The Atmosphere

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The Atmosphere

• Troposphere- Bottom Layer
• 0-12 km
• Where we live
• Stratosphere- Second Layer
• 12-50 km
• Ozone layer

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The Greenhouse Effect

• The atmosphere traps heat released from the earth
• Without Atmosphere earths average temperature
  would be -18C

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Convection Currents
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Natural Climate Change

• Milankovitch Cycles
• The shape of the earths orbit changes over a
  100,000 year cycle
• Decadal droughts may be caused by 11 year sunspot
  cycles
• Climate change may occur over the course of years
  or decades

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CO2 and Temp
Petit et al, 1999
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How global warming works
1. Suns energy comes through Earths atmosphere
3. Atmosphere contains some of suns warmth,
making Earth habitable
2. Some heat bounces back into space
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How global warming works
Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
Fossil fuels stored carbon
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How global warming works
Fossil fuels stored carbon
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Mt St. Helens on May 18, 1980
We put 8Mt St. Helens worth of CO2 into our
atmosphere every day
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El Nino
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Air Pollution

• Americans release 147 million metric tons of air
  pollution/year
• Air pollution has been reduced since 1990 by
  gt1million tons/year
• Sources of Major Pollutants
• Mostly from burning of fossil fuels

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Major Kinds of Pollutants

• Primary Pollutants Those that get released in a
  harmful form.
• Secondary Pollutants become hazardous after
  reactions in the air.

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Conventional Pollutants

• Sulfur dioxide
• Carbon Monoxide
• Particulates
• Volatile Organic Compounds
• Nitrogen Oxides
• Ozone
• Lead

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