conditions on our nearest neighbors. Complete this table. //Be sure to include a complete reference and URL for any sources you use to find the necessary information//.


 * Atmospheric Gas || Venus || Earth || Mars ||
 * Carbon Dioxide ( percent || 96.5% || 0.03% || 95% ||
 * Nitrogen (N2) || 3.5% || 78.08% || 2.7% ||
 * Oxygen (O2) || trace || 20.95% || 0.13% ||
 * Argon (Ar) || .0007% || 0.93% || 1.6% ||
 * Methane (CH4) || 0 || .000179% || 0 ||
 * Surface Pressure – Relative to the Earth ( in bars) || 90 || 1 || .0007 ||
 * Major Greenhouse Gases (abbreviated to GHG) || CO2 || H2O, CO2 || CO2 ||
 * Actual temperature © || 477 || 15 || -47 ||
 * Temperature if no GHG © || -46 || -18 || -57 ||
 * Temperature due to GHG ( C) || +523 || +33 || +10 ||

The findings of scientists review evidence about the three planets is often referred to as the “Goldilock’s Principle” after the Fairytale character of that name’s response to each of the items she found in the three bears home while they were out for a walk.

Missing from the table is information about the difference in surface pressures on each of the planets that account for the “amount” of atmosphere that is found on each. Venus has 90 times the surface pressure of Earth, and Mars 0.007 times the pressure.

From examining the contents of the completed table, what do you think explains the differences between Earth and its neighboring planets?

Earth comparatively has a much larger concentration of Nitrogen and Oxygen, and an almost nonexistent concentration of Carbon Dioxide. The existence of Liquid water on Earth is due to the extreme differences in temperature between the planets. The presence of such a high density of gases on Venus along with the presence of so many greenhouse gases made surface temperature too hot for liquid water. On the other hand, the surface temperature of Mars is so cold do to its relatively sparse atmosphere, despite its high percentage concentration of greenhouse gases.

I found the exact same website as I believe others found, and thus fell into step with the existing uniformity.

"Activity 1 Teacher Guide: The Goldilocks Principle." //ucar.edu//. Web. 30 Aug. 2010. <[]>. August 31st

Chapter Two Questions:
1. 8640 kJ per day, and .96kg of coal.2. 1.24776288x10^10 calories, 100kcal per ear of corn, 1,039,802 vs 100,000, which is a little less than 10% efficiency.

Chapter Three Questions:
1. Fin = Fout is based off of the basic principle of chemistry, the First Law of Thermodynamics. It states that energy can only change form, it can be neither created nor destroyed. Therefore Energy in must equal energy out.  2.You measure the size of the shadow created by the Earth and not the actual surface area because of how the sunlight hits the Earth. In some parts, namely near the equator in the middle of the day, it is very intense, however near higher latitudes, or during dawn or dusk, the light intensity is not as high. Thus we use the area of the shadow to measure the intensity of the sunlight.  3. Since I wasn’t sure to put for the two variable on the bottom of the radical, though I know the emissivity would be less than one, I got about 200K as the value for venus, and around 150K ish for Mars. Somehow, I don’t think I got the values right…

Chapter Three Questions Part II:
October 4th 1. Since Iup,atmosphere + Idown,atmosphere = Iup,ground is the energy budget for the atmosphere and Iup,ground = Iin,solar + Idown,atmosphere is the budget for the ground,by adding the equations together and simplifying, it is clear that Iup,atmosphere = Iin,solar.2. The skin temperature of the Earth is important because it helps us derive most of the other parts of our model, especially the Tground. The skin temperature is also important because it is the most effected by the incoming Sunlight, and it is equal to the Tatmosphere.

The Greenhouse Effect, Revisited
Since the beginning of this course, I have begun to really understand the science behind the Greenhouse Effect. The sun emits energy that is in the visible light spectrum. When this light hits objects, it is absorbed and re-emitted as Infrared Light, which we feel as heat. Due to the nature of the bonds between the Carbon and Oxygen atoms, visible light passes directly through the atmosphere of the Earth, passing onto the surface. The light is then reflected to a certain degree, according to the substance it hits. __All__ substances emit IR light at room temperature, especially when hit by visible light. This IR light is usually reflected back into the atmosphere, heading towards space. On its way out, the IR light runs into Carbon atoms however due to the flexing ability of the bonds in Carbon Dioxide, they are able to absorb two main wavelengths of IR light. When they absorb this light, they flex and stretch due to the energy The moving molecule then emits the IR light back into the atmosphere randomly. Each molecule absorbs some heat from the light during absorption, flex, and emission. On a massive scale, the Carbon Dioxide slows the escape of energy from Earth and so with the incoming sunlight, more energy, and therefore heat, is contained on the surface of the Earth and it's atmosphere at any given time. All this increases the overall temperature of the Earth, and clearly more Carbon Dioxide is in the atmosphere, the more IR light is absorbed and re-emitted.

Chapter Four 1 October 31st
1. a) 10 additional ppm of methane is thirty times more powerful than 10 ppm of CO2 according to the book. This is due to the exponential decay rate of the IR emitted from the Earth as greenhouse gas concentrations increase. b) Methane absorbs at about 1260-1340 range. It would not take very many ppm for methane to saturate. This happens when the intensity of the range of light cannot get any lower. You would be able to see it manifested in a "bottoming out" of the methane drop, followed by a widening, provided the methane ppm kept going up. c) no, the methane would have a larger effect because of points made in question A. d) to be equivalent, you would have to multiply the CO2 concentration by 60. 30:1

Research Question Possibilities
1. In hurricane formation, how does the dust in the air from African "easterly waves" of dust effect the formation of hurricanes over the Atlantic?

2. How do significant amounts of dust/volcanic ash/debris in the atmosphere above the pacific ocean contribute to algae growth and thus hurricane formation?

3. How are the micro-organisms/algae living in the Atlantic related to (either by effecting or getting effected) by hurricane formation? -more specifically dealing with but not limited to: surface temperature and moisture levels.

Chapter Four Question Three
a) 291.362 W/m*m - 287.718 W/m*m = 3.643 W/m*m

b) 289.916 W/m*m - 287.718 W/m*m = 2.198 W/m*m. This answer is lower than the original, and thus makes the Earth less sensitive to CO2 because there is less IR radiation leaving the Earth, and thus are more greenhouse gases already present.

c) base: 386ppm CO2 and 0 degrees Ground Temp. Offset.

Increase by 70ppm CO2. The IR decreased by .753 W/m*m. It took a .35 degree C increase in ground temperature to counteract the increase in ppm of CO2 in constant relative humidity. Increase by 70ppm CO2. The IR decreased by .753 W/m*m. It took a .22 degree C increase in ground temperature to counteract the increase in ppm of CO2 in constant Vapor Pressure.

When Vapor Pressure is constant, there is a smaller increase in temperature to account for the increase in CO2.

Research Question Nov. 16th
Is there a positive connection between (Saharan) dust and debris and algae growth resulting in Hurricane formation? 1. Does the question deal with a topic or issue that interests me enough to spark my own thoughts and opinions? Yes, definitely. 2. Is the question easily and fully researchable given the time and resources that you will have access to during the spring semester? The level of research and the depth of information and data analysis depends on the time allotted. With two people I believe that a decent depth is definitely achievable. 3. What type of information do I need to answer the research question? For example: the research question, "What effect does carbon dioxide levels kept at 200 ppm above ambient have on the growth rate of a stand of loblolly pine trees over 17 years ? " will obviously require certain types of information. Be sure to list the types of information and how you will obtain them. Online data – NASA, NOAA, online data sets from research papers. NASA data and modeling software at McCallie. 4. Is the scope of this information reasonable? (e.g., can I really research a hurricane model that is currently in use to estimate hurricane intensity and frequency?) By using current information, and applying data to available models, this is definitely possible. 5. Given the type and scope of the information that I need, is my question too broad, too narrow, or just right? Too broad, if anything. 6. What sources will have the type of information that I need to answer the research question. Consider whether you will need to collect data and if so what instrumentation will you need, data that has already been collected, journals, books, internet resources, government documents, other researchers)? Journals, collected data, internet resources, government documents and possibly other researchers – whatever we can find that is applicable. 7. Can I access these sources? Yes.  8. Given my answers to the above questions, do I have a good quality research question that I actually will be able to answer by doing research? I believe so.  Applicable Internet resources:  []  []  []  [] specifically, [] [] [] [] Especially, []

Leaf Litter Data compared to MODIS Data: