Extreme Weather and Climate

GEOG 1900
 First Two Weeks of Class
• Week 1 Temporary Lecture Instructor:

ADAM TJOELKER, Geography Graduate Student

e-mail: [email protected]
Office: DB 1145

• Week 2 Lectures Are Uploaded Online to Carmen

https://carmen.osu.edu/ -> GEOG 1900 - Weather & Climate (20470)

• Dr. Alvaro Montenegro Returns Week 3, on September 6th

ALVARO MONTENEGRO
e-mail: [email protected]
 Lecture and Labs

Course Details
Lecture: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 10:20 to 11:15 AM - Evans Lab 1008

Labs: Monday, 11:30 AM– 12:50 PM in Derby Hall (DB) 0070 – Meg
Monday, 2:20– 3:40 PM in Derby Hall (DB) 0070 – Meg
Wednesday, 11:30 AM– 12:50 PM in Derby Hall (DB) 0070 - Adam
Wednesday 2:20– 3:40 PM in Derby Hall (DB) 0070 - Adam
Friday 11:30 AM– 12:50 PM in Derby Hall (DB) 0070 – Dammy
Friday 2:20– 3:40 PM in Derby Hall (DB) 0070 – Dammy
 Syllabus and Syllabus Exam
Course web site: Carmen
Syllabus available at the “Syllabus” tab

Syllabus Exam – Due September 8th

• Must be uploaded to Carmen by 11:59pm Sep 8th

• Extra credit worth 0.5 points of final grade
• All answers found in course syllabus
• One mistake = no extra credit
 Textbook and Manual
Understanding Weather and Climate, 7th Ed.*
Aguado & Burt
Pearson
*recomended

Lab Manual - Required (PDF is provided for free)

Both are also available at the campus bookstore

Renting or purchasing a used copy of the text online

could save you some $. Earlier editions (down to 5th) are
slightly less than ideal but would certainly do the job.
 Student Evaluation

Participation – Attendance* 5%

Participation - TopHat MC* 5%

Labs 30%

Midterm Exam 1 20% 9/29

Midterm Exam 2 20% 11/1

Final Exam 20% 12/12

*Top Hat and Attendance Start Week 3

 Student Evaluation
Labs (30% of course grade): Laboratory exercises will be conducted during recitations.
Attendance is required. All lab exercises must be completed INDIVIDUALLY, although
working in groups is encouraged.

Typically there were very few incidents requiring action from the Committee on Academic
Misconduct (COAM). When this happened, the case was usually related to plagiarism in
lab reports.

Exams (60% of couse grade): All three will be online (Carmen) and open book. All exams
have identical length and format: 50 questions with 35 being multiple choice and 15 true
or false. Exams duration is 90 minutes. Exams are mostly non-cumulative but questions
about some important themes/concepts will be present in both exams. These
themes/concepts will be clearly communicated to the class by a study guide prior to
exams.

• Exam 1 – Friday, Sep 29

• Exam 2 – Wednesday, Nov 1
• Final Exam– Thursday, Dec 12.
 Lab Schedule
Date* Lab Due
30 Aug – 1 Sep Instrumentation and Measurements (Lab 1)
4-8 Sep Labor Day - No Lab
11-15 Sep Heat Transfer (Lab 3) Lab 1
18-22 Sep TBD - Vertical Profiles of the Atmosphere (Lab 2) Lab 3
25-29 Sep Surface Elements (Lab 4) Lab 2
2-6 Oct Forces in the Atmosphere (Lab 5) Lab 4
9-13 Oct Autumn Break - No Lab
16-20 Oct Moisture and Relative Humidity (Lab 6) Lab 5
23-27 Oct Condensation (Lab 7) Lab 6
30 Oct – 3 Nov Microclimates (Lab 8) Lab 7
6-10 Nov Veteran’s Day - No Lab
13-17 Nov Air Masses and Fronts (Lab 9) Lab 8
20-24 Nov Thanksgiving Break - No Lab
27 Nov – 1 Dec Weather Analysis (Lab 11) Lab 9
4-8 Dec No Lab Lab 11
*Date includes the range from Monday to Friday dates of lab sections for each week
 Other info/tips

Slides are not

class notes!
The big picture:
Understand processes determining many of the
fundamental aspects of weather and climate.

While focus is on the atmosphere, many of these processes

involve the exchanges of energy and mass between the
atmosphere, the oceans and the land surface.
(History) Composition and Structure of the
Atmosphere

Chapter 1
Goals:
After this lecture you should understand:
• Main processes responsible for the difference between today’s atmospheric composition and the
composition of the early atmosphere
• What are the three most common permanent gases of the atmosphere. Why are they called
permanent?
• What are variable gases? Have at least two examples.
• What are aerosols?
• The vertical distribution of pressure and temperature in the atmosphere. Why is it non-linear? In
other words, why does pressure change more with elevation near the surface than at higher
elevations?
• Atmospheric layers. Know the basics (vertical temperature profile, average location, percentage of
total mass) for troposphere and stratosphere.
• Vertical temperature profile and stability in the troposphere
• Ozone layer. Ozone and ultraviolet absorption.
• The ozone hole: causes, consequences (biological, impact on surface and stratospheric temperature)
• What is the Montreal Protocol? Why and how it has impacted atmospheric ozone concentrations.

12
Overview:
How the atmosphere changed over geologic time.

Constituents of the present-day atmosphere

Vertical distribution of mass in the atmosphere

Pressure
Density

Atmospheric layers
Evolution of the Atmosphere
Early atmosphere - 4.6 to 4 (4.2) billion years ago
Contraction -> Heating -> Volcanic activity -> Outgassing
and potentially impact degassing

Surface temperature between 85o-100oC

Potential composition (based output by volcanoes)

H 20 85%*
CO2 10%**
N2,S, SO2, H2S 5%

*Today max – 4%
** Today ~0.04%
Evolution of the Atmosphere
Reduced volcanism – 4.0 (4.2) to 3.8 billion years ago

Atmosphere cools -> Clouds -> Rain -> Oceans formed

Cooling and precipitation cause a decrease in:

• atmospheric H20 (stored in oceans)
• atmospheric CO2 (stored in ocean sediments)
Evolution of the Atmosphere
Increase in atmospheric O2
Caused by the advent of photosynthesis (~ 3.5 billion years ago)

Earliest photosynthesizers similar to cyanobacteria

3.5 billion year fossils Modern cyanobacteria

Evolution of the Atmosphere
Increase in atmospheric O2
Caused by the advent of photosynthesis (~ 3.5 billion years ago)

H2O + CO2 {CH2O} + O2

Photosynthesis: removes CO2 and adds O2

Respiration: removes O2 and adds CO2

Increase in O2 : increase and, most

importantly, burial of plant biomass
Evolution
Increaseof the Atmosphere O
in atmospheric 2
Caused by the advent of photosynthesis (~ 3.5 billion years ago)

O2 consumed by
reactions with
atmospheric gases
and sediments

¿que pasó?
Present composition of the atmosphere

N2+O2+Ar = 99.96 % by volume

Present composition of the atmosphere

Spatial-temporal means, these gases are variable after all…

For example: H2O from trace concentrations to ~4%

Non-gas components of the atmosphere
Aerosols: Solid and liquid material in suspension
Role in energy budget (radiation absorption and scattering)
directly and indirectly (cloud formation and characteristics)
Thickness of the atmosphere
Earth’s diameter ~12,800 km
A 100 km high atmosphere would add 200 km or 0.016 %
(200/12,800) to this diameter.

Very thin layer of fluid where horizontal

speeds greatly surpass vertical speeds
Thickness of the atmosphere
Pressure: force per unit area
Measured in millibars (mb)

Average sea level pressure is 1013 mb

The mass of air above a point, and

hence pressure, decrease with altitude

- 50% of atmospheric mass below 5.6 km.

Average pressure at 5.6 km ~ 500 mb

- 90% of atmospheric mass below 16 km.

Average pressure at 16 km ~ 100 mb

99.99997 % of atm. mass below 100 km.

Vertical distribution of mass in the atmosphere

Air is compressible.
Note nonlinear Higher near-surface pressures result
relation between in larger air density near the surface.
pressure and altitude
Temperature based layers

5˚C 15˚C
4˚C

4˚C 15˚C 5˚C

Temperature based layers
Density, temperature and vertical stability
Stable vertical density distribution

1 2 1
Light
Perturbation

Heavy
System returns to
original stable
configuration (1) after
perturbation ceases
Density, temperature and vertical stability
Unstable vertical density distribution

3 1
Heavy

Light

System tends to depart

unstable configuration
(3) and move to stable
configuration (1)
Stability* in atmospheric layers * Unless otherwise
stated, in the context of
the course stability refers
to the ease of vertical air
movement in the
atmosphere.

warm, “lighter”

Favors stability

cold, “heavier”

cold, “heavier”
Favors instability
warm, “lighter”
Troposphere
• Portion of the atmosphere where we live
• Stage for almost all process we will study
• ~ 80% of atmospheric mass

Heated from below by energy from the surface

-> overturning movement (tropo – rotate)
Troposphere thickness varies with latitude

Lab 2 – Vertical Profile

How is the troposphere heated from below?
The Sun radiates mostly in the visible band.

The atmosphere is transparent to this type of

electromagnetic radiation.

In a similar way that many of our tissues are

transparent to X ray radiation.

http://chicquero.com/2012/05/10/x-ray-xtreme/
How is the troposphere heated from below?
Most of the electromagnetic energy coming from the Sun in the
visible band passes through the atmosphere without interacting
(warming) the atmospheric gases.

The solar energy warms the surface. Heat from the surface is
transported to the overlaying atmosphere. The direct source of
energy for heating the the troposphere is the surface, not the Sun.

atmosphere

surface
Stratosphere
•~ 20% of atmospheric mass
• Where ozone layer is located
• Heated from above as ozone absorbs ultraviolet – vertically stable

Some clouds with large vertical development reach the base of the stratosphere
Ozone layer and Ozone depletion
• Three atoms of oxygen (O3)
• Concentrated between 10 to 50 kilometers above
the surface
• Absorbs harmful UV radiation
• Human activity has decreased ozone by adding
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) to the stratosphere
Ozone depletion by CFCs

Image from NASA

Ozone “hole”
Not really a whole, seasonal decrease of up to 50% of the mean concentration
Controlling CFC emissions and impact of global ozone
l 7)
8
trea l (19
on oco
M ot
Pr

World Production of CFCs

Controlling CFC emissions and impact of global ozone

Montreal Protocol

Instruments on the ground (at Halley) and high above Antarctica (Total Ozone Mapping
Spectrometer [TOMS], Ozone Monitoring Instrument [OMI], and Ozone Mapping and
Profiler Suite [OMPS]) measured an acute drop in total atmospheric ozone during October in
the early and middle 1980s. (Halley data supplied by J. D. Shanklin, British Antarctic Survey )

http://ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov/facts/history.html
But before we get too happy:
The first paper* showing a clear link between CFCs and ozone
depletion was published in 1974 (and earned the authors a Nobel)
*Molina, M.J., and F.S. Rowland,"Stratospheric Sink for Chlorofluoromethanes:
Chlorine Atom-Catalyzed Destruction of Ozone” , Nature 249, 810-812, 1974.

Some responses :
“DuPont, which made 1/4 of the world's CFCs, spent millions of dollars running
full-page newspaper advertisements defending CFCs in 1975, claiming there was
no proof that CFCs were harming the ozone layer. Chairman Scorer of DuPont
commented that the ozone depletion theory was "a science fiction tale...a load
of rubbish...utter nonsense." (Chemical Week, 16 July 1975).”

“The CEO of Pennwalt, the third largest CFC manufacturer in the U.S., talked of
"economic chaos" if CFC use was to be phased out (Cogan, 1988). DuPont, the
largest CFC manufacturer, warned that the costs in the U.S. alone could exceed
$135 billion, and that "entire industries could fold" (Glas, 1989).”

Text excerpts from: http://www.wunderground.com/resources/climate/ozone_skeptics.asp

Cogan, D.G., "Stones in a Glass House", Investor Responsibility Research Center, Washington D.C., 1988.
Glas, J.P., "Protecting the ozone layer: a perspective from industry", In Technology and
Environment (ed. by Ausubel, J.H. and H.E. Sladovich), Washington D.C., 1989.
 The ozone hole is not
causing global warming!
 The ozone hole is not
causing global warming!
The ozone hole is not causing global warming!
More ultraviolet makes it to the surface when stratospheric ozone concentrations decrease.

UV UV

OZONE OZONE
cooling

But
Ultraviolet radiation represents less than 1% of the energy arriving from the Sun.

Reduction in stratospheric ozone has caused a reduction in absorption of solar energy

and a small DECREASE in lower stratosphere and upper troposphere temperature
The ozone hole is not causing global warming!

Ozone is also a good absorber of long wavelength radiation - Greenhouse gas

Increases in lower troposphere ozone caused mostly by human action lead to
warming
 Remember:

The ozone hole is not

causing global warming!