[AST 101] - Final Exam Guide - Comprehensive Notes for the exam (48 pages long!)

• School: Syracuse University
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: AST 101
• Professor: Walter Freeman

Document Summary

The anthropocene the era of human influence on geology. Solar output fluctuates in an 11year cycle, but creates only an . 2-degree change. Volcanism variation in the amount of greenhouse gases discharged over this timescale is not that large. Increase in co2 due to burning of fossil fuels. The ice ages come in cycles- cyclical changes in earth"s orbit and tilt. Set into motion that will cause even more warming snow (positive) Slow that warming down oceans (negative: positive feedback (short term) mechanisms win out. Small changes to the climate are amplified. The climate will be altered for a few tens of thousands of years. The climate will be altered for a few millions of years: but we don"t know for sure. We are now close to 400ppm and climbing!! Paleocene-eocene thermal maximum this happened once before (spike of co2) Moderate, overall warming of the planet by a few degrees.