Monitoring the atmosphere

1. Monitoring the
Atmosphere

2. Carbon Dioxide
Carbon Dioxide:
◦ considered to be a greenhouse gas & pollutant.

3. Green House Gases
Greenhouse Gases: The
atmospheric gases that trap
heat.
Examples: water vapour, CO2,
NOx, CH4.

4. Green House Gases
How many of you have been to a
greenhouse?
Is it hot or cold?
How does it work?
Or when you get into a closed car
in springtime weather have you
ever notice that it is warmer in
the car than outside. How come?

5. Green House Effect
Greenhouse Effect: When
radiant energy from the sun
reaches Earth's surface, much
of it is reflected back to space.
Some is trapped near the
Earth's surface by a layer of
gases.

6. Green House Effect

7. Green House Effect

8. Enhanced Green House Effect
The enhanced greenhouse
effect: is the process
of trapping an increased
amount of the suns
energy within the earth's
atmosphere.

9. Enhanced Green House Effect
There are a number of ways to increase the greenhouse effect
1. Increased CO2 emissions and other atmospheric pollution
2. Deforestation

10. Enhanced Green House Effect
Carbon dioxide
By increasing the amount of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
we add to the greenhouse effect.
CO2 traps in the suns energy by
reflecting it back down to earth
rather then letting the energy
escape back into space.

11. Enhanced Green House Effect
Deforestation is the process of cutting
down all or most of the trees in an area.
Without trees and a healthy forest the soil
losses most of its nutrients and there are far
fewer plants to remove greenhouse
gasses like CO2.
Often forests are destroyed and deforested
by fire. Burning the trees not only stops
them from removing CO2 but also adds CO2
into the air as a product of combustion.

12. Ozone Depletion
Ozone depletion and the green house effect are two different
processes. Ozone depletion is its own problem independent of
the greenhouse effect.

13. Ozone Depletion
The Ozone Layer/Atmospheric ozone:
The Ozone layer is an area in the upper
atmosphere high in atmosphere(~20-
50km up). Ozone is made of three
oxygen atoms covalently bonded
together (o-o-o) The ozone layer
protects the earth from ultraviolet (UV)
radiation from the sun. UV radiation
give us sun burns and skin cancer.

15. Ozone Depletion
Ozone depletion is caused be chemicals
released into the atmosphere called CFC's
that break down the ozone particles.
When they are broken down into oxygen
(O2) they no longer reflect UV radiation
into space and let it come to the surface
of the earth. The larger the holes in the
ozone layer the more solar energy allowed
to reach the surface of the earth.

16. Ozone Depletion

17. Ozone Depletion
Chloroflurocarbons:
◦ a class of chemical compounds
that depletes ozone
◦ Contains carbon, fluorine and
chlorine
◦ used as refrigerants, propellants
in aerosols and solvents

18. Ozone Depletion