1. Possible FRQ topics and other tips
APES “Hot” Topics
Possible FRQ topics and other tips

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

4. 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 27th. During the 26th and 27th Sandy was also able to grow much bigger in size whilst tracking almost parallel to the east coast of the USA.

5. Hurricane Sandy
An area of high pressure developing over Ontario on the 28th spread eastwards on the 29th and 30th, 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.

6. Hurricane Sandy Combines with Nor'easter

7. Hurricane Sandy

8. Hurricane Sandy

9. 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 29th 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.

10. Hurricane Sandy

11. El Nino

12. La Nina

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

14. 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

15. Sandhills, Nebraska

16. BP Oil Spill - 2010 Deepwater Drilling Deepwater Horizon
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 3000m 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 m3 per day

17. BP Oil Spill
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

19. Cleaning up Booms Bioremediation Skimmer Boats Chemical dispersants
Booms are floating, physical barriers to oil, made of plastic, metal, or other materials, which slow the spread of oil and keep it contained. Skilled teams deploy booms using mooring systems, such as anchors and land lines. They commonly place boom:
Across a narrow entrance to the ocean, such as a stream outlet or small inlet, to close off that entrance so that oil can't pass through into marshland or other sensitive habitat.
In places where the boom can deflect oil away from sensitive locations, such as shellfish beds or beaches used by piping plovers as nesting habitat.
Around a sensitive site, to prevent oil from reaching it.
There are three main types of boom. Hard boom is like a floating piece of plastic that has a cylindrical float at the top and is weighted at the bottom so that it has a "skirt" under the water. If the currents or winds are not too strong, booms can also be used to make the oil go in a different direction (this is called "deflection booming"). Sorbent boom looks like a long sausage made out of a material that absorbs oil. If you were to take the inside of a disposable diaper out and roll it into strips, it would act much like a sorbent boom. Sorbent booms don't have the "skirt" that hard booms have, so they can't contain oil for very long. Fire boom is not used very much. It looks like metal plates with a floating metal cylinder at the top and thin metal plates that make the "skirt" in the water. This type of boom is made to contain oil long enough that it can be lit on fire and burned up.
Skimmers are boats and other devices that can remove oil from the sea surface before it reaches sensitive areas along a coastline. In the photo below, oil is being skimmed from the sea surface by a "vessel of opportunity." Sometimes, two boats will tow a collection boom, allowing oil to concentrate within the boom, where it is then picked up by a skimmer.

20. 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

21. Arctic Apple

22. Bee Colony Collapse
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

23. Bee Colony Collapse

24. Bee Colony Collapse

25. Mercury in Fish

26. Mercury in Fish

27. Mountain Top Removal

29. Human Population I = P x A x T Rate of change = [b-d] + [i-e]
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

30. 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?

33. 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

34. 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

35. 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

36. Hydrogen Fuel Cells

37. Hydrogen Fuel 2H2 + O2 → 2H2O No emissions Silent No recharging
Pros
Cons
2H2 + O2 → 2H2O
No emissions
Silent
No recharging
Can use renewable fuels to pull H2 from water - electrolysis
Fuel itself is efficient
Expensive – materials, R&D
Need H2 – takes energy to extract (often fossil fuels used!) – reduces overall efficiency
Often pulled from CH4 - Steam reforming (releases greenhouse gases)
Low density – hard to transport
Very flammable, no smell

38. “Clean” Coal

39. “Clean” Coal Technology
When coal burns, it releases CO2, 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.

40. “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.

41. Wet Scrubbers

42. “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.

44. “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.

46. “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 

48. “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 (CO2) emissions from stationary sources like power plants. Since CO2 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.

50. 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

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

54. Final things to remember. . .
NOSCLP--criteria pollutants
Layers of atmosphere: TRy and STop ME THen. . .
CO2 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

55. Final things to remember. . .
Review experimental design: dependent & independent variables, hypothesis with "increasing/decreasing" in it.
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
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
When talking about change in an ecosystem, use "increasing" or "decreasing". Ex: Invasive species cause native species population to decrease
Review the nitrogen cycle! The AP exam LOVES the nitrogen cycle.
If you can’t think of other possible solutions to problems, use education (but indicate what we should educate about).
Review the nitrogen cycle! The AP exam LOVES the nitrogen cycle.

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

57. 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 (SO2, NOx, CO, PM, O3, Pb)
Regulates discharge into water sources and wetland destruction
Provides funds for clean-up of hazardous substances (Superfund Sites)

58. Important Laws
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
Endangered Species Act (ESA)
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)
Kyoto Protocol
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
Agreement among 150 nations requiring greenhouse gas emissions reduction

59. Important Laws
Prohibits transportation of illegally captured/ prohibited animals across state lines – first federal law protecting wildlife; controls spread of non-native 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
Lacey Act
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSRA)
Marine Mammals Protection Act

60. Important Laws
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
Montreal Protocol
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
National Forest Management Act

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