SUBCODE: 21CEO310T

SUB NAME:GLOBAL WARMING AND CLIMATE

CHANGE
 UNIT I - EARTH’S CLIMATE SYSTEM

➢ Introduction to earth system-hydrosphere, lithosphere,

cryosphere, atmosphere and biosphere.
➢ Hydrological cycle and Carbon cycle.
➢ Atmosphere and its composition, Atmospheric stability and
lapse rate,
➢ Ozone layer and its functions, Ozone depletion and ozone hole,
➢ Global warming and its impacts,
➢ Greenhouse gases and greenhouse effect,
➢ El Nino and La Nina
 Earth’s system
Earth's climate arises from the interaction of five major climate
system components:
1. Atmosphere (air),
2. Hydrosphere (water),
3. Cryosphere (ice and permafrost),
4. Lithosphere (earth's upper rocky layer) and
5. Biosphere (living things)
Earth’s system
 Atmosphere
• The atmosphere is the most variable of the climate systems and is made
up of many greenhouse gases that reflect and absorb energy from the sun.

• Greenhouse gases are any gases in the atmosphere that trap heat, such as
carbon, methane, and nitrous oxide, amongst numerous others.

• Water vapor is included in these gases and undergoes fluctuations due to

evaporation and convection.

• Evaporation occurs when liquid water is turned into gas and rises into
the atmosphere.

• Convection is the transfer of heat through molecules, causing the warm

air to rise and cool air to fall.
 Hydrosphere

➢ The hydrosphere is made up of all the water in an area,

including lakes, rivers, groundwater, and the ocean.

➢ Water moves throughout the hydrosphere through evaporation or

transpiration into the atmosphere, condensation into clouds, and
eventually returns to earth as precipitation, such as rain or snow.

➢ Water moves throughout this cycle, interacting with different

parts of the climate system.
 Cryosphere
➢ The cryosphere refers to Earth’s ice in all its forms. The term comes
from the Greek word for icy cold—krios.
➢ Snow on the ground
➢ Lake and river ice
➢ Frozen ground and permafrost
➢ The Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets, ice caps, and glaciers
➢ Ice shelves and icebergs
➢ Sea ice
 Lithosphere
• The land surface of the planet acts as a sink for incoming
short-wave solar energy and it re-radiates infra-red radiation
(IR) as it warms up.
• Albedo is important here too: darker rocks absorb more solar
energy and emit more IR – that’s why black tarmac feels hot
on a sunny summer’s day.
• Land is also an important carbon sink: carbon dioxide
dissolved in rainwater reacts chemically with some of the
minerals making up the rocks
 Biosphere
• The biosphere is a global ecosystem composed of living
organisms (biota) and the abiotic (nonliving) factors from
which they derive energy and nutrients

• photosynthesis – the absorption by green plants of carbon-

dioxide and their excretion of oxygen as a metabolic waste-
product. Photosynthetic plants – from the lowliest blue-green
algae up to the mightiest trees – are responsible for our
planet’s oxygenated atmosphere
 Albedo
• Albedo is the portion of solar energy reflected from the surface of
the Earth back into space. It is a reflection coefficient and has a
value of less than one.

• If 30% is reflected, the albedo is 0.3. The albedo of Earth's

surface (atmosphere, ocean, land surfaces) determines how much
incoming solar energy, or light, is immediately reflected back to
space. This can have an impact on climate. .

• planetary albedo helps determine Earth's average temperature. If

albedo rises (meaning that more light gets reflected back to space),
all other things staying equal, our planet gets a tad cooler.
 Albedo
➢ Albedo is the fraction of solar energy
(shortwave radiation) reflected from
the Earth back into space. It is a
measure of the reflectivity of the earth's
surface.
➢ Ice, especially with snow on top of it,
has a high albedo: Most sunlight hitting
the surface bounces back towards
space. Water is much more absorbent
and less reflective. So, if there is a lot
of water, more solar radiation is
absorbed by the ocean than when ice
dominates.
➢ Albedo is not important at high
latitudes in winter: There is hardly any
incoming sunlight to worry about. It
becomes important in spring and
summer when the radiation entering
through can greatly increase the melt
rate of the sea ice.
 water cycle
• It is a complex system that includes many different processes. Liquid water

evaporates into water vapor, condenses to form clouds, and precipitates

back to earth in the form of rain and snow.

• Water in different phases moves through the atmosphere (transportation).

Liquid water flows across land (runoff), into the ground (infiltration and

percolation), and through the ground (groundwater). Groundwater moves

into plants (plant uptake) and evaporates from plants into the atmosphere

(transpiration).

• Solid ice and snow can turn directly into gas (sublimation). The opposite

can also take place when water vapor becomes solid (deposition).
 Carbon cycle
Carbon Cycle

➢ Carbon cycle is the process where carbon compounds are

interchanged among the biosphere, geosphere, pedosphere,
hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the earth.
➢ carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the Universe.
Most of Earth’s carbon-about 65,500 billion metric tons-is
stored in rocks. The rest is in the ocean, atmosphere, plants,
soil, and fossil fuels.
➢ Changes that put carbon gases into the atmosphere result in
warmer temperatures on Earth.
Carbon Cycle Steps
Following are the major steps involved in the process of the carbon
cycle:
✓ Carbon present in the atmosphere is absorbed by plants for
photosynthesis.
✓ These plants are then consumed by animals and carbon gets
bioaccumulated into their bodies.
✓ These animals and plants eventually die, and upon decomposing,
carbon is released back into the atmosphere.
✓ Some of the carbon that is not released back into the atmosphere
eventually become fossil fuels.
✓ These fossil fuels are then used for man-made activities, which pump
more carbon back into the atmosphere.
Carbon cycle
 Weather

• The day-to-day conditions of the atmosphere at a place with

respect to elements like humidity, temperature, wind speed,
rainfall, etc. is called the weather of that place.

• Weather can be cloudy, sunny, rainy, stormy or clear. It is a

part of the natural phenomenon which maintains the
equilibrium in the atmosphere.
Elements of Weather
➢ Wind speed
➢ Humidity
➢ Temperature
➢ Rainfall
➢ Thunder
➢ Snow
➢ Lightning
 Climate
• The climate of a place may be defined as a "composite" of
the long-term prevailing weather that occurs at that
location.
• Climate is the weather of a place averaged over a period
of time, often 30 years
• In a sense, climate is "average weather".
• Climate can be measured quantitatively by calculating the
longterm averages of different climate elements such as
temperature and rainfall. ..
Composition of the atmosphere
Layers of Atmosphere
 Atmospheric
Measurements

❖Temperature
❖Pressure
❖Humidity
❖Wind Velocity and Direction
 Atmospheric Pressure
• Atmospheric pressure is the force per unit area exerted on a surface
by the weight of air above that surface in the atmosphere of earth (or
that another planet).
• In most circumstances atmospheric pressure is closely approximated
by the hydrostatic pressure caused by the weight of air above the
measurement point.
• On a given plane, low-pressure areas have less atmospheric mass
above their location, whereas high-pressure areas have more
atmospheric mass above their location. Likewise, as elevation
increases, there is less overlying atmospheric mass, so that
atmospheric pressure decreases with increasing elevation.
Atmospheric Composition affects
Air Temperature
➢ Air temperature also changes as altitude increases. The
temperature differences result mainly from the way solar
energy is absorbed as it moves through the atmosphere.

➢ Some parts of the atmosphere are warmer because they contain

a high percentage of gases that absorb solar energy.

➢ Other parts of the atmosphere contain less of these gases and

are cooler.
 Heat and Temperature
➢ Temperature: Average energy of molecules or atoms in a
material.

➢ Heat: Total energy of molecules or atoms in a material.

➢ It’s possible to have large amount of heat but low temperatures

and high temperatures but little heat.
 Heat and Temperature
➢ The Arctic Ocean has a large amount of heat (because of large
mass) even though the temperature is low.

➢ Air in an oven at 500⁰F has high temperature but little heat.

➢ However if you touch anything solid in the oven you’ll get

burned. Same temperature but much larger amount of heat.

➢ The earth’s outermost atmosphere is extremely “hot” but its

heat content is negligible.

➢ It takes time for things to warm up and cool off.

 Temperature Scales
1) Fahrenheit
a) Water Freezes at 32 F
b) Water Boils at 212 F
2) Centigrade or Celsius
a) Water Freezes at 0 C
b) Water Boils at 100 C
3) Two scales exactly equal at -40
 Absolute Temperature

➢ Once atoms stop moving ➔ that’s as cold as it can get.

➢ Absolute Zero ➔ -273⁰C / -459⁰F.

➢ Kelvin scale uses Celsius degrees and starts at absolute zero.

➢ Most formulas involving temperature use the Kelvin Scale.

 Atmospheric humidity

• Atmospheric humidity is the amount of water vapour carried

in the air. It can be measured as vapour pressure, mixing ratio

or specific humidity.

• Atmospheric water vapour is also the most important

greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.

Types of Humidity

Relative humidity,
Specific humidity,
Mixing ratio, and
Absolute humidity.
 Specific Humidity:
• It is the ratio of mass of water vapours actually present in the
air to a unit mass of air including the water vapour (dry air +
moisture). It is expressed as grams of water vapour per kg of
moist air mass.

• The amount of water vapour that air can hold depends upon
temperature. Specific humidity at 20°C is 15g per kg. At 30°C,
it is 26 g per kg and at -10°C, it is 2 g per kg.

• Suppose, 1kg of air contains 12 grams of water vapours, then

the specific humidity of air is 12 g per kg.
Relative humidity
may also be defined as the ratio of actual vapour
pressure to that required for saturation at the
same temperature.
Mixing Ratio:

It is defined as the ratio of mass of water vapours per unit mass of

dry air.
It is also defined as the ratio of density of water vapours to the
density of dry air.
It varies from 1 g per kg in arctic zone to 40 g per kg in humid
equatorial zone.
 Absolute Humidity:

• It is defined as the weight of water vapours in a given volume of

air.

• It is expressed as grams of water vapours per cubic meter of air (g

m-3). Absolute humidity is rarely used because it varies with the

expansion and contraction of air.

• It varies with temperature, even though the amount of water

vapours remains constant.

 Rainfall
• Rainfall is a form of Precipitation. The term "rainfall" is
used to describe precipitation in the form of water drops of
sizes larger than 0.5 mm.

• Other forms are snow, drizzle, glaze, sleet and hail. Sleet is
frozen raindrops of transparent grains which form when rain
falls through air at subfreezing temperature.
 Types of Rainfall
Convectional Rainfall
• Suppose we are enjoying the rays of sunshine and suddenly, the sky
gets darker with the grey cloud. Without any warning the heavens
open and it begins to rain, with a thundery feel. This is the
convectional rain. It occurs frequently on hot days usually giving
cumulus cloud and thundery showers.
• The sun heats the ground which causes the air to warm and become
very hot. Then the air rises upwards and becomes cool. Then it
condenses to form cumulus cloud.
• When this cloud is saturated, it begins to precipitate giving heavy
and thundery showers. Due to this, we get thundershowers on a hot
day, as the Sun warms the air and it rises, cools and begins to rain.
 Frontal Rainfall

• This rainfall occurs when a warm, tropical air mass comes in

contact with a cold, polar air mass. It is very common in
Britain and Ireland.

• Because the air is in the warm front, then it rises over the cold
front. The air is cooled and so condenses to form a stratus
cloud. Thus when the stratus cloud becomes saturated, it
begins to precipitate.
Relief Rainfall
• This type of rainfall is common in places with mountains and
sea. Relief rainfall frequently occurs near mountains beside the
sea. The moisture-laden wind blows in from the sea because
the wind meets a high mountain and hence it is forced to rise
upwards. At the height, it is cooled and then the cloud is
formed.

• This saturated cloud with water vapor begins to precipitate on

the side of the mountain facing the sea. This front side of the
mountain is called the windward side.
 Cont..
• The cloud mostly precipitates on the windward side of the
mountain. Meanwhile, the cloud meets the other side, which is
called the leeward side. Since the cloud has already lost most
of its moisture so it rains very little there.

• This makes leeward sides of a mountain very little rains. There

is a much more moist climate on the windward sides of slopes.
On the other hand, there is a more dry, sheltered climate on the
leeward side. This rainfall is common in Hawaii, Sierra
Nevada, and the Andes.
 Air movement

➢ Air moves from areas of high atmospheric pressure to areas of

low atmospheric pressure
➢ Low pressure areas - troughs
➢ High pressure areas - ridges
 Influences on air movement

➢Pressure gradient force

➢Coriolis effect
➢Friction ➔ Close to ground
❖Friction between atmosphere and surface slows air
down
❖Winds are stronger at high elevations
 Solar radiation
➢ Regions near the
equator receive light at
90o
➢ High latitudes receive
light at low angles
➢ Light energy is more
concentrated near the
equator. In other words,
there is a greater flux
per unit area (W/m2)
➢Solar energy received is greatest near the
equator.
➢Energy is moved from the equator to the
poles.
➢Energy is transferred by wind and ocean
currents
Air near the equator is warmed, and rises
Solar radiation
 Hadley Circulation Cell

Air cools, sinks

Rising air is replaced

Warm air rises
HIGH HIGH
LOW
 Rising air cools; the air’s
capacity to hold water
drops. Rain!

Air cools, sinks

No rain in
regions
where
air is
descending

Rising air is replaced

Warm air rises
HIGH HIGH
LOW
 Coriolis force

➢ Due to the rotation of the earth, wind and ocean currents are
deflected to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in
the southern hemisphere. This effect is known as the "Coriolis
force."
➢ The deflection leads to highs and lows of sea level directly
proportional to the speed of the surface currents
➢The Earth would have two large Hadley cells, if it did not
rotate.
➢Rotation of the Earth leads to the Coriolis Effect
➢This causes winds (and all moving objects) to be
deflected:

➢To the right in the Northern Hemisphere

➢To the left in the Southern Hemisphere
Global Wind Pattern
 Atmospheric lapse rate
➢ The atmospheric lapse rate refers to the change of an atmospheric

variable with a change of altitude, the variable being temperature unless

specified otherwise (such as pressure, density or humidity).

➢ Lapse rates are usually expressed as the amount of temperature change

associated with a specified amount of altitude change, such as

9.8 K per kilometre, 0.0098 K per metre or the equivalent 5.4 °F per

1000 feet. (The global average tropospheric lapse rate is 6.5 K·km-1, which

is stable for dry lifting.)

➢ If the atmospheric air cools with increasing altitude, the lapse rate may be

expressed as a negative number. If the air heats with increasing altitude, the

lapse rate may be expressed as a positive number.

 Lapse rates and atmospheric stability
➢ Atmospheric stability is a term used to qualitatively describe the amount of
vertical motion of the air in the lower atmosphere (the troposphere). In
broad general terms, the atmospheric stability can be characterized by these
four categories:
➢ A very stable atmosphere is one that has very little vertical motion of the
air.
➢ A stable atmosphere is one that discourages vertical motion but does have
some motion of the air.
➢ An unstable atmosphere is one that encourages continual vertical motion of
the air, upwards or downwards.
➢ A neutral atmosphere is one that neither discourages nor encourages
vertical motion of the air and is often referred to as conditionally stable.
➢ The numerical value of the environmental lapse rate determines the stability
category of the atmospheric air.
➢ If the environmental lapse rate (i.e., the actual ambient temperature gradient) is
greater than zero as for the rate marked 1 in the diagram, then an inversion layer is
present and the atmospheric temperature increases with altitude. There is essentially
no vertical turbulence and the atmosphere is said to be very stable or extremely
stable.
➢ If the environmental lapse rate is greater than – 5.5 K/km as for the rate marked 2 in
the diagram, then there is some small amount of vertical turbulence and the
atmosphere is said to be stable. It is also referred to as being sub-adiabatic.
➢ If the environmental lapse rate lies between the wet adiabatic lapse rate and the dry
adiabatic lapse rate as for the rate marked 3 in the diagram, then the atmosphere is
said to be neutral.
➢ If the environmental lapse rate is less than the dry adiabatic lapse rate as for the line
marked 4 in the diagram, then there turbulence in the atmosphere and it is said to be
unstable. It is also referred to as being super-adiabatic.
➢ If the environmental lapse rate were zero (perfectly vertical), then the atmosphere
would be in an isothermal condition (no change of temperature with altitude) and
would be also be said to be very stable.
 Importance of understanding atmospheric
stability
➢ An understanding and knowledge of atmospheric stability is important for
many reasons. What follows is a brief discussion of some of those reasons:
➢ Probably one of the most important reasons is that atmospheric
turbulence and mixing plays a major role in air pollution dispersion
modeling. Turbulence and mixing is provided by an unstable atmosphere
and thus enhances the dispersion of air pollutant, while a stable atmosphere
inhibits turbulence and results in very poor dispersion of air pollutants.
➢ A stable atmosphere inhibits rain fall, while an unstable atmosphere
encourages rainfall and thunderstorms.
➢ A stable atmosphere also inhibits forest fire activity and an understanding
of atmospheric stability helps explain certain aspects of forest fire behavior.
➢ A certain amount of atmospheric instability is important for glider pilots,
since without it the thermals needed for glider flight would not form.
Understanding of atmospheric stability is also important for the safety of
glider pilots because high atmospheric instability may lead to
thunderstorms.
➢ The atmospheric stability has a large impact on the deposition and drift of
aerially applied sprays of various farm crop protection materials.
 Global warming and its impacts
• Since the Industrial Revolution, the global annual temperature has
increased in total by a little more than 1 degree Celsius, or about 2 degrees
Fahrenheit.

• Between 1850—the year that accurate recordkeeping began—and 1980, it

rose on average by 0.07 degrees Celsius (0.13 degrees Fahrenheit) every 10
years. Since 1981, however, the rate of increase has more than doubled For
the last 40 years,

• the global annual temperature rise by 0.2 degrees Celsius, or 0.36 degrees
Fahrenheit, per decade.
 Global warming and its impacts
Melting sea ice
• The effects of climate change are most apparent in the world’s
coldest regions—the poles.
• The Arctic is heating up twice as fast as anywhere else on earth,
leading to the rapid melting of glaciers and polar ice sheets, where a
massive amount of water is stored.
• As sea ice melts, darker ocean waters that absorb more sunlight
become exposed, creating a positive feedback loop that speeds up
the melting process.
 Sea level rise

• Scientists predict that melting sea ice and glaciers, as well as

the fact that warmer water expands in volume, could cause sea
levels to rise as much as 6.6 feet by the end of the century,
should we fail to curb emissions.

• The extent (and pace) of this change would devastate low-

lying regions, including island nations and densely populated
coastal cities like New York City and Mumbai.
 Flooding

• In addition to coastal flooding caused by sea level rise, climate

change influences the factors that result in inland and urban
flooding: snowmelt and heavy rain.

• As global warming continues to both exacerbate sea level rise and

extreme weather, our nation’s floodplains are expected to grow by
approximately 45 percent by 2100.
 Warmer ocean waters and marine heat waves

• Temperature-sensitive fish and other marine life are already

changing migration patterns toward cooler and deeper waters to
survive, sending food webs and important commercial fisheries into
disarray.

• The frequency of marine heat waves has increased by more than a

third. These spikes have led to mass die-offs of plankton and marine
mammals.
 Ecosystem stressors

• Land-based ecosystems—from old-growth forests to savannahs to

tropical rainforests—are faring no better. Climate change is likely to
increase outbreaks of pests, invasive species, and pathogen
infections in forests.

• It’s changing the kinds of vegetation that can thrive in a given region
and disrupting the life cycles of wildlife, all of which is changing
the composition of ecosystems and making them less resilient to
stressors.
 Effects of climate change on agriculture

• Effects of climate change on agriculture

• Less predictable growing seasons
• In a warming world, farming crops is more unpredictable—and
livestock, which are sensitive to extreme weather, become harder to
raise. Climate change shifts precipitation patterns, causing
unpredictable floods and longer-lasting droughts.
• More frequent and severe hurricanes can devastate an entire
season’s worth of crops. Meanwhile, the dynamics of pests,
pathogens, and invasive species—all of which are costly for farmers
to manage—are also expected to become harder to predict.
 Reduced soil health

• Healthy soil has good moisture and mineral content and is teeming
with bugs, bacteria, fungi, and microbes that in turn contribute to
healthy crops. But climate change, particularly extreme heat and
changes in precipitation, can degrade soil quality.

• These impacts are exacerbated in areas where industrial, chemical-

dependent monoculture farming has made soil and crops less able to
withstand environmental changes.
 Food shortages

• Ultimately, impacts to our agricultural systems pose a direct

threat to the global food supply. And food shortages and price
hikes driven by climate change will not affect everyone
equally: Wealthier people will continue to have more options
for accessing food, while potentially billions of others will be
plummeted into food insecurity—adding to the billions that
already have moderate or severe difficulty getting enough to
eat.
 Human health

• Climate change worsens air quality. It increases exposure to

hazardous wildfire smoke and ozone smog triggered by warmer
conditions, both of which harm our health, particularly for those
with pre-existing illnesses like asthma or heart disease.

• Insect-borne diseases like malaria and Zika become more prevalent

in a warming world as their carriers are able to exist in more regions
or thrive for longer seasons.
 Green house gas effect
• A greenhouse gas (sometimes abbreviated GHG) is
a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the
thermal infrared range.
• Greenhouse gases cause the greenhouse effect on planets.
The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are

1. carbon dioxide,
2. methane,
3. nitrous oxide,
4. hydrofluorocarbons,
5. perfluorocarbons and
6. sulphur hexafluoride
Main sources of anthropogenic greenhouse gases
Globally, the primary sources of greenhouse gas emissions are

✓ electricity and heat

✓ agriculture

✓ transportation

✓ forestry

✓ Manufacturing

✓ burning of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas, and

✓ activities like deforestation

Cont..
• Carbon dioxide levels are substantially higher now than at any

time in the last 750 000 years. The burning of fossil fuels has

elevated CO2 levels from an atmospheric concentration of

approximately 280 parts per million (ppm) in pre-industrial

times to over 400 ppm in 2018. This is a 40 per cent increase

since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

• CO2 concentrations are increasing at a rate of about 2–3

ppm/year and are expected to exceed 900 ppm by the end of

the 21st century.

 Carbon emissions

➢ Carbon dioxide, though not the most potent of greenhouse

gases, is the most significant one. Human activity has caused

an imbalance in the natural cycle of the greenhouse effect and

related processes

➢ Brown carbon:Industrial emissions of greenhouse gases that

affect the climate.

➢ Green carbon:Carbon stored in terrestrial ecosystems e.g. plant

biomass, soils, wetlands and pasture and increasingly

recognized as a key item for negotiation in the UNFCCC.

 Photochemical smog

• Photochemical smog is a mixture of pollutants that

are formed when nitrogen oxides and volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) react to sunlight, creating a brown haze
above cities. It tends to occur more often in summer, because
that is when we have the most sunlight.
 Ozone
➢ Ozone (O3) is a pale blue distinctively pungent smelling gas found in the
atmosphere consisting of three oxygen atoms.
➢ Ozone is formed in the atmosphere when energetic ultraviolet (UV) radiation
dissociates molecules of oxygen (O2) into separate oxygen atoms.
➢ Free oxygen atoms can recombine to form oxygen molecules but if a free oxygen
atom collides with an oxygen molecule, it joins up forming ozone.
➢ Ozone molecules can also be decomposed by ultraviolet radiation into a free atom
and an oxygen molecule.
➢ Ozone is thus continuously created and destroyed in the atmosphere by UV
radiation coming from the sun. This highly energetic UV radiation is called UVC
(wavelength 280 nm) and is very harmful for human health. UVC is fully absorbed
in the atmosphere by oxygen and ozone molecules. Ozone also absorbs UVB
radiation, which is less energetic (wavelength 280 - 325 nm) but also harmful,
before it reaches the surface of the Earth.
➢ In this creation/destruction process the amounts of ozone molecules created and
destroyed are roughly equal, so that the total amount of ozone in the atmosphere is
nearly constant. The absolute concentration of ozone in the atmosphere is very low.
Out of 10 million air molecules only 3 are ozone molecules.
 Ozone layer
❖ Discovery (1913) ➔ French physicists Charles Fabry and Henri
Buisson.
❖ Dobson ➔ Developed simple spectrophotometer to measure
stratospheric ozone from the ground. Established worldwide
network of ozone monitoring stations (1928-58) that continue
operation till today.
❖ Dobson unit ➔ Measure of the amount of ozone overhead.
❖ United Nations General Assembly ➔ Designated September 16
as the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone
Layer.
Absorption of UV rays by ozone
layer
Ozone formation
 What is Ozone Depletion?

➢ Ozone layer depletion, is simply the wearing out (reduction) of

the amount of ozone in the stratosphere.

➢ Ozone depletion occurs when destruction of the stratospheric

ozone is more than the production of the molecule.
 Cause of ozone depletion
• Natural causes of depletion of ozone layer:
• Sun-spots and stratospheric winds. major volcanic eruptions
• Man-made causes of depletion of ozone layer:
excessive release of chlorine and bromine from man-made
compounds such as
CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons),
halons, CH3CCl3 (Methyl chloroform),
CCl4(Carbon tetrachloride),
HCFCs (hydro-chlorofluorocarbons),
hydrobromofluorocarbons and
methyl bromide are found to have direct impact on the depletion of
the ozone layer. These are categorized as ozone-depleting
substances (ODS).
Ozone depletion by CFCs
 Ozone hole

➢ The ozone hole is defined as the area having less than

220 dobson units (DU) of ozone in the overhead
column (i.e., between the ground and space).
➢ Since the 1970’s the ozone hole has been increasing in
size over the Antarctic.
➢ For the first time, in September of 2000, the ozone hole
became so large it actually left populated areas of
southern Chile fully exposed to the effects of the Sun’s
UV rays.
Ozone hole over the poles
 El nino and La nina

➢ The term El Niño (Spanish for 'the Christ Child') refers to a

warming of the ocean surface, or above-average sea surface
temperatures, in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
➢ El Niño and La Niña events are a natural part of the global climate
system. They occur when the Pacific Ocean and the atmosphere
above it change from their neutral ('normal') state for several
seasons.
➢ El Niño events are associated with a warming of the central and
eastern tropical Pacific, while La Niña events are the reverse, with a
sustained cooling of these same areas.
• During an El Niño year, the east–west SST difference
weakens, the air pressure difference weakens, and the trade
winds and their effects on the ocean weaken, so the eastern
Pacific warms (Figure 1(b)).

• During a La Niña year, the opposite happens: the east–west

difference in temperature strengthens, the pressure difference
strengthens, and the trade winds and their effects on the ocean
strengthen, so the east Pacific cools further (Figure 1(c)).
• causing extreme weather events like droughts, floods, and
altered rainfall patterns, affecting agriculture, fisheries, and
economies
UNIT 1 END