What is radiative equilibrium and how is it influenced by greenhouse gases??
What will be the ideal response?
ANSWER: When the rate of the incoming solar energy balances the rate of outgoing infrared energy from Earth’s surface and atmosphere, the Earth-atmosphere system is in a state of radiative equilibrium. Increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases can disturb this equilibrium and are, therefore, referred to as radiative forcing agents. The radiative forcing provided by extra CO2 and other greenhouse gases has increased by about 3 W/m2 over the past several hundred years, with the most rapid increase occurring over the last several decades. At the same time, increasing amounts of Sun-blocking aerosols emitted by human activity (such as sulfates and other pollutants), together with their effects on cloudiness, have led to a decrease in radiative forcing estimated at roughly 1 W/m2, which counteracts part of the greenhouse forcing.
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Judge the following sentence according to the criteria given below. Earth's magnetic field is due to a big mass of magnetized material inside Earth because magnets function only at relatively low temperatures
A) The assertion is correct but the reason is incorrect. B) The assertion is incorrect but the reason is correct. C) The assertion and the reason are both correct, and the reason is valid. D) The assertion and the reason are both correct, but the reason is invalid. E) Both the assertion and the reason are incorrect.
The Earth's core can be divided into the outer and inner components. The outer core is liquid because of the high temperature, while the inner core is solid due to the even greater pressure.
a. true b. false
Near Los Angeles, the sea breeze front
A) separates marine air from polluted air. B) moves farther off-shore as the day progresses. C) leads to lowering pollution in the eastern portion of the Los Angeles basin in the late afternoon. D) does not affect the concentrations of photochemically generated smog components.
The area effect of the equilibrium theory of island biogeography suggests that ________
A) the total number of species increases as an island is further from the mainland; it is easier to speciate B) the number of species increases with the size of the island; all else being equal, larger islands contain more species C) the number of species decreases with increasing island size; all else being equal, larger islands contain fewer species D) the number of individuals of each species decreases as the size of the island increases because competition decreases population sizes E) organism size (large or small) is what most affects the number of individuals of each species