Global Warming - Energy and the Environment - page 296

PROBLEMS

Problem 10.1
Calculate the earth's radiative temperature (K) for albedos α = 0 . 27, 0.3, and 0.33, assuming the

solar constant is not changing.

Problem 10.2
Calculate the radiative temperatures (K) of the planets Mars and Venus, given their solar constants
S 0 = 589 and 2613 W m − 2 , respectively, and their albedos

α = 0 . 15 and 0.75, respectively.

Problem 10.3
Given the global surface temperature fluctuations shown in Figure 10.6, use a statistical program
to plot a best-fit curve through the data. According to this best-fit curve, by how much did the
temperature ( ◦ C) increase from 1860 to 2000?

Problem 10.4
The volume fraction of CO 2 in the atmosphere is 370 ppmV. What is the carbon content (Gt) of
the atmosphere if CO 2 is the only carrier of carbon? (The radius of the earth is 6371 km, and the
atmospheric mass per unit surface area is 1.033E(4) kg m − 2 .)

Problem 10.5
Given the CO 2 concentrations as shown in Figure 10.8, calculate the rate of increase (%/y) of
those concentrations in the years 1960-2000. Use an enlargement of the 1960-2000 segment of
Figure 10.8, or preferably the data available on the internet from CDIAC, Oak Ridge National
Laboratory. Use an exponential, not linear, growth.

Problem 10.6
The present concentrations of CO 2 and CH 4 are 370 and 1.7 ppmV, respectively. The former grows
by 0.4%/y, the latter by 0.6%/y. What will be the concentrations (ppmV) of these gases in 2100?
Use exponential, not linear, growth.

Problem 10.7
A 1000-MW(el) power plant working at 35% thermal efficiency 100% of the time (base load) uses
coal with a formula C 1 H 1 and a heating value of 30 MJ/kg. How much CO 2 does this plant emit
(metric tons/y)?