The document discusses several topics related to climate change and the atmosphere: 1. It lists factors that can change climate such as the sun's output, Earth's orbit, drifting continents, and volcanic eruptions. 2. It discusses evidence that climate change is occurring, including present day observations and computer models, and that scientists are very confident that human activities are the main cause of warming over the past 30 years. 3. Potential solutions to address climate change are listed, such as improving vehicle and building efficiency, expanding renewable energy and reducing deforestation.

1. What changes climate?
Changes in:
1. Sun’s output
2. Earth’s orbit
3. Drifting continents
4. Volcanic eruptions
Could the warming be natural?
Is it real?
1. Effects: Snow and ice
2. Effects on precipitation
3. Effects on ecosystems
How do we know?
1. Present day observations
2. Computer models
How sure are scientists?
1. The IPCC
2. 2007 Conclusions
3. Warming of the climate system is
unequivocal
4. Very high confidence that global
average net effect of human
activities since 1750 one of
warming
5. Human-caused warming over last
30 years has likely had a visible
influence on many physical and
biological systems
6. Continued GHG emissions at or
above current rates would cause
further warming and induce many
changes in the global climate
system during the 21st century that
would very likely be larger than
those observed during the 20th
century.”
What next—what can we do?
1. Produce more fuel-efficient vehicles
2. Reduce vehicle use
3. Improve energy-efficiency in
buildings
4. Develop carbon capture and
storage processes
5. Triple nuclear power
6. Increase solar power
7. Decrease deforestation/plant
forests
8. Improve soil carbon management
strategies
9. Individual actions
Atmosphere
Layers of the atmosphere
There are 4 layers in the atmosphere
They are the
1. troposphere,
2. mesosphere,
3. thermosphere
4. stratosphere
1. Troposphere
This is the layer that is closest to the
surface of the earth
It’s elevation ranges from 0 to 10 km
2. Stratosphere
This layer sits on top of the troposphere
Its elevation ranges from 10 km to around
25 km. This layer contains the ozone layer,
which protects us from harmful sunlight
3. Mesosphere
This layer is above the stratosphere
It’s elevation ranges from 25 to 100 km
4. Thermosphere
This is the highest layer of the atmosphere
It’s height ranges from 100 to 400 km
This is where most small meteorites burn
up and is also the location in the
atmosphere that the northern lights occur
(aurora borealis)
Composition of Air
 There are many different types of
gasses in the atmosphere
 They include nitrogen, oxygen,
argon, carbon dioxide and other
noble gasses
 The gas that is most abundant is
nitrogen

2. THE EARTH’S HYDROSPHERE
• The Earth’s liquid water constitutes
the hydrosphere.
• The vast majority of Earth’s water is
in the oceans (salt water), with
smaller, but geologically important,
quantities of fresh water in lakes,
rivers, and ground water.
• The components of the
hydrosphere, as well as the
cryosphere (frozen water), the
atmosphere, and the biosphere,
participate in the global hydrologic
cycle.
• Earth’s water supply has had, since
Earth was created, major influences
on Earth’s climate, its landscape
and mineralogy, the composition of
its atmosphere, and on the origin
and evolution of life.
• The total mass of Earth’s water is
about 300 times the mass of the
atmosphere.
• Without water, which facilitates the
formation of carbonate rock, the
atmospheric content of CO2 would
be far higher than it is.
THE EARTH’S HYDROSPHERE:
Distribution of Water on Earth
o OCEAN 1,350 x 1015 m3 97.3
o CRYOSPHERE 29 x 1015 m3 2.1
(Glaciers & Polar Ice)
o UNDERGROUND 8.4 x 1015 m3 0.6
(Aquifers)
o LAKES & RIVERS 0.2 x 1015 m3
0.01
o ATMOSPHERE 0.013 x 1015 m3
0.001
o BIOSPHERE 0.0006 x 1015 m3
4 x 10-5
Distribution of Water on Earth
o THE EARTH’S HYDROSPHERE
• The hydrosphere, along with the
atmosphere and cryosphere, are
primarily responsible for weathering
and erosion of land surfaces.
o THE EARTH’S CRYOSPHERE
• Earth’s supply of frozen water, the
cryosphere, is second only to the
oceans in water content.
• The cryosphere consists mainly of the
permanent ice caps of Antarctica and
Greenland, with much smaller amounts
in Arctic and mountain glaciers.
ICE AGES AND GLOBAL WARMING
• The most recent “ice age” ended about
12,000 years ago, which was prior to
the advent of civilized human history?
• It is still unknown as to what causes the
advent of ice ages, and the extent that
they occur in cycles independent of
human activities.
• At the current time, we are
experiencing a slow global warming,
but it is not known to what extent this is
part of a natural cycle as distinct from
human-induced (by increasing the
amount of carbon dioxide and other
“greenhouse gases”, due to
combustion of fossil fuels and other
human activities).
What is weather?
Refers to the state of the atmosphere
at a specific time and place.
The one thing that you can talk to
anybody about
If you don’t like the weather just wait
around it will change in Texas
What are some of the factors that
affect the weather?
 Air Temperature
Temperature is the measure of the
average amount of motion in particles.
 Wind
a natural movement of air of any
velocity; especially : the earth's air or
the gas surrounding a planet in natural
motion horizontally
 Humidity
The amount of water vapor present in
the air
Relative Humidity -is a measure of the
amount of water vapor present in the
air compared to the amount needed for
saturation at a specific temperature

3. Oceanography
o “The application of science to the
study of phenomena in the oceans”.
Oceanography is a broad Science
o 4 Disciplines
Geological Oceanography
o Structure of the sea floor
Chemical Oceanography
o Chemical composition and
properties of seawater
Physical Oceanography
o Waves, tides, currents
Biological Oceanography
o Oceanic life forms
Why Study Oceanography?
o Oceans comprise 71% of the
Earth’s surface
o Oceans contain 97.2% of the water
on or near the Earth’s surface
o Source of Food
o Transportation and Travel
o Weather
o Shoreline-Interface between land
and ocean
The 5 Oceans
Pacific Ocean
– Largest and deepest ocean
– Mariana Trench: 11 km.,
36,000 ft. (Mt. Everest
29,000 ft.)
F Atlantic Ocean
– About ½ the size of the
Pacific
F Indian Ocean
– Southern hemisphere
F Arctic Ocean
– ¼ as deep, much smaller,
sea ice
F Southern Ocean
– South of 50 deg. South
latitude
What is Oceanography Today?
o Geological Oceanography
(Marine Geology)
Study of rocks and sediments &
processes responsible for their
formation.
o Marine Geophysics
Study of rock structure in the ocean
basin, properties of rocks such as
magnetism, occurrence of
earthquakes.
o Physical Oceanography
How and why ocean currents flow,
air-sea interactions such as the
generation of waves by the wind.
o Chemical Oceanography
Composition of sea water and the
processes controlling and altering
its composition, including marine
pollution.
o Biological Oceanography
Organisms that live in the oceans
and their relationships to the
environment.
o Ocean Engineering
Design and installation of
oceanographic instrumentation and
vehicles
EARTHQUAKES
o ‰There are over a million (106)
earthquakes
o each year – most of these are
insignificant.
o ‰About 3,000 of these produce
noticeable
o effects (e.g. tremors, ground
shaking).
o ‰About 20 each year cause major
damage
o and destruction.
o ‰On average, about 10,000 people
die each
o year because of earthquakes.

4. Earthquake
o (also known as a quake, tremor, or
temblor) is the result of a sudden
release of energy in the Earth's
crust that creates seismic waves.
There are different types of
earthquakes:
o TECTONIC earthquakes. These
occur when rocks in the earth's
crust break due to geological forces
created by movement of tectonic
plates. Another type,
o VOLCANIC earthquakes occur in
conjunction with volcanic activity.
o COLLAPSE earthquakes are small
earthquakes in underground
caverns and mines, and
o EXPLOSION earthquakes result
from the explosion of nuclear and
chemical devices. We can measure
motion from large tectonic
earthquakes using GPS because
rocks on either side of a fault are
offset during this type of
earthquake.
Tidal Wave
o is directly impacted by the
atmosphere.
o The correlating factors between the
sun, moon, and Earth cause a
disturbance in the sea, and a
‘shallow water wave’ is formed.
Shallow water waves
o imply that the development of a
tidal wave is much closer to the
shoreline of a land mass that will
ultimately be in its path.
Tsunami
o is much deeper. It is caused by
a deep disturbance along the
ocean floor.
o This disturbance usually comes
from an underwater earthquake,
or even an underwater landslide.
Constellations
o are totally imaginary things that
poets, farmers and astronomers
have made up over the past 6,000
years (and probably even more!).
The real purpose for the
constellations is to help us tell
which stars are which, nothing
more. On a really dark night, you
can see about 1000 to 1500 stars.
Trying to tell which is which is hard
Meteorology
o is the study of weather and the
atmosphere. The study of the
atmosphere, processes that cause
weather, and the life cycle of
weather systems
o The word "meteorology" is
from Greek μετέωρος metéōros "lofty;
high (in the sky)" (from μετα- meta-
"above" and ἀείρω aeiro "I lift up") and -
λογία -logia "-(o)logy".