Sundarshan+Notes+and+Research

Possible information sources:
http://www.reference-global.com/doi/abs/10.1515/BOT.2006.032 http://www.geosociety.org/news/pr/09-60.htm

__**The Green House Effect**__ **- Thursday August 26, 2010**
The industrial revolution was the catalyst fortoc a change in the manufacturing process of products. Mass production was introduced, and fossil fuels were the essential energy source to support the production of large quantities of consumer goods at a very rapid rate. Because of the relatively cheap price and high availability of fossil fuels, humans relied on oil, coal, natural gas, etc. as their main source of energy for the next century. However, new studies have shown that our increasing use of such fuels has caused dangerous levels of carbon dioxide to accumulate in the ozone layer of the atmosphere. This build up of CO 2 has caused a phenomenon that scientists are calling "the greenhouse effect."

The vast majority of solar rays that penetrate our atmosphere and reach the earth are reflected back up through the atmosphere and back into space. This natural process (occurring for millions of years) helps the earth to receive much needed sunlight but at the same time stay at the optimum temperature. However, the over buildup of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is blocking some of the escaping solar rays. The excess heat is thus trapped in our atmosphere and as a result, the overall global temperature is increasing at an alarming rate. This phenomenon is called the greenhouse effect.

__**The Goldilocks Principle Assignment**__ **- Monday August 30, 2010**
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% || 95.32% ||
 * Nitrogen (N2) || 3.5% || 78% || 2.7% ||
 * Oxygen (O2) || >.001% or approx. 0% || 21% || .13% ||
 * Argon (Ar) || 70 ppm || .9% || 1.6% ||
 * Methane (CH4) || None || .002% || 10.5 ppb ||
 * Surface Pressure - Relative to the Earth ( in bars) || 92 bars || 1 bar || .007 bars or 7millibars ||
 * Major Greenhouse Gases (abbreviated to GHG) || -46 || H2O, CO2 || CO2 ||
 * Actual temperature (C) || 480oC || 15oC || -63oC ||
 * Temperature if no GHG (C) || -46 oC || -18 oC || -77oC ||
 * Temperature due to GHG ( C) || +523 oC || +33oC || +10oC ||

__Bibliography__ Nissan, Moti. //The Greenhouse Effect: A Comparative Planetary Perspective.// Wayne State University, 1990. Web. 30 Aug. 2010. .

Soper, Davidson. E. //Atmosphere of Mars.// Institute of Theoretical Science, University of Oregon, 2002. Web. 30 Aug. 2010. .

//Greenhouse Effect.// The Encuclopedia of Earth, 31 Dec. 1969. Web. 30 Aug. 2010. .

Wigand, Rob & Joe Twicken. //Greenhouse Effect.// Stanford University, 17 Nov. 1999. Web. 30 Aug. 2010. .

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

I believe that the main explanation for the differences between the properties of the 3 planets is their distance from the sun. For example, when analyzing the average surface temperature of the three planets without considering greenhouse gasses, one can see that Venus (closest to the sun) is the hottest, Earth (in the middle) is of a medium temperature that is optimal for life, and finally Mars (farthest away from the sun) is the coldest planet.

**__Chapter 3 Reading and Problems__ - September 26, 2010**
1. The expression Fin=Fout represents our assumption that amount of energy entering earth is always equal to the amount of energy leaving it. In the real world, this is not always the case, as there may be some energy equality anomalies that are correlated with different geographical regions.

2. The Fin equation requires the area that the incoming energy (solar energy) shines on. However, one has to remember that the sun does not shine on all parts of the earth at once, but rather only on one side of the earth at a time. So, in order to take this factor into consideration, we measure the size of the shadow, and use this for the equation. Thus, we end up substituting the equation for the area of a circle (rather than a sphere) in place of the A [m2] variable.



__**Chapter 3 Reading and Problems Part II**__ **- October 4, 2010**
1. The budget equation for the earth overall consists of two parts that equal each other, Iup atmosphere and Iin solar. When analyzing the other two given equations (atmosphere budget and ground budget), we can see that each of them have one of the equalizing variables in the overall earth budget equation. When we rearrange the previous two equations to solve for these variables, we get the following results: a. Iup atmosphere = Iup ground – Idown atmosphere b. Iin solar = Iup ground – Idown atmosphere As we can see, both of the above rearranged equations cancel (or equalize) and thus justify the overall budget equation for the earth. This property is critical because we must be sure that the total intensity in the system is constant (or in other words, the energy coming in must equal the energy going out) in order to solve for the two variables Tground and Tatmosphere. 2. The one place in the earth system that is directly controlled by the rate of incoming solar energy is the skin temperature of the earth. This information is critical because we can use the skin temperature as a relative base to derive other parts of our model, such as the ground temperature. We can do this because we know that the skin temperature of the earth is equal to the temperature of earth’s atmosphere.

3.

**__The Greenhouse Effect Revisited__ - October 5, 2010**
In the beginning of the course, I gave a rough description of the green house effect that went along these lines: Sunlight hits the earth, and some of this sunlight is trapped in the earth, thus causing the green house effect. Although this outline is correct in its most basic interpretation, it leaves out many of the details that act as key characteristics of the Green House Effect and parallel theories. Through the course, I have learnt the importance of infrared rays with respect to radiation, global warming, and the green house effect. Thus, with this new information, the following is a revised description of the greenhouse effect from my point of view:

The sun radiates energy that penetrates to all planets in our solar system. This same energy is the most basic and most important fuel of earth. Solar energy reaches the earth in the form of electromagnetic waves that pass through the atmosphere and reach the earth’s surface. Here, the energy from the sun proceeds to heat up objects and organisms on the earth. When these objects absorb enough heat, they release radiation (IR radiation in particular) due to their inherent blackbody properties. It is important to note that heat can also radiate back out to the atmosphere by way of reflection, caused by some objects’ high albedo and reflective properties. When this radiated and reflected heat reaches the atmosphere on its way out to space, most IR rays are bounced back into the earth. This phenomenon is due to the accumulation of water vapor and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Thus, the IR radiation and resulting heat is “trapped” within the earth’s atmosphere, and thus, the earth’s temperature will gradually start to increase.

**__Daisy World Lab - Response Questions__ - October 12, 2010**
 1. The death rate seems to control the total number of daisies (represented by the living area) as per the following relationship: 1 – death rate = living area/# of daisies. When the living area is increased, the number of daisies on the planet is increased. We can also see from the second graph that the number of daisies and temperature of the planet are inversely related. Thus, we can conclude that as the death rate decreases, the daises have an increased ability to control (reduce) the temperature of the planet.

2. As the insulation increases, the daisies have a greater ability to control the temperature of the planet. A large part of vegetation’s ability to cool an environment is related to the plants’ release of water vapor through the transpiration process. Only if there is an atmosphere present (higher insulation) will this method work. In a spatial structure of the planet, the daisies may be able to control the temperatures at lower insulations, thereby increasing their resiliency and ability to survive in harsh conditions.

3. The initial switch from 1000 to 5 in the “max per” parameter affected the % area of the white daisies and the daisies’ ability to control the temperature over the solar luminosity interval from approximately .8 to .85. When we increase the max per parameter by increments as instructed (shown above), we can see that as the maximum value increases, the number of daisies present is equal at all habitable luminosity values. In addition, the range of solar luminosity values at which the daisies can survive also seems to increase slightly.

6. When the number of black daisies is larger than the number of white daisies, the temperature of the planet is above the barren rock temperature. When the opposite is true, the temperatures fall below the barren rock temperature. The temperature equals that of the barren rock temperature when the number of black daisies equals the number of white daises, or when there are no daisies on the planet. The above inference only has predictive power in daisy worlds with three colors. When more colors are introduced, it seems that these additional colors also influence the temperature.

7. As solar luminosity increases, it seems that a desert environment fosters a higher increase in the temperature than a barren rock environment. When the desert albedo parameter was inserted, the temperature soared to 80 degrees Celsius at a solar luminosity of 1.5, whereas the temperature in the barren rock environment only reached this high at a luminosity of 1.9. Moreover, when inserting the given short vegetation albedo values for daisies, one can see that plants on earth are not nearly as resilient as the daises in the model, as the range of survival decreased by six units of solar luminosity.

9. When looking at the 12-color scenario, one can clearly see an evolutionary pathway. As solar luminosity increases over time, a higher albedo is needed for the daisies to survive. Thus, at lower luminosities, we see daises with low albedos (around .5). As time progresses, the luminosity increases, leaving natural selection to favor species that have evolved to have higher albedos than their ancestors. This explains the active progression of colors and increasing vales of albedo over time (max at .75), until the luminosity becomes too much for the daisy species to tolerate.

10. Obviously, objects with higher albedo values tend to be lighter and more reflective. But the color progression of the daisies over time does not follow this trend, as we see dark colors in between lighter ones, etc. Thus, the appearance of the different daisies is purely random, and not based on evolutionary succession. In order to select a correct explanation from the ones given above, we have to analyze the evidence supporting each one. Whichever theory has more support for its cause and fewer arguments against it will be the winner.

11. The answer once again has to do with adaptation to the environment and evolution. Initially, many different types, or species, of daisies grow in the environment. Overtime, some of these species are more successful than others, and the process of natural selection eventually weeds out the less successful species.

12. Even those who write “just so” stories can come up with elaborate and convincing arguments towards their cause. However, I believe that we as researchers must look to see whether the source provides physical evidence in the form of data. In other words, has the source physically performed an experiment or research and analysis regarding the topic that supports their claim? Alternatively, are they simply piling together arguments based on existing information and their imagination? By reading and researching proactively, researchers can effectively discern fluff from real information.

**__Questions for FACE site reserachers__** - October 23, 2010
Why were loblolly pine trees chosen over other species of trees for this site? Where does the funding for this research site come from? Is it solely sponsored by Duke? How does the information gathered on this site contribute to increasing the global awareness for climate change and the warming of the earth? Could you explain the differences between the physiology, soil, and vegetation sectors of the FACTS-1 experiment?

1. How does the spewing of significant amounts of dust into the atmsophere above the Pacific occean east of Australia contribute to algae, and thereby, hurricane formation?
 * __Possible Research Questions__ - November 2, 2010**

2. Were Kerry Emanuel’s model based hurricane predictions accurate when compared to the data from the 2010 season?

3. What are the causes for the recent radical trends in the Indian monsoons?

4. Could large concentration of dust clouds over the Atlantic ocean act to cool the ocean and thereby reduce hurricane formation?

__**Chapter 4, Problem #3**__ **- November 7, 2010**

a. (Final IR output) - (Initial IR output) = (291.518 - 287.844) = 3.674 W/m2

b. New Change in IR out = 2.198; meaning that setting the model to hold water vapor at constant relative humidity causes a lower outgoing IR energy Flux. It is important to note that a large change in temperature is needed in order to generate significant increases in the outgoing IR flux. Thus, the earth will be much more sensitive CO2 increases, which is a vital greenhouse gas in our atmosphere. c. At constant vapor pressure, the temperature increase needed to bring the IR flux back to the original value was .11 degrees Celsius. At constant relative humidity, the temperature increases needed is .18 degrees Celsius, a bigger change than the previous scenario.

__**Leaf Litter Collection Data**__ - **Collected and privately recorded over past two months, Posted on Dec. 10, 2010**
 * Collection Date ID# || Date || Site Name, Collector Name || Weather || Today's Count (# of baskets) ||  || Leaf Total ||
 * 1 || Oct 7, 2010 || Apex, Sudarshan Mohan || Sunny || 3 (4) ||  || 3 ||
 * 2 || Oct 11, 2010 || Apex, Sudarshan Mohan || Sunny || 0 (4) ||  || 3 ||
 * 3 || Oct 14, 2010 || Apex, Sudarshan Mohan || Drizzling || 1 (4) ||  || 4 ||
 * 4 || Oct 18, 2010 || Apex, Sudarshan Mohan || Cloudy || 5 (4) ||  || 9 ||
 * 5 || Oct 21, 2010 || Apex, Sudarshan Mohan || Sunny || 9 (3) basket flew away ||  || 18 ||
 * 6 || Oct 25, 2010 || Apex, Sudarshan Mohan || Rainy || 8 (3) basket flew away ||  || 26 ||
 * 7 || Oct 28, 2010 || Apex, Sudarshan Mohan || Sunny || 15 (4) ||  || 41 ||
 * 8 || Nov 1, 2010 || Apex, Sudarshan Mohan || Sunny || 12 (4) ||  || 53 ||
 * 9 || Nov 4, 2010 || Apex, Sudarshan's dad ||  || 9 (3) basket flew away ||   || 62 ||
 * 10 || Nov 8, 2010 || Apex, Sudarshan Mohan || Sunny || 26 (4) ||  || 88 ||
 * 11 || Nov 11, 2010 || Apex, Sudarshan's dad ||  || 12 (4) ||   || 100 ||
 * 12 || Nov 15, 2010 || Apex, Sudarshan Mohan || Cloudy || 6 (4) ||  || 106 ||
 * 13 || Nov 18, 2010 || Apex, Sudarshan Mohan || Cloudy || 7 (4) ||  || 113 ||
 * 14 || Nov 22, 2010 || Apex, Sudarshan Mohan || Sunny || 5 (4) ||  || 118 ||

**__Comparison of MODIS and Leaf Litter Data (above):__ Dec 11, 2010**