The Ocean-Atmospheric Interface

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“The Ocean-Atmospheric Interface” Please respond to the following:

  • Watch the video titled “Ocean Temperatures – Changing Planet” (6 min 4 sec) under The Ocean terms section of the Science Corner. You can also view the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WyD2aiqP_s. Next, describe one (1) way that scientists use the ocean to monitor climate change. Then, examine the overall impact of a warmer ocean on the climate.
  • Watch the video titled “How Climate Change Makes Intense Hurricanes” (3 min 8 sec) under the Climate Change terms section of the Science Corner. You can also view the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4ZCQHvRg2k. Next, describe the overall manner in which climate change affects hurricanes, storms, and sea level. Then, explain the overall physical impact that this change will have on coastal communities.
  • The weather condition known as El Niño is described on page 677 of your book. After reading this section, describe the major interactions between the atmosphere and the surface ocean water in the equatorial Pacific Ocean under “normal” conditions. Next, describe the changes that occur in both the atmosphere and the underlying ocean during an El Niño event. (Note: Be sure to include the changes of atmospheric convection, warm surface ocean water, and the cold deep ocean water in your description. List a specific region that is impacted negatively by an El Niño event.)

Define fossil fuels, non-renewable resources and alternative energy.

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Global Energy Analysis

Worldwide energy consumption varies dramatically, but the impacts are shared by all. The most commonly used fuel sources for energy around the world are the fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. Combustion of fossil fuels releases pollutants into the atmosphere, where the emissions from all countries combine to cause local, regional, and global issues. One of the primary pollutants of concern is carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Carbon dioxide emissions are responsible for climate change and governments around the world have taken steps to control pollution, but not all countries are successful in reducing carbon emissions.

While all countries produce pollution, and emit greenhouse gases, the emissions are greatly unequal across the globe. Consider what kinds of factors would determine how much energy is used by a country, a region, a household, or an individual. What factors would influence the fuel choices made by these people and institutions?

In this Assignment, you will be using knowledge you have gained from the Reading assignments in your textbook. You can also use the Kaplan Online Library and other scientifically-based sources to support your assignment. Please keep in mind that Wikipedia is not considered a reliable resource.

Conduct research to determine the common fuel sources, emissions, and regulations of a country of your choice and create a PowerPoint presentation designed to educate your classmates.

  1. Define fossil fuels, non-renewable resources and alternative energy.
  2. Identify a country that uses a fossil fuel as its primary source of emissions.
  3. Discuss why the country continues to rely on fossil fuels.
  4. Provide examples of manufactured products or agriculture that are dependent upon fossil fuel use in that country.
  5. Discuss both the local and global impacts of the continued use of fossil fuels. Remember to reflect on the environment, human health and financial concerns in both the long- and short-term.
  6. What regulations has the country put in place to reduce or control emissions or air pollution? How effective have these regulations been?
  7. Describe what solutions or new regulations you would implement in order to reduce fossil fuel usage in this country?
  8. Global efforts are being made to reduce fossil fuel usage and pollution. Analyze possible cultural differences and diversity concepts that would emerge if you recommended your changes stated above to another country? For example, what language barriers or religious and social differences would you encounter? Describe how countries can bridge cultural differences through strategic partnerships.

A PowerPoint template is available for your use in creating this presentation. The template should be used as a guide only. Add your own wording into this template by writing over the existing information on each slide. The PowerPoint presentation should contain approximately 10 slides in total.

Information provided on the slides should be brief and bulleted. In the notes section, you will include your all your talking points as you would present them to your audience. Remember, you want to tell the story during the presentation rather than having your audience reading your slides along with you during the entire presentation. The KU Writing Center has an excellent resource on Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations:

https://kucampus.kaplan.edu/MyStudies/AcademicSupportCenter/WritingCenter/WritingReferenceLibrary/WritingTypesAndTools/CreatingEffectivePowerpointPresentations.aspx

The presentation slides should:

  • Include a title slide, introductory slide, in-text citations where applicable, conclusion slide and a reference slide.
  • Use images (with citations) as appropriate to create an effective and professional presentation.
  • Include short descriptions and labels. Do not write out full paragraphs of information on each slide.
  • Be free of industry-jargon. Be mindful of your audience.
  • Use APA style for all citations.
  • Avoid plagiarism. Do not cut and paste directly from the source in the slides. Note: no more than 10% of your paper should be directly quoted from any outside source.
  • Utilize a minimum of three reliable resources.
  • Make certain that your presentation is free of grammar and spelling errors.

 

Food and Agriculture

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Food and Agriculture

Food and Agriculture

Before completing your post, review the Week 2: Food & Agriculture interactive video, which is designed to assist you in understanding more about this week’s topic and to help you organize your initial post.

In the United States, we are fortunate to have an abundant supply of food. However, this abundance is largely due to advances in agricultural technologies, which have in turn created numerous concerns surrounding our food sources. Provide at least two recent (since the Green Revolution ended) examples of how the United States has increased its food production, and discuss how these changes have affected both the environment and food safety.  Possible innovations you might cover include, but are not limited to: GM agriculture, polyculture farming, permaculture farming, vertical farms, small-scale organic farming, aquaponics, concentrated animal feeding operations, urban gardening (rooftop and vacant lot), not-till farming, precision farming, use of drones, and use of GPS technology.

Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Utilize at least two scholarly or reputable resources and your textbook to support your claims. Cite your sources in APA format. Quoted text should constitute no more than ten percent of your post.  Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts by Day 7.

Carefully review the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate this Discussion Thread.

Hazardous Materials Homework?

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Interactions of Hazardous Materials

1. You are the project manager of an environmental company that was hired to cleanup a historical arsenic contamination site. Soil sampling results indicated the area impacted with arsenic above action levels is 30 feet by 55 feet. The depth of the arsenic plume is three feet below ground surface. The land owner wanted to clean this site for future development. Answer the questions below to help you prepare a cost estimate for this portion of the project. Your solutions and any assumptions to justify your estimate must be shown.

a. What is the chemical symbol of arsenic, and what group/family does it belong to?

b. Solve for the minimum volume of soil that will be excavated in cubic yards?

c. If each dump truck can transport 18 cubic yards, determine how many dump trucks loads will be transported? For calculation purposes, add a 15% “fluff factor” (add to the volume that will be transported).

d. If the bulk density of soil is 1350 kg/m3 (84.3 lb/ft3), solve for the weight of the soil that will be transported to a disposal site in kilograms?

Your total response to parts a-d must be at least 200 words in length.

 

 

 

2. This is a two-part question:  Part 1: Methanol and toluene are flammable liquids whose vapor pressures at 68ºF (20ºC) are 96 and 22 mmHg, respectively. Based solely on this data, determine which compound poses the greater risk of fire and explosion at 68ºF (20ºC). Explain your choice. In general, discuss how vapor pressure affects the volatility of a liquid? Part 2: If the liquid in Part 1 is transferred into a container for transportation, why does DOT require that the container not be filled to the brim? Discuss your answer.  Your total response to Part 1 and Part 2 must be at least 200 words in length.