geography final worksheet
Cooper2021
Geograph110_18_GolbalTemperatureII6.pdf
Greenhouse gases, sources and sinks
Here are some major sources of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. 90% of these emissions derive from fossil fuel burning and cement factories, and 10% comes from change in land use (deforestation).
Where does this anthropogenic CO2 go? It may surprise you that only a half goes into the atmosphere, whereas the other half goes into our land and oceans.
Sinks of CO2 (2002-2011 averaged)
8.3�0.4 PgC/yr 90%
+1.0�0.5 PgC/yr 10% 2.6�0.8 PgC/yr
28% Calculated as the residual
of all other flux components
4.3�0.1 PgC/yr 46%
26% 2.5�0.5 PgC/yr
Emissions Sinks
The atmosphere retains half of our CO2 emissions
Depending on the study, you may see slightly different numbers. That said, it is important to know that the role of our oceans and land serve as important carbon sinks, and their role become ever more important when we see unprecedented amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
PgC/yr (pentagram carbon per year) Penta = a factor of 1015
https://www.carboncyclescience.us/2 020-Global-Carbon-Budget
Global carbon budget reported by the U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program shows that 2020 was an unusual year due to the global pandemic!
In 2021, global CO2 emissions were in rebound close to pre- COVID levels.
https://www.carboncyclescience.us/n ews/global-carbon-budget-2021
Carbon dioxide leaders
As we have seen before, this skewed global map shows the amount of CO2 emissions from each country. Please note that some countries are more bulged than others and where they are located - Northern Hemisphere versus Southern Hemisphere.
The geographic pattern of CO2 emissions is consistent with the geographic distribution of our industrial sources
Please take a moment to view this excellent animation using following link: https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/history.html
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We have good records of our greenhouse emissions! Emissions of CO2 from 1960 to 2019
https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/12/3269/2020/
Year 2006
The figure shows CO2 emissions caused by fossil-fuel based energy consumption for the top three country emitters (China, USA, and India) and for the European Union (EU: for the 28 member states of the EU in 2012) from 1960 to 2019. As of 2006, the US is no longer the largest emitter of CO2 in the atmosphere. As China’s economy grew so rapidly, China replaced the US as the number one emitter. Economic growth is just one-side of the story. The real question is what will we do about this? We will re-visit this issue later this semester.
Published in 2008, Updated in 2020 https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/each-countrys-share-co2-emissions
That being said, we all need to understand that currently, our fossil-fuel CO2 emission per capita is still by far the greatest in the world.
https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/12/3269/2020/
We, as people who live in the US, have emitted the largest amount of CO2 for an extended period of time. Please take a moment to view the historical change in cumulative CO2 emissions since 1750, and see how the US’s contribution to the atmospheric CO2 accumulation changes throughout time.
Animation: The countries with the largest cumulative CO2 emissions since 1750 https://youtu.be/jx85qK1ztAc
Although year-to-year emission has rapidly changed, it is also important to know that even though the United States recently surpassed as the #1 CO2 emitter, the total amount of CO2 emitted by US is still the highest.
Another wonderful educational web app! Please click the following link to view this short animation and see which country was the #1 emitter in the 1800s, and how it changes throughout time. Please be reminded that the size of the bubbles represent the country’s income per capita (gross domestic product per person).
Gapminder link: https://www.gapminder.org/tools/#$state$time$value=2014;&marker$select@$cou ntry=chn&trailStartTime=1899;&$country=gbr&trailStartTime=1800;&$country=usa& trailStartTime=1800;&$country=zaf&trailStartTime=1884;;&axis_x$which=time&dom ainMin:null&domainMax:null&zoomedMin:null&zoomedMax:null&scaleType=time& spaceRef:null;&axis_y$which=co2_emissions_tonnes_per_person&domainMin:null& domainMax:null&zoomedMin:null&zoomedMax:null&scaleType=genericLog&spaceR ef:null;&size$which=income_per_person_gdppercapita_ppp_inflation_adjusted&do mainMin:null&domainMax:null&spaceRef:null;&color$data=data_fasttrack&which=w orld_6region&spaceRef=entities;;;&chart-type=bubbles
Only fossil fuel CO2 can produce the observed shift in the Carbon 12 reservoir of the atmosphere
Fossil fuels derive from the remains of living organisms (e.g. plants) that are fossilized, heated, and pressurized throughout the geologic time-scale (~millions of years). Therefore, by burning fossil fuels, we release very old carbons (that otherwise would remain buried underground) into the atmosphere. As a result, the atmosphere began to show different geochemical signatures. This figure shows how the atmospheric carbon isotope value (Y-axis: delta 13C, Y-axis) is decreasing. This means that atmospheric CO2 is becoming isotopically more and more enriched with lighter carbon, which in turn means that the atmospheric CO2 is isotopically getting lighter. The only possible explanations for this change in the atmospheric carbon isotopic value is that there is a rapid change in surface vegetation (a change from C4 plants to mostly C3 plants) or that there is a release old carbons. Since there have been no radical changes to the surface vegetation, we can deduce that this observed change is due to the burning of fossil fuels. This phenomena is known as the Suess effect.
For the scope of this course, please know that you are not required to understand isotope / isotopic behavior. That being said, if you are interested in learning more about this topic, please visit: https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/outreach/isotopes/c13tellsus.html
http://blogs.agu.org/mountainbeltway/2010/04/06/isotopic-song/
Summary
• By emitting CO2 from fossil fuel burning, we are polluting the atmosphere.
"greenhouse gases in the atmosphere may reasonably be anticipated both to endanger public health and to endanger public welfare....The major assessments by the U.S. Global Climate Research Program (USGCRP), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the National Research Council (NRC) serve as the primary scientific basis supporting the Administrator’s endangerment finding.” (EPA, 2009)
"the addition of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or any form of energy (such as heat, sound, or radioactivity) to the environment at a rate faster than it can be dispersed, diluted, decomposed, recycled, or stored in some harmless form.” (“Pollution” from Encyclopedia Brittanica)
Summary
• By emitting CO2 from fossil fuel burning, we are polluting the atmosphere.
• We have evidence that atmospheric CO2 is increasing at unprecedented rates.
• The CO2 emission pattern is consistent with the geographic distribution of the industrial sources.
We have kept an account of our historical CO2 emissions and this data can easily be accessed on line!
• Only burning of fossil fuels (old carbon) can produce the isotopic shifts in d14C and d13C we have measured in the atmosphere (Suess effect)
• There is only half as much carbon in the atmosphere in relation to what we emit.
