TOP TEN THINGS TO STUDY FOR TEST #4

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 Test #4 is on THURSDAY Dec 5th

A Test #4 Study Session
will be held on Wednesday Dec 4th @ 4 - 5 pm in the
 Bannister Tree-Ring Building, Room 110

Like the other tests, Test #4 will consist of 10 multiple choice questions.  Some questions will be slight variations of the RQ questions, but other questions will be a bit harder than those in the RQ's and  will cover the material in class presentations and reading you've been doing.  NOTE: There WILL be an INDIVIDUAL test this time!

FOLLOWING ARE THE TOPICS & READINGS COVERED IN TEST #4   (also see the D2L Checklist)

  • Topic #13 Wrap-Up on Volcanism & the G-5 Group Activity  (Review Class Notes p 80-81)

  • Topic #14 - Ozone Depletion in the Stratosphere ( Class Notes pp 83-85)

  • Topic #15 Global Warming & Anthropogenic Forcing  (Class Notes pp 87-94)

  • Additional Key Concepts related to Topic #15:

    • Radiative Forcing figure on Class Notes p 89-90

    •  Global Dimming video and figures shown in class on Nov 21

    • Assignment I-1 to I-4 The Climate Science Basics Tutorials:  Lessons 1, 2, 3, and 4

READINGS:

Self Check&/ Readiness Quizzes: 

 SELF TESTS & RQ-7 & RQ-8  will help you to focus on the concepts of these readings that are most important for you to know and understand, in fact  SELF TESTS 7 & 8 are probably your BEST RESOURCES  to prepare for Test #4  -- in addition to Class Notes!

The test will also cover a few concepts from earlier in the semester (specified in the "Top 10" below) that are necessary background for the concepts of  Ozone Depletion & Global Warming. Note that some questions on the test may comes directly from Dr H's class presentations (along with the accompanying pages in Class Notes).  So if you have missed any classes, be sure you review these presentations online using the CLASS FOLLOW UP link.

AND NOW THE TOP TEN:

On Topic #13 Wrap-Up:  G-5 Volcanism & Climate Activity

1. Volcanism and Climate G-6 Activity (see pp 80-81 in Class Notes)  What is the difference between how the tropospheric and stratospheric temperature responds to an eruption and why?  Specific Hint:  Be able to tie all this into the ENERGY BALANCE as in question #5  on page 81 in Class Notes (see also # 10 below for info about  the Energy Balance and volcanism) . 

On Topic #14 - Ozone Depletion in the Stratosphere
 [NOTE:  Start out by going through the 6-bullet summary on p. 85 of Class Notes -(Ozone Depletion: What, Why & Where)- These are the key concepts to know and understand. ]

2. Ozone vertical distribution & the Chapman Mechanism -  Know where most of the Earth's ozone is located (what level in the atmosphere). Know how to interpret the absorption curve for Ozone/Oxygen  which you've seen before but is repeated on p 83 in Class Note.  Can you answer questions about O3’s ability to absorb both UV and IR wavelengths? Understand the difference between how ozone forms in the troposphere vs. the stratosphere and whether the O3 at these two levels is "good" or "bad." Know what a Dobson unit is [NOTE:   "Dobson units" are used to describe ozone column depth;  low Dobson units = greater ozone depletion.)

Specific Hint:   Know what the Chapman mechanism is,  where it operates in the atmosphere, and how it both produces and destroys ozone.  -- Know how photons are involved in the production and destruction of ozone through the Chapman mechanism.  Know what the process photodissociation (by UV) is and how it operates in the natural Chapman mechanism and in the anthropogenic destruction of ozone.

3. Anthropogenic-Related Depletion of Ozone -- Know what a catalyst is and why chlorine is considered a catalyst for ozone destruction.  Know what role CFCs play with respect to the depletion of ozone. 

Specific Hint:  Know how the link between  chlorine and ozone depletion was discovered (see SGC  Fig 1-7)   Mechanisms for halting ozone depletion -- Know how international agreements and CFC substitutes are both playing a role in the halting of stratospheric ozone depletion and why the ozone hole is taking such a long time to “heal." 

4. Antarctic Ozone Hole  -- Know what the Antarctic Ozone Hole is, when and where it occurs, and how the processes that are involved in it are unique when compared to the processes that affect the distribution of ozone over the rest of the globe.

Specific Hint:  Understand the importance of the Spring season, the  polar vortex and polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) for the development of the Antarctic ozone hole. Know the story of how the ozone hole was discovered .  

 

Topic #15 Global Warming & Anthropogenic Forcing

5. Carbon Reservoirs & Fluxes, -- Know what the major carbon reservoirs are and what processes lead to fluxes of carbon into (sinks) and out of (sources) these reservoirs, especially respiration/decomposition and photosynthesis (p 87 in Class Notes).

Specific Hint:  Understand what causes the annual oscillations in the Keeling Curve.  Know the chief causes of the currently observed rise in CO2 concentrations and how the atmospheric carbon steady state is being "perturbed" and disrupted.  Know that carbon emissions into the atmosphere have increased at an increasing rate since the Industrial Revolution due to both GHG emissions and land use change (i.e., deforestation). 

Specific Hint:  Know also that re-forested lands in the U.S. and Europe have recently become carbon sinks, while tropical deforestation has been accelerating dramatically (see graphs on p 88 in Class Notes & pp 174-175 in Dire Predictions.) 

6.  Radiative Forcing - Read IPCC: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION 2.1 How do Human Activities Contribute to Climate Change and How do they Compare with Natural Influences?  Know what radiative forcing is and how to read the important  Radiative Forcing figure shown on p 90 in Class Notes.  Could you use the figure on p 90 to answer a question about which forcings are best understood? Which are the most effective in forcing a radiative change? Which lead to warming and which lead to cooling?

Specific Hint:  What is the difference  in the forcing related to ozone in the stratosphere vs. the troposphere? 

7.  Climate Science Basics Tutorials (Lessons 1 -4)  and "Indicators of a Warming World" (p 93 in Class Notes)  and the:

 IPCC: CLIMATE CHANGE 2007: SYNTHESIS REPORT -- Summary for Policymakers ( p 2-6 only).

 -- Know the main " Indicators of a Warming World"  summarized on p 86 in Class Notes and covered in various places in the Climate Science Basics Tutorials. 

 Specific Hint:  Many of the "Indicators" (on Class Notes p 93) were covered in the movie "Too Hot Not to Handle."   Could you answer a question about one of these items addressed in the movie and/or covered in the Lessons of the Climate Science Basics Tutorials:  Heat Waves, Weather Extremes,  Snowpack, Forest Fires, Coral Reefs, Extinctions, Tropical Diseases, Pollen, Melting Alaska,  Rising Sea Level, Storm Surges, Hurricanes?

Specific Hint:  See also the section in Dire Predictions on how "fingerprints distinguish human and natural impacts on climate." ( pp 72-75).  Know how tropospheric and stratospheric temperatures change after the natural forcing of an volcanic eruption, vs. the anthropogenic forcing of the enhanced greenhouse effect.  


8.  Evidence from Natural Archives -  Know what the importance is of the time series plots of reconstructed temperature anomalies called "The Hockey Stick" and "The Spaghetti Plate" on p 91 in the Class Notes and in Questions #8 and #10 in Self Test #8 on Global Warming.  (see the Hockey Stick figure in color  HERE.  The Spaghetti Plate figure can be seen in color on p 47 in Dire Predictions.

Specific Hint:  What do the Hockey Stick and Spaghetti Plate figures suggest about whether the most recent warming is simply natural climate variability or anthropogenically influenced?  Also be sure you understand how the modified "Hockey stick" figure in Question #9 in Self-Test #8 on Global Warming ties together 3 different types of information: (1) the paleorecord, (2) the modern observed record, and (3) future model projections of the earth's average temperature.  Click HERE to see this same figure.

 

9.  Evidence from Natural vs. Anthropogenic Model Comparisons  --  See Section 2. on "Causes of Change" in the IPCC Synthesis Report Summary for Policy makers (SPM) and pp 64-71 in Dire Predictions on Climate Models. Also review p 92  in Class Notes and  Question #11 in Self Test #8 on Global Warming (including the HINT). 

Specific Hint:  Understand how the natural and anthropogenic- forced computer projections of temperature provide evidence about the role that anthropogenic forcing plays in explaining the observed temperature variations since 1900.

 

10. Be sure you understand how energy surplus and deficit changes can take place from different kinds of radiative forcings as displayed on the RADIATION / ENERGY BALANCE DIAGRAM ( Fig 4-2 in SGC  p 61 and also on p 69 in Class Notes).  A  brief review of the Radiation Balance Diagram and surplus and deficit changes was given on Monday Nov 7th.  The relevant part of the presentation refers to Question # 5 on p 81 in Class Notes and the shift of curve A and B after a major volcanic eruption.  The presentation  given on Nov 7th as background to teh G-6 Assignment on Volcanism  spells out how to reason this out (see Class Follow-Up).  The answer to Question #5 on p 81 of Class Notes is given in the presentation on Nov 12th (see Class Follow Up).

Specific Hint:  How might Curves A and/or B shift if -- instead of volcanic forcing -- the forcing was an anthropogenically enhanced GH Effect??    How might forcing from  Global (Solar) Dimming  shift Curves A or B?  (see examples below)

 

  The "Hockey Stick" Figure
(yellow area indicates the range of uncertainty in the values of the reconstructed temperatures)

 

The "Spaghetti Plate" Figure
(see p 46-47 in Dire Predictions)

 
curves-A+B
cruves-A+B-moved