Solution Assignment 1 on Earth Science: Weather and Climate | GEOG 1110, Study notes of Climatology

Download Solution Assignment 1 on Earth Science: Weather and Climate | GEOG 1110 and more Study notes Climatology in PDF only on Docsity! Mary Day GEOG 1110 GEOG1110 Assignment 1 Instructions: 1. Work on these questions each week, as you complete the readings and quizzes for each chapter. 2. Answer ALL questions. 3. Submit your completed assignment to the ‘Assignment 1 drop box’ on or before the due date. 4. Late assignments will be assessed a 20% late penalty, and late assignments will not be accepted more than 72hrs (3 days) beyond the due date without a doctor’s excuse. * NOTES: 1. All answers must be in your own words. Do not copy from the textbook (this is plagiarism unless you use quotation marks and reference your source). Please see the syllabus for details on the plagiarism policy for this course. 2. To turn in a sketch, you have several options -- sketch by hand and scan or take a digital picture, or sketch using a drawing program (i.e. Paint - found under accessories in Windows computers). Chapter 1 questions 1. A hot trend in geography is to study a problem at multiple scales. For example, to look at how a local system may impact a global system, or how global changes may manifest themselves at the local level (e.g. how global climate change may have an impact on the spatial distribution of fire ants). Flip through the textbook and/or surf the web for ideas, then provide me with two examples of cross-scale relationships in geography. Be sure to not only state the answer, but also to explain how your example addresses a geographic question at multiple scales. When living in near a river or a pond, mosquitoes are common. This is especially true when living in warmer climates. When visiting Baton Rouge, LA during the summer month, I went on top of a water silo near a swap. It felt as if it were raining. It was not rain; it was mosquitoes flying by and feeding on my friend and me. Mosquitoes breed in still water and warm climate. Baton Rouge provided these accommodations for mosquitoes. Snakes are cold-blooded reptiles that live in warm weather. Their skin is not thick enough to keep their blood at the temperature needed to survive. During cool sunny days, they can be found on top of rock or on pavement. The hard surfaces provide low albedo values thus having higher temperatures. This helps to keep snakes’ blood at temperatures that is needed for survival. 2. Click on the links below for full size images of the thumbnails provided. a. The Living Earth (http://flatplanet.sourceforge.net/maps/images/earth-living.jpg ) Click on the link above for a full-size image, and notice the arid and semi-arid areas that appear brown/yellow in color. Choose three arid areas and describe where they are located with respect to their latitudinal zone and proximity to oceans or mountain chains. Describe Mary Day GEOG 1110 the pattern that you see? Hint: You may wish to skip ahead to Chapter 10 for an explanation of the patterns you see. North Africa is located right on the equator. The land is very dry and receives very little rain. There are very few rivers or lakes. The large are span of land is flat and provides little shaded area. North Africa is an arid desert providing tropical, subtropical climate. A large part of Australia is considered desert land as well. The last is about 30 degrees south of the Equator. Although the land is surrounded by water, there are few large rivers or lakes. The land is also relatively flat. Australia also a tropical, subtropical climate. Much of west North America provides semiarid areas. Again the land does not provide many mountains. b. Earth at night ( http://geology.com/articles/satellite-photo-earth-at-night.shtml) Click on the link above to see a full-size set of images of Earth at night. Use these images along with an atlas or online maps to identify five major urban areas. What can you say in general about the relationships between these urban areas and the physical characteristics of the land (i.e. proximity to mountains, coasts, arid areas)? The locations dotted on the map include New York City; Paris, France; Beijing, China; Tokyo, Japan; and Sydney, Australia. These areas are close to the ocean and provide land that is not very flat. The areas provide mesothermal climates. These climates provide are not deserts and have precipitation. 3. Consider how maps might be useful in your day-to-day life. a. Search online for a map that relates to your job or field of study, and copy and paste it here (be sure to include the link). http://sites.target.com/site/en/spot/search_results_print.jsp? &mapType=enhanced&startAddress=37601&startingLat=36.353811630987096&startingLong=- 82.34380440718992&_requestid=1398342 Mary Day GEOG 1110 a. Which bands in the spectrum does the incoming energy from the sun consist of? Visible, ultra- violet, x-rays, and gamma ray bands b. Which bands does the outgoing energy from Earth consist of? Thermal infrared, microwave, radio wave bands a) Notice that the relative amount of incoming versus outgoing energy is not equal. List some of the ways the sun’s energy is used by the biosphere – your Animations CD (Chapter 2: Electromagnetic Spectrum and Plants) may be helpful. The sun helps produce photosynthesis and allows us to see color by reflecting visible rays off objects. 8. Two remote sensing images are displayed in the last figure in Chapter 2. The top one was taken in January (Northern hemisphere winter) and the bottom one was taken in July (Northern hemisphere summer). Compare the snow and vegetative cover in the two images, and relate this to the variation in the sun’s declination throughout the year. Be specific. The location of the subsolar point is located closer to the Tropic of Capricorn in the winter months, which is further away from the Northern Hemisphere. Since the subsolar point is further away, we, in the Northern Hemisphere receive less sunlight. Thus many of our plants in the North hibernate of die for the year. In the summer months, the Northern Hemisphere receives more sunlight. The vegetation increases with more sunlight. The Northern Hemisphere is warmer and more plants are blooming. Vice versa for the Southern Hemisphere. Chapter 3 Questions 9. Fill in the following table describing Earth’s atmospheric structure Layer Location (altitude range above Earth’s surface) Temperature trends Chemical composition (what elements are found in this layer? Function (what is this layer’s purpose?) Troposphere < 5mi to 11 mi -50C to 20C Water vapor Weather Stratosphere 11mi to 31mi -70F to 32F Oxygen and diatomic oxygen Jet Streams Mesosphere 30mi to 55mi Avg -130F to 45F Oxygen and nitrogen Burns meteors Thermosphere 300mi to 155mi +2200F Nitrogen and oxygen Protection of UV Rays 10. Your text states that natural sources of pollution “produce a greater quantity of pollutants … than do human-made sources”. a) Explain why this is NOT a reason to dismiss the effect of anthropogenic pollutants on air quality. Although natural sources of pollution produce greater quantity of pollutants than human-made sources, it is not reason to ignore the effects of human-made pollutants. People are continuing to Mary Day GEOG 1110 move into metropolitan regions; estimated to be almost 50% of the human population. With this continuing to happen, more cars are being used and in these areas; smog is prevalent in large cities making and continues to affect our breathing. Also with the continued use of aerosols, aerosol pollution is breaking up our ozone. Peroxyacetyl nitrates do not harm humans, but they do harm our plants. With these pollutants killing our plants, it affects the food we eat and forests. b) Go to http://www.scorecard.org/ and enter the zip code of your home town, then click on “get report”. On the next page, scroll down to the section labeled “AIR”. Report on what you found. Do NOT simply cut and paste the web page. Summarize in your own words, and include your impressions. I was raised in East Tennessee, so my findings consisted of information from this area. Washington County, TN was ranked in the top 80% for lead concentration and volatile organic compound emissions; 50% for nitrogen dioxide concentration and sulfur dioxide emissions. ETSU is the number one contributor to carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide emissions, second for nitrogen oxides, and fifth for volatile organic compound emissions. East Tennessee, Washington County was rated in the top 80% for added cancer risks in the United States. This was very surprising to me. I was not aware of how polluted our county is. If there is an awareness program for pollutants in our area, I am not aware of it. 11. Ozone can be both good and bad. In the stratosphere, it forms the ozone layer which intercepts UV radiation and protects Earth. On the other hand, ozone at ground level is a pollutant that damages biological tissues (children are especially vulnerable). Car exhaust is converted into ozone through a series of chemical reactions that create photochemical smog, which is a primary air pollutant in our area. Recently EPA changed the air quality standard for ozone, which has implications for our region since we are very close to “non-attainment status” (this means that our air quality is close to being in violation of these limits). Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia have partnered in an effort to increase awareness and reduce violations of air quality standards for ozone by forming the Ozone Action Partnership. Visit http://faculty.etsu.edu/delucia/oap/ or another site(s) of your choosing and report back on your findings. The Ozone Action Partnership states that we have been very close to exceeding the national standard for bad ozone. If these levels accelerate, our region will be mandated to have annual vehicle inspections. The top contributors to our pollution are motor vehicles and our manufacturing industries. The website gives helpful tips to not contribute to pollutants; some that I had not considered were using battery powered lawn mowers or waiting until after 6 p.m. to mow. During the summer months are when bad ozone is at its worst. Affected people are people like me who are active outside. This is due to not only being outside, but breathing heavily because of being active. Chapter 4 Questions 12. Examine the general pattern of seasonal radiation, keeping in mind Earth’s radiation budget: NET R = SWin + LWin – SWout – LWout a. Use your own words to explain the meaning of each term in this equation (the Energy Essentials section on your CD has several animations that may be useful). Net radiation is the balance of incoming outgoing short and longwave radiation. http://www.colorado.edu/geography/class_homepages/geog_1001_f10/lectures/ Lecture_5_surface_energy_balance_Molotch_guest%20lecture.pdf Mary Day GEOG 1110 b. Consider the SWout term (albedo). Run the Global Albedo Values Animation on your CD or check out the images of planetary albedo found at http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/wxwise/homerbe.html (click on the month names to access the albedo image for each month). Explain the seasonal pattern, relating it to snow cover, vegetation, deserts etc. in each hemisphere). During the winter months, the sun is further away from that point of the earth. The clouds are at lower levels as well. The clouds tend to block some of the heat of the sun. Deserts have less clouds causing high albedos. 13. Describe the general daily pattern of radiation (all components that make up Earth’s net radiation budget) and how this relates to daily temperature variations. Net radiation is low in the night time. As the sun hits the earth at points, the radiation level rise. As the net radiation becomes more abundant, the temperature rise, and the opposite for night time. http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/7l.html 14. Use your own words to explain the following: a. The relationship between the Greenhouse Effect and Global Climate Change. The greenhouse effect is when gases are trapped within an area that causes the temperature to rise. The same is happing with Global Climate Change. Gases, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane, get trapped in our atmosphere. As this continues to happen, the earth continues to get warmer. b. How the presence of clouds can have both a warming effect (cloud greenhouse forcing) and a cooling effect (cloud albedo forcing). Clouds can trap gases in the ozone as well as reflect the sun’s energy. This depends on the condensity of the clouds and how elevated the clouds are. 15. What is meant by the term “Urban Heat Island”? List the factors contributing to the urban heat island, and describe their effect. Can you relate this to your own experiences? Urban Heat Island is a term used for a metropolitan city that temperatures are hotter than the surrounding rural areas. The average day can hotter by 5 degrees F. The evenings can be up to 20 degrees hotter.