Deck 21: Climate Change

Question 1

There is some evidence that increases in greenhouse gas concentrations are responsible of the vast majority of global warming over the last century.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Volcanic activity releases particles and particle forming gases into the atmosphere each year.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The instrumental temperature record is temperature records from direct measurement.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The troposphere is the lowest layer in the atmosphere.

Question 5

Thermal expansion can cause sea level rise.

Question 6

Agriculture and biodiversity will be enhanced with increased global temperatures.

Question 7

One way in which concentrations of CO₂ millions of years ago can be reconstructed is from the density of stomata in fossilized leaves.

Question 8

The last glacial minimum ended approximately 15,000 years ago.

Question 9

Albedo is the percentage of radiation reflected from the surface.

Question 10

The study of ancient climates is called paleoclimatology.

Question 11

Global temperature trends are typically taken as the average over the entire planet.

Question 12

An increase in greenhouse gas concentrations corresponds to a positive forcing.

Question 13

Nitrogen and oxygen make up <50% of the atmosphere.

Question 14

Weather is a long-term average of climate.

Question 15

Geoengineering refers to large-scale intentional efforts to modify the climate.

Question 16

Moving away from fossil fuels will remove 200 billion tons carbon from our atmosphere over the next 15 years.

Question 17

In the last century, human activities have caused dramatic increases in concentration of many greenhouse gases.

Question 18

The ionosphere plays little role in determining climate.

Question 19

The mesosphere contains the ozone layer.

Question 20

Plate tectonics has no effect on climate change.

Question 21

_____ is the most abundant and important greenhouse gas.

A) O₂
B) O₃
C) CO
D) CO₂

Question 22

The percentage of radiation reflected from a surface is referred to as its _____.

A) altitude reflection
B) ozone layer
C) albedo
D) solar radiation

Question 23

_____ are important concepts in climate science. They are factors that amplify or decrease the rate of a process.

A) Albedos
B) Latitudes
C) Feedbacks
D) Variablities

Question 24

The orbital theory of climate is also known as _____.

A) Orbital Theory
B) Milankovitch Theory
C) Orbital Climate Theory
D) Maunder Minimum

Question 25

The _____ is the Earth's primary source of energy.

A) Sun
B) stratosphere
C) volcanic emissions
D) weather

Question 26

Which of the following atmospheric gases are derived from both natural processes and anthropogenic processes?

A) oxygen
B) carbon dioxide
C) argon
D) water vapor

Question 27

Heat energy from solar radiation absorbed at the Earth's surface is known as _____.

A) geothermal energy
B) solar heat
C) blackbody radiation
D) terrestrial radiation

Question 28

The Sun transmits its energy to Earth in the form of _____.

A) solar radiation
B) electromagnetic radiation
C) visible light
D) yellow energy

Question 29

Which of the following layers of the atmosphere contains the ozone layer?

A) mesosphere
B) troposphere
C) stratosphere
D) ionosphere

Question 30

Cloud droplets and _____, which are small particles suspended in the atmosphere, together relfect around 23% of the incident solar radiation back to space.

A) atmospheric aerosols
B) dust
C) volcanic emissions
D) combustion products

Question 31

Which of the following is a factor in the Earth's atmosphere?

A) composition
B) electromagnetic radiation
C) albedo
D) geoengineering

Question 32

Without this, the Earth would warm up rapidly due to the absorption of solar radiation.

A) emission of infrared radiation
B) albedo
C) greenhouse effect
D) atmosphere

Question 33

Greenhouse gases can survive in the atmosphere for different amounts of time, which is known as _____.

A) decay curve
B) atmospheric lifetime
C) global warming potential
D) abundance factor

Question 34

The Earth is warm due to _____.

A) albedo
B) greenhouse gases
C) blackbody radiation
D) all are correct

Question 35

Why is water vapor an extremely important greenhouse gas?

A) It decreases the amount of precipitation and energy in the atmosphere.
B) It concentrates the amount of carbon absorbed in the oceans.
C) It reflects UV radiation.
D) It strongly absorbs IR radiation.

Question 36

What is the role of the ozone layer?

A) It reflects heat to the surface.
B) It blocks all electromagnetic radiation from space.
C) It creates a warm blanket around the Earth.
D) It protects the surface from ultraviolet radiation from the Sun.

Question 37

The month in which the Earth makes its closest approach to the Sun is known as the _____, which varies on a 19,000 year cycle.

A) perihelion
B) axial tilt
C) wobble
D) eccentricity

Question 38

The roundness of the Earth's orbit is known as it's _____

A) rotational balance
B) variation
C) variblity
D) eccentricity

Question 39

NO₂ and CH₄ are important greenhouse gases due to their strong _____ of solar radiation.

A) absorption
B) reflection
C) potential
D) trapping

Question 40

The Earth's average climate is determined by its _____, the balance between the amount of energy entering and exiting the Earth system.

A) solar balance
B) blackbody radioactivity
C) radiative balance
D) anthropogenic forcing

Question 41

By what means do we know that greenhouse gas concentrations have varied quite dramatically over the geologic record?

A) oxygen isotopes
B) ice cores
C) carbon isotopes
D) tree rings

Question 42

The most straightforward way to decrease emissions of CO₂ is to _____.

A) use low-energy appliances
B) recycle
C) increase fuel economy
D) move away from using fossil fuels

Question 43

_____ refers to large-scale intentional efforts to modify Earth's climate.

A) Geoengineering
B) Climate modeling
C) Climate construction
D) Biospheric engineering

Question 44

Models of climate are only able to reproduce the warming over the last century only if _____ are added.

A) solar radiation
B) greenhouse gases
C) population changes
D) plate tectonics

Question 45

_____ can alter the surface albedo of the Earth and affect ocean circulation on a million-year time scale.

A) Faulting
B) Mountain building
C) Plate tectonics
D) Volcanic eruptions

Question 46

_____ has been responsible for around 50% of the sea level rise over the last century.

A) A dip in the jet stream
B) Change in the Gulf Stream circulation
C) Melting and loss of ice
D) Extreme weather events

Question 47

Between 1961 and 2003 mean sea level rose _____.

A) 1.8 cm
B) 3 mm
C) 0.3 mm
D) 1.8 mm

Question 48

How will agriculture be impacted by climate change?

A) increase markets
B) alter the need for irrigation
C) agriculture will not be impacted
D) increase diversity

Question 49

_____ works by measuring temperatures deep in the ground and using our understanding of heat transfer in materials to infer what the surface must have been in the past.

A) Climate modeling
B) Feedback loops
C) Solar forcing
D) Borehold thermometry

Question 50

Climate change will affect human populations in all but the following ways:

A) famine due to crop failure
B) flooding due to sea level changes
C) increased extreme weather events
D) all are correct

Question 51

The last glacial maximum ended _____ years ago.

A) 150
B) 1500
C) 15,000
D) 150,000

Question 52

Paleoclimate studies require that scientists find paleoclimate _____, materials that have retained a unique signature of the ancient climate conditions.

A) models
B) air bubbles
C) records
D) proxies

Question 53

At this point in time global mean temperatures begin to increase substantially and quite rapidly.

A) industrial revolution
B) bronze age
C) at the close of the glacial maximum
D) the invention of the internal combustable engine

Question 54

As more CO₂ dissolves in the ocean the _____ increases.

A) sea level
B) fish size
C) concentration of H⁺
D) number of reefs

Question 55

_____ is the increase in the volume that results from increased ocean temperatures.

A) Sea floor spreading
B) Thermal expansion
C) Ice sheet melting
D) Decadal variability

Question 56

_____ refers to geoengineering efforts to control the amount of solar radiation being absorbed by the Earth system and reflecting it back to space.

A) Solar reflection engineering
B) Solar radiation management
C) Radiation sequestering
D) Solar storage

Question 57

Which of the following is released by volcanic activity into the atmosphere?

A) water vapor
B) SO₂
C) CO
D) NO₂

Question 58

The _____ is an international panel of scientists that assesses the evidence for and effects of climate change.

A) IPCC
B) GWA
C) GSA
D) EPA

Question 59

Two ways in which concentrations of CO₂ million of years ago can be reconstructed is from the density of stomata in fossilized leaves and _____

A) isotopic content of carbon in fossils
B) ice cores
C) tree rings
D) orbital changes of the Earth around the Sun

Question 60

Which of the following is not a paleoclimate proxy?

A) insect trapped in amber
B) tree rings
C) ice cores
D) all are proxies