Summary: Climate Hydrological Processes
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1 Introduction
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What is climate sensitivity?
The global mean surface air temperature increase that follows a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide. -
What is a tipping point?
A critical threshold at which the future state of a system will qualitatively change by a small change in global mean temperature. -
What is a black body?
Object that absorbs all wave lengths and does not reflect any light. -
2 Enery Balance & Hydrological Cycle
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Why do you need to divide the solar constant by four?
Difference between surface area of a circle (sun) and a sphere (earth). -
What are the three most important climate change feedbacks?
1. Water vapor feedback
2. Albedo feedback
3. Clouds feedback -
How does the water vapor feedback work?
1. Warmer oceans means more water vapor
2. More water vapor means a larger greenhouse effect
3. A larger greenhouse effect means warmer oceans -
How does the albedo feedback work?
1. Warmer temperatures means melting ice
2. Melting ice means a reduced surface albedo
3. More surface albedo means more SWR absorption
4. More SWR absorption means warmer temperatures -
How does the cloud feedback work?
High clouds: Cold due to adiabatic coolling. Absorbed LWR is re-emitted at low temperatures and thus less LWR emitted to space: Warming effect.
Low clouds: Very white, reflecting lots of SWR: cooling effect -
Where does the sensible heat flux depends on? (two things)
1. Temperature difference between surface and atmosphere
2. Surface wind speed -
Where does the evaporation/latent heat flux depends on? (four things)
1. Net surface radiation (available energy)
2. Atmospheric water demand
3. Availability at the surface (oceans are unlimited)
4. Surface wind speed
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