APES HOT TOPICS Possible FRQ topics and other

APES “HOT” TOPICS Possible FRQ topics and other tips

Hurricane Sandy • Known as “Frankenstorm” for its proximity to Halloween 2012, “noreastercane” and just plain Superstorm Sandy

Hurricane Sandy • Sandy hit the Bahamas on the 10/26/12 and then weakened a little, briefly dropping back to a tropical storm before re-intensifying to a hurricane on the 27 th. During the 26 th and 27 th Sandy was also able to grow much bigger in size whilst tracking almost parallel to the east coast of the USA.

Hurricane Sandy • An area of high pressure developing over Ontario on the 28 th spread eastwards on the 29 th and 30 th, and acted as a block to Sandy's path. • Instead of curving north-eastwards into the Atlantic Ocean as many hurricanes do, Sandy was instead forced to turn north-westwards towards north-eastern USA. • At the same time it interacted with a mid-latitude weather system (Nor'easter) which helped it to re-intensify and become much larger. • This interaction ventilated air from within Sandy’s core, dropping the surface pressure. Cold air in the trough wrapped around the system, enhancing the temperature gradient across the storm. The storm received a boost from this interaction and began expanding.

Hurricane Sandy Combines with Nor'easter

Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy • As Sandy was so big, wind damage covered a much larger area than would usually be expected from a hurricane. • A larger area of strong winds led to a larger than usual storm surge. • Sandy's arrival into the US coast on the 29 th also coincided with both high tide and spring tide, meaning that the tide would be at around its highest level. In New York City this added an extra 20 to 50 cm to the high water mark. • The extensive damage Sandy caused was the result of a number of unfortunate coincidences. It was able to grow particularly big, it was steered by the weather pattern developing over Canada, its landfall coincided with one of the highest tides of the month, worsening the impact of the storm surge, and it was pushed into the New York area rather than the less densely populated area further north.

Hurricane Sandy

El Nino • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=WPA-Kpld. DVc

La Nina • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=ty. Pq 86 y. M_Ic

Consequences of Climate Change Effect • Receding polar ice caps Environmental Consequences • Sea level rise (although due primarily to thermal expansion) • Melting of permafrost • Changes atmospheric energy balance – why? • Messes up transportation routes • Releases methane – potent greenhouse gas • Altered climates in various places around the globe

Keystone Pipeline • Transports unrefined oil from oil • • • sands in Canada (largest producer) to refineries in SE United States Replaces older pipeline Allows for higher capacity of oil transport Possible water contamination – part goes over the Ogallala Aquifer Habitat degradation issues – goes through sensitive Sandhill crane ecosystem in Nebraska Less incentive to develop sustainable energy

Sandhills, Nebraska

BP Oil Spill - 2010 • Deepwater Drilling • As technology increases, we’re drilling further offshore, in deeper water • blowout preventer failure • Operate on floating platforms • Very difficult to access the wellhead (up to 3000 m deep!) • Deepwater Horizon • Deepest well at the time • Blowout and explosion killed 11 people, and sank the rig • Riser from wellhead ruptured • Oil gushed into Gulf of Mexico – 10, 000 m 3 per day

BP Oil Spill - 2010 • So what? • Mississippi Delta, Wetlands in Florida – important wildlife areas • oil dispersal chemicals sent oil “somewhere” • Shrimp, oysters, finfish – big industry • Took 3 months to stop the leak • Oil came ashore, despite protective booms

Cleaning up • Booms Bioremediation • Skimmer Boats Chemical dispersants

GMO and Labeling • GMO = Genetically Modified Organisms • Pros of GMOs? • Increased yield and quality of crops – resistant to pests and harsh environmental conditions • Produce essential nutrients for humans (ex. Golden Rice) • Produce pharmaceuticals • Reduces use of synthetic pesticides and herbicides • Ecological concerns • Genes could spread to wild plants – alter/eliminate natural plant varieties (solve with buffer zones? ) • Loss of genetic diversity among food crops • Effect on food chain – disrupts insect populations • Human health concerns • Allergic reactions

Arctic Apple

Bee Colony Collapse Disorder is the phenomenon that occurs when the majority of worker bees in a colony disappear and leave behind a queen, plenty of food and a few nurse bees to care for the remaining immature bees and the queen

Bee Colony Collapse

Mercury in Fish

Mountain Top Removal

Human Population • I = P x A x T • I = Impact; P = Population; A = Affluence; T = Technology • Rate of change = [b-d] + [i-e] • US population = 300 million • World population = 7 billion • Rule of 70 = 70/growth rate = number of years population will double • Total Fertility vs. Replacement Level Fertility • Total Fertility = ave # children per woman • RLF = ave # children per woman needed for zero population growth • Strategies to reduce population growth? • Educate/empower women • Decrease poverty • Access to family planning

Wind Power Wind spins turbine Generator produces electricity Electricity moves through transmission lines Fastest growing renewable (though solar is close) Risk to birds – collide with blades (significant, but more deaths attributed to collisions with buildings, predation by house cats, etc. ) • Risk to bats – decreased pressure around blades causes capillaries in lungs to rupture • Possible math question? • • •

Dams/Rivers • • Three Gorges Dam – Yangzi River in China World’s largest hydropower project Displaced 1. 2 million people Reservoir is polluted from submerged factories, mines, dumps Erosion on banks of reservoir causing landslides Worsens drought downstream BUT… provides “clean” energy, reliable water source

Growing Production of Biofuels • Biofuels – most often ethanol from corn or sugarcane • Biofuels highly regionalized--in India, rice hulls • Uses lots of water, fertilizers, pesticides • Fertilizers associated with eutrophication and “dead zone” in Gulf of Mexico • Fertilizer runoff with phosphates and nitrates • Causes algal blooms – shades water plants below • Algae eventually dies • Bacteria decompose dead algae – uses dissolved oxygen • Fish and other animals die • Better alternative: Switchgrass and Algae

Plastic Bag Ban or Water Bottle Ban Problems: • persistence of plastic in landfill • energy cost and oil dependence in producing bags • 2 liters of oil for every one liter bottle • nonrecyclable plastic bags (bottles are recyclable • Solution: • reusable alternatives are pretty simple • ban or charge? (pricing structure) • how much of a deposit would change your behavior? • fake fields, diapers, other products can be made from recycled bottles

Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Hydrogen Fuel Pros • 2 H 2 + O 2 → 2 H 2 O • No emissions • Silent • No recharging • Can use renewable fuels to pull H 2 from water - electrolysis • Fuel itself is efficient Cons • Expensive – materials, R&D • Need H 2 – takes energy to extract (often fossil fuels used!) – reduces overall efficiency • Often pulled from CH 4 - Steam reforming (releases greenhouse gases) • Low density – hard to transport • Very flammable, no smell

“Clean” Coal

“Clean” Coal Technology • When coal burns, it releases CO 2, SOx and other emissions in flue gas (the billowing clouds you see pouring out of smoke stacks) • Some clean coal technologies purify the coal before it burns: • Coal washing: removes unwanted minerals by mixing crushed coal with a liquid and allowing the impurities to separate and settle.

“Clean” Coal Technology • Other systems control the coal burn to minimize emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates: • Wet scrubbers (flue gas desulfurization systems): remove sulfur dioxide - a major cause of acid rain - by spraying flue gas with limestone and water. The mixture reacts with the sulfur dioxide to form synthetic gypsum, a solid component of drywall.

Wet Scrubbers

“Clean” Coal Technology • Other systems control the coal burn to minimize emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates: • Low-NOx (nitrogen oxide) burners: reduce the creation of nitrogen oxides, a cause of ground-level ozone, by restricting oxygen and manipulating the combustion process.

“Clean” Coal Technology • Other systems control the coal burn to minimize emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates: • Electrostatic precipitators: remove particulates that aggravate asthma and cause respiratory ailments by charging particles with an electrical field and then capturing them on collection plates.

“Clean” Coal Technology • Other systems control the coal burn to minimize emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates: • Gasification avoids burning coal altogether. With integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) systems, steam and hot pressurized air or oxygen combine with coal in a reaction that forces carbon molecules apart. The resulting syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is then cleaned and burned in a gas turbine to make electricity. The heat energy from the gas turbine also powers a steam turbine. Since IGCC power plants create two forms of energy, they have the potential to reach a fuel efficiency of 50 percent

“Clean” Coal Technology • Other systems control the coal burn to minimize emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates: • Carbon capture and storage -- perhaps the most promising clean coal technology -- catches and sequesters carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions from stationary sources like power plants. Since CO 2 contributes to global warming, reducing its release into the atmosphere has become a major international concern. In order to discover the most efficient and economical means of carbon capture, researchers have developed several technologies.

Haiti Earthquake - 2010 • 3 million people affected • >200, 000 killed • Magnitude 7. 0 • Transform Fault Boundary • Why so bad? • Focus’s shallow depth • Highly populous area • Extremely poor country – not well prepared • Basic infrastructure (communication, transportation, water supply) severely damaged • Spread of disease – cholera outbreak

Important Vocab • Conservation • Preservation • Greatest good for greatest number? • Controlled use • Remaining wilderness areas of public land should be left untouched • Restoration • Bring back to former condition • Remediation • Associated with cleanup of chemical contaminants in a polluted area • Mitigation • Repairing/rehabilitating a damaged ecosystem or compensation for damage – substitute or replacement area (common with wetlands) • Reclamation • Chemical and physical manipulations in severely degraded sites like open pit mines

Final things to remember. . . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. NOSCLP--criteria pollutants Layers of atmosphere: TRy and STop ME THen. . . CO 2 is not a traditional air pollutant, its a GHG. Fertilizers and pesticides are NOT the same. Fertilizers have N, P, K for plant growth. Pesticides kill bugs. Read about problems of each. An ecological/ecosystem "cost" is NOT about money, its about a problem in an ecosystem. A question about $ will have the word "economic". Stratospheric ozone thinning (hole) and global warming are NOT the same thing. For air pollution questions, all pollutants except lead cause "respiratory problems such as asthma" Advantage for any biome, ecosystem service, habitat = ecotourism, aesthetic value

Final things to remember. . . 1. Review experimental design: dependent & independent variables, hypothesis with "increasing/decreasing" in it. 2. Use the words "money" or "jobs" for economic questions. For govt. incentives: subsidies, tax credit/rebates, cap and trade. Disincentives include taxes, fines, legal penalties, property value loss 3. Eutrophication: excess nutrients (N, P) from fertilizer, manure or urban sewage are washed by rain into rivers which flow to the ocean => algal/phytoplankton bloom then die-off from lack of light => decomposed by bacteria who use all the oxygen => hypoxia and fish death => anaerobic mess 4. When talking about change in an ecosystem, use "increasing" or "decreasing". Ex: Invasive species cause native species population to decrease 5. Review the nitrogen cycle! The AP exam LOVES the nitrogen cycle. 6. If you can’t think of other possible solutions to problems, use education (but indicate what we should educate about).

Final things to remember. . . 1. An ecosystem service is defined as something nature provides humans for survival or economic benefit. NOT something nature gives itself. 2. #1 way to control population growth is to provide education (literacy) for girls. Girls marry later, and have less children. Lowers poverty. 3. Try the Rule of 70 for growth rate. 4. Food chains always begin with a producer. Arrows point the direction of energy flow (toward the predator). 5. Anthropogenic = human made. Degradation = decline in quality. Synthetic = not natural. 6. Loss of biodiversity → HIPPCO 7. Sustainability = protect natural cycles + true pricing + renewable energy + biodiversity + population control

Important Laws • Coastal Management Act • Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE standards) • Clean Air Act • Clean Water Act • Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation Liability Act (CERCLA) • Manages coastal resources (including Great Lakes) – balances economic development with conservation • Sets minimum fuel economy standards • Establishes primary and secondary air quality standards for 6 criteria pollutants (SO 2, NOx, CO, PM, O 3, Pb) • Regulates discharge into water sources and wetland destruction • Provides funds for clean-up of hazardous substances (Superfund Sites)

Important Laws • Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) • Endangered Species Act (ESA) • International legislation banning hunting, selling, importing endangered species • Protects threatened and endangered species and their habitats – involves recovery plan • Requires that pesticides are registered and approved by the FDA • Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) • Agreement among 150 nations requiring greenhouse gas emissions reduction • Kyoto Protocol

Important Laws • Lacey Act • Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSRA) • Marine Mammals Protection Act • Prohibits transportation of illegally captured/ prohibited animals across state lines – first federal law protecting wildlife; controls spread of nonnative species • Governs marine fisheries management in US waters – sets catch limits, calls for increased international cooperation • Prohibits (with special exceptions) the take of marine mammals in US waters and by US citizens in the high seas

Important Laws • Montreal Protocol • National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) • National Forest Management Act • Banned production of aerosols and initiated the phasing out of CFCs • Requires environmental impact statement for every major federal project • Sets standards for how the Forest Service manages National Forests – requires land management plans for national forests and grasslands

Important Laws • Resource Conservation • Management of solid waste and Recovery Act (RCRA) including landfills and storage tanks – set minimum standards for all waste disposal (including hazardous waste) • Safe Drinking Water Act • Sets standards for drinking water quality • Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act • Toxic Substances Control Act • Requires restoration of abandoned mines • Tracks 75, 000 industrial chemicals – tested for environmental or health hazard and banned if high risk