Terms of Use
Thank you for your purchase! By purchasing this product, you are agreeing that the
products are the property of Chelsea Barberi and licensed to you only for
classroom/personal use as a single user. I reserve all rights to the product.
You May:
Use items for your own classroom students or personal use.
Reference this product in blog posts or professional development conferences as long as
there is credit given to myself, and a link back to my TPT store on your post or
presentation for your audience to reference
You May Not:
Claim this work as your own in any way
Sell the files or combine them into another product
Provide the product for free to anyone on the Internet or in person
Make copies to share with others who have not purchased the document
Obtain this product through any of the channels listed above
Thank you for your support!
AP Environmental Science
Review #16
Weather consists of the atmospheric
conditions in a particular location over
a short period of time. Climate consists
of the average atmospheric conditions
over a longer period of time and over
a larger area.
Used to describe a variety of average
changes in temperature, precipitation,
and storm frequency/intensity
Global climate change
Refers specifically to an average increase
in Earth’s surface temperature
Global warming
The sun, the atmosphere, and the
oceans
Greenhouse gases are atmospheric
gases which absorb infrared radiation.
They trap in heat and warm the lower
atmosphere and Earth’s surface. This is
known as the greenhouse effect.
The greenhouse effect is a natural
phenomenon.
True
Industry has altered the concentrations
of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.
True
The abbreviation “ppm” stands for
parts per million. It is used to describe
the concentration of gases (such as
CO2) in the atmosphere. Earth’s
atmospheric concentration of carbon
dioxide in the late 1700s was 280 ppm.
As of 2013, it was 396 ppm.
Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4),
water vapor (H2O), ethane (C2H6),
nitrous oxide (N2O), and tropospheric
ozone (O3)
Factory and vehicle emissions release
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere;
habitat destruction removes trees
which store carbon that would
otherwise be in the atmosphere
Microscopic particles and droplets that
are created when sulfur dioxide gas (SO2)
interacts with oxygen and water.
They often have a cooling effect, because
they reflect the sunlight’s rays. However,
sometimes the presence of aerosols traps
heat.
The amount of change in thermal energy
that a particular factor causes
Radiative forcing
Changes in Earth’s orbit and rotation
that result in minor changes in the
amount of solar radiation hitting our
planet
Milankovitch cycles
The sun’s solar output is constant.
False; there is some variation over long
time scales
The ocean holds more carbon than the
atmosphere holds.
True, the ocean holds 50 times the
amount of carbon than the atmosphere
holds
Proxy indicators such as ice caps and
glaciers containing ice bubbles of the
ancient atmosphere, sediment
containing ancient plant fossils, tree
rings etc.
Climate models (graphs) which can be
used to make future predictions (with
extrapolations)
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
change
Consists of hundreds of scientists and
governmental representatives
Goal: make climate data and research
accessible to policymakers and the
public
About 0.9◦C (1.6 ◦F)
Warmer temperatures are melting
Arctic ice. This is exposing darker
ground, which absorbs more solar
radiation and further warms the area.
This is an example of a positive
feedback loop.
Rising sea levels as ice sheets melt and
water expands, beach erosion, coastal
flooding, storm surges of greater
intensity, intrusion of saltwater into
aquifers, coral bleaching, ocean
acidification, extinction of species
Intense storm surges damage
infrastructure, islands and coastal
cities are flooded, crop yields may
decrease in areas, ecotourism may
decrease in areas (such as coral reefs
which are dying out), increased
conflict over space/energy resources
Increased mosquito populations which
can lead to higher malaria rates,
malnutrition may increase with
decreased crop yields, incidences of
heat stroke and respiratory diseases
may increase
Building more hospitals
Adaptation
Investing in renewable energy
Mitigation
Planning for relocation after floods
Adaptation
Planting more trees
Mitigation
Improved fuel efficiency in cars
Mitigation
Building flood walls
Adaptation
Technologies that remove carbon
dioxide emissions from power plant
emissions
Carbon capture
Carbon emissions are stored
underground
Carbon storage (sequestration)
Meant to encourage industries to
compete to reduce carbon emissions for
financial gain
Cap-and-trade systems
Governments charge polluters a fee for
each unit of carbon dioxide they emit
Carbon tax
Funds from a carbon tax are distributed
as a dividend to taxpayers
Fee and dividend
A reduction in carbon emissions is
made in order to offset an emission
made elsewhere
Carbon offset
Nations which signed this protocol
promised to reduce their emissions of
6 greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O,
HFCs, PFCs, and SF6) to levels below
1990 by the period of 2008-2012
Con: many worry restricting carbon
emissions will reduce industry profits and
require money to be spent on reduction
technology
Pro: many countries are realizing that
there is a market for renewable energy
technologies, and they are benefitting
from this
Occurs when no net carbon is
emitted
Carbon-neutrality
Ocean fertilization, cloud seeding,
and space mirrors are all examples of
this
Geoengineering
The amount of carbon an individual or
organization is responsible for
emitting
Buy local produce, share rides, use
energy from renewable sources, use
public transport rather than singleindividual vehicles, insulate your
home, compost, maintain tire pressure,
reduce meat consumption etc.
Highly combustible fuels made from the
remains of prehistoric organisms
Fossil fuels
The policy set aside private property
rights to allow for projects deemed best
for the public good
Eminent domain
Net energy
Energy invested-energy returned
Energy returned on investment
Energy returned/energy invested
Fossil fuels are renewable resources.
False
Fossil fuels are only produced when
organic matter is broken in an anaerobic
environment.
True; anaerobic means “without
oxygen”
A hard black substance formed from
compressed organic matter
Coal
A gas consisting primarily of methane
Natural gas
Also known as petroleum
Oil
Consists of moist sand and clay, 1-20%
bitumen
Oil sands (tar sands)
Sedimentary rock filled with kerogen
Oil shale
Ice-like solid consisting of methane
surrounded by a lattice of water molecules
Methane hydrate
Strip mining-machinery scrapes away
strips of land to expose coal
Subsurface mining-blasting out networks
of underground tunnels to follow layers of
coal
Mountaintop removal-blasting and
scraping off entire mountaintops
Pros: provides a highly combustible
energy source, boosts the economy
and provides jobs
Cons: machinery requires fossil fuel
inputs, burning of coal releases CO2,
can destroy ecosystems, puts miners
respiratory health at risk
Strip mining or open-pit mining is
used to extract oil sands from the
surface
Steam and solvents are injected into
drilling shafts to liquify, isolate, and
pump underground bitumen upwards
The amount of a fossil fuel that is
technologically and economically
feasible to maintain
Proven recoverable reserve
Drill small, deep holes to test for the
presence of a fossil fuel
Exploratory drilling
Coal
Generating electricity
Oil
Fuel for transportation
Natural gas
Heat and cook in our homes; generate
electricity in power plants
Divide the amount of total remaining
reserves by the rate of production
Production tends to decline once
reserves are depleted halfway. If
demand for the resource remains
constant or increases past this peak, a
shortage will result.
Primary extraction includes the initial
drilling and pumping of a resource. In
secondary extraction, solvents or water
are used to flush remaining resources
out of the rock.
A mixture of water, sand, and
chemicals is pumped into a well. The
pressure of this fluid causes the rock to
fracture. Sand or ceramic beads hold
these cracks open so that natural gas
can escape and be extracted.
Pros: allows us to extract more fossil
fuels, provides jobs, prevents us from
having to rely completely on foreign
reserves, natural gas combustion
releases less carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere than other fossil fuels
Chemicals used in fracking can leach into
aquifers, methane air pollution, immense
volumes of waste water, chemical waste
poses a threat to the ecosystem, volatile
organic compounds added to the air,
higher incidence of earthquakes near
fracking sites
Any technique or approach which aims
to remove chemical contaminants
during coal combustion
Clean coal technology
Excess heat used in electricity
generation is captured and used to heat
nearby buildings
Cogeneration
Energy efficiency describes the ability
to obtain the same output with less
energy input.
Energy conservation describes the
practice of reducing energy use.
Turning off lights and electrical
appliances when not in use, carpool or
use public transportation, set air
conditioners to only be on when you
are in the house
Weather is a synonym for climate.
False; climate is a long-term average
while weather is on a short time scale
Most tropospheric aerosols have a
warming effect.
False; they usually reflect sunlight and
cause a cooling effect
Only 60% of climate scientists believe
there is an anthropogenic cause of
climate change.
False; 97% (as of 2017)
Organisms are usually able to adapt
very quickly to climate change.
False; populations evolve (not
organisms), and usually do so slowly