Atmosphere + Biosphere
Layer of the atmosphere we live in and where almost all weather occurs
What is the troposphere?
____ percent of Earth's surface is covered by oceans.
What is 71%?
The main gas responsible for anthropogenic causes of climate change
What is carbon dioxide (CO2)?
Approximate [CO2] in the atmosphere before the industrial revolution (ppm)
What is about 280 ppm?
The type of electromagnetic radiation with the shortest wavelength and highest energy
What are gamma rays?
This causes air to rise in the atmosphere, forming clouds and precipitation
What is warm air rising, cooling, and condensing water vapor (process of convection)?
The two main factors that control the density of ocean water
What are temperature and salinity?
Two main human activities responsible for CO2 emissions
What is fossil fuel burning and land use change?
In the "bathtub analogy," what represents the sources and sinks of carbon
What is the faucet (sources) and the drain (sinks)?
This law states that hotter objects emit radiation at shorter wavelengths
What is Wien's Law?
The name of the large convection cell that dominates tropical circulation and helps form rainforests and deserts
What is the Hadley Cell?
The name of the global ocean circulation system driven by temperature and salinity differences
What is thermohaline circulation (the global ocean conveyor belt)?
This fossil fuel produces gasoline for car engines
What is oil?
This percentage of human-made CO₂ emissions stays in the atmosphere each year
What is roughly 48-50%?
Earth’s radiation is mainly emitted in this part of the electromagnetic spectrum
What is infrared?
The two main processes that cycle carbon through the land and ocean biosphere
What is photosynthesis and respiration?
Where most deep ocean convection occurs, forming dense sinking water
What is in the North Atlantic and around Antarctica?
Amount atmospheric CO2 has increased since 1700 (%)
What is about 50%?
These two major natural sinks remove carbon from the atmosphere
What is the ocean and the land biosphere (plants, soils)?
This process causes the sky to appear blue
What is scattering (especially of shorter wavelengths like blue light)?
How the atmosphere and biosphere are connected through the Hadley Cell
What is rising moist air near the equator creates rainforests, while sinking dry air around 30° latitude creates deserts—linking air circulation to biome locations?
This process makes it difficult for surface waters to mix with deep waters in most parts of the ocean.
What is stratification (warmer, fresher, less dense water sits on top of colder, saltier, denser water)?
Total estimated global CO2 emission from human activity in 2024 (GtCO2/year)
What is about 41.6 GtCO2/year
Three main processes that help the land biosphere absorb carbon
What is reforestation, longer growing seasons, and CO₂ fertilization?
How do greenhouse gases like CO₂ and H₂O affect infrared radiation?
What is they absorb and re-emit it in all directions, trapping heat in the atmosphere?