Appendix 1 Water vapor feedback

In your own words describe the feedback loop a b c d e a.

In your own words describe the feedback loop a b c d e a. Possible Answer: As Earth’s temperature increases, increased evaporation (not shown) increases atmospheric water vapor. This increases the atmospheric emissivity, resulting in more longwave radiation going downward from Earth’s atmosphere to its surface. This results in increased surface heating and subsequently a higher surface temperature than would be expected without this positive feedback process.

What is the meaning of loop a b c f g d e a?

What is the meaning of loop a b c f g d e a ? Possible answer: This captures the idea that as the atmosphere warms it also radiates more energy to the surface. i.e. The downward flux of longwave radiation from the atmosphere to Earth’s surface is proportional to the product of atmospheric emissivity and the fourth power of atmospheric temperature. Loop a b c d e a captures the increase in emissivity Loop a b c f g d e a capture the increase in atmospheric temperature.

Appendix 2 Ocean temperature CO2 uptake feedback

Two new connections Are the connections positive or negative? Earth’s ocean surface temperature ? CO2 solubility in oceans CO2 solubility in oceans ? Atmospheric CO2 Encourage students to use the ideas presented in the figures to determine the above connections. The figure at left shows the temperature dependence of CO2 solubility in water. From: http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/gases-solubility-water-d_1148.html The figure at right shows the exchange of CO2 from the atmosphere to the oceans

Two new connections Are the connections positive or negative? Earth’s surface temperature - CO2 solubility in oceans CO2 solubility in oceans - Atmospheric CO2 Students Check their answers

Complete the causal loop diagram below Complete the causal loop diagram below. Make sure to label all connections as + or – and also determine whether the whole loop is a positive or negative feedback loop.

Complete the causal loop diagram below Complete the causal loop diagram below. Make sure to label all connections as + or – and also determine whether the whole loop is a positive or negative feedback loop. + - + + Students Check their answers. This slide could be omitted and the question could be used as an assessment of student understanding at this point. -

Appendix 3 Clouds and climate

High thin cirrus clouds vs. low thick clouds Three regions on Earth: I) clear skies II) low clouds III) high thin clouds Red arrows represent ???? and green represent ????

High thin cirrus clouds vs. low thick clouds. Three regions on Earth: I) clear skies II) low clouds III) high thin clouds Red arrows represent solar radiation and green represent terrestrial radiation.

High thin cirrus clouds vs. low thick clouds Is our reference with no radiative forcing. Low clouds reflect sunlight but since the clouds are low they radiate longwave radiation nearly as well as the surface, so the radiative forcing is dominated by the increased reflection of sunlight and is negative. High thin cirrus clouds do reflect some sunlight. Since they are much colder than the surface, their presence drastically decreases the outgoing longwave radiation and hence the radiative forcing is positive. That is, the greenhouse effect of high thin clouds is more important than their reflection of sunlight.

T/F Increasing clouds in the atmosphere will always decrease Earth’s surface temperature. T/F All clouds influence Earth’s climate in the same way.

What might be the radiative effect of smog on the Los Angeles area What might be the radiative effect of smog on the Los Angeles area? Think for a minute on your own and then share with your neighbors.

What might be the radiative effect of smog on the Los Angeles area What might be the radiative effect of smog on the Los Angeles area? There is no right or wrong answer to this question as the answer would be highly dependent upon the composition, density, and vertical extent of the smog layer.

Appendix 4. Possible systems diagrams for: Select one of the ideas below as a basis to create a complete yet simple systems diagram……. In your own words, briefly explain your causal loop structure. Dieting: emotional health, caloric food intake, person’s weight , exercise. Drug addiction: Self-esteem, Risk for drug use, drug use, emotional instability (Can you think of an outside factor may initiate the original change in self esteem). Forest Fires: Forest fires, activity to stop fires, forest fire fuel. Career success: Interest in career, amount of time spent working, success on projects Crying wolf: boredom relief, crying wolf, attention gained. Market place: Product Inventory, product price, consumption of product Or one of your own. Any of these questions could be included on and exam.

Appendix 3.1 Dieting: emotional health, caloric food intake, person’s weight, exercise. Both loops are positive suggesting that either weight gain or loss can be amplified. It is interesting to speculate about modifications to this diagram that may capture key aspects of anorexia or bulimia disorders.

Appendix 3.2 Drug addiction: Self esteem, risk for drug use, drug use, emotional instability (Can you think of an outside factor that may initiate the original degradation of self esteem?). Granted, this is an oversimplistic view of the drug addition cycle. Outside factors could be dysfunctional relationships, outside demands for performance, or loss of loved-one or long held job.

Appendix 3.3 Forest fires: Forest fires, activity to stop fires, forest fire fuel. Assumptions: As forest fires increase in number, the tendency to fight fire increases. Fighting fires reduces then burning of underbrush and other fuels so fighting fires increases the available forest fire fuel. When there is more fuel, the chance of a forest fire start from lightning or human activity increases.

Appendix 3.4 Career success: Interest in projects, time spent working on projects, success on projects. Assumptions: Interest in projects inspires spending time working on projects. 2) Time spent working on projects promotes success on projects. 3) Success on projects fuels interest in projects.

Appendix 3.5 Crying wolf: boredom relief, crying wolf, attention gained Assumptions: Crying wolf works at gaining attention 2) The attention gained helps relieve boredom Success at boredom relief promotes the desire to continue to cry wolf. Karl North describes the full story and the balancing loop that dominates once the “townspeople” lose trust in the boy. He extends this analogy in “Folk Tales, Foreign Policy, and the Value of Systems Thinking”

Appendix 3.6 Market place: Product inventory, product price, consumption of product The connections As product inventory increases, product price decreases 2) As product price increases, consumption of product decreases As consumption of product increases, product inventory decreases. A specific example of this structure related to hogs and pork is given in http://cabiles-cano.wikispaces.com/Case+8+-+Building+%26+Simulating+a+Model+Using+Dynamo

Appendix 5 Other examples

Chemical weathering This process is very important for long time scales. T/F All loops in the systems diagram above are negative

Chemical weathering True/False All loops in the systems diagram above are negative