Anthropogenic Climate change

Question 1

What are the 3 sources of evidence for climate change?

Answer 1

Air, land, and water

Question 2

What is an anomaly?

Answer 2

The difference in temperature from the ‘normal’ level

Question 3

What is the normal level?

Answer 3

The long-term average temperature, typically calculated using data from 1961-1990

Question 4

How have cold and hot temperatures extremes changed?

Answer 4

Both cold and hot extremes are increasing in temperature?

Question 5

Which warms faster, land or oceans?

Answer 5

Land temperature increase faster than ocean temperature due to differences in heat capacity

Question 6

How much have annual minimum temperatures on land increased compared to global sea-surface temperatures since the 1960s?

Answer 6

Annual minimum temperatures on land have increased about three times more than global sea-surface temperatures since the 1960s

Question 7

What three measurements are used to describe a heatwave?

Answer 7

Intensity, duration and number of days

Question 8

Is a heatwave an example of weather or climate?

Answer 8

A heatwave is an example of weather. A longer-term change in heatwave frequency/intensity/duration is evidence of climate change.

Question 9

How have terrestrial species’ geographic ranges shifted since the mid-20th century?

Answer 9

Most documented is a poleward/upslope transition

Question 10

What are 2 impacts of higher surface water temperature in lakes?

Answer 10

• Algal blooms
  -Restricting habitats

Question 11

During what years did the rate of ocean surface temperature warming accelerate?

Answer 11

2010-2019

Question 12

What happens to the Pacific upwelling along the Peruvian coast during El Nino?

Answer 12

It ceases

Question 13

What is El Nino?

Answer 13

A natural, irregular phenomenon that is not caused by climate change - often coincides with the hottest years on record

Question 14

What is the global mean sea level (GMSL) increase form 1901-1990

Answer 14

1.4 mm per year

Question 15

What is the GMSL increase from 1993-2015?

Answer 15

3.2 mm per year

Question 16

List three causes for the rising global mean sea level

Answer 16

• Increasing rates of ice loss from Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets
• Continued glacier mass loss
• Ocean thermal expansion

Question 17

Describe three characteristics of the Artic sea ice from 1979-2019

Answer 17

• The artic sea ice has decreased in size for all months, , and coincides with earlier surface melt onset, later freeze-up, and a longer ice retreat and open water period.

Question 18

What is albedo?

Answer 18

A measure of the reflectivity of a surface

Question 19

How does albedo relate to a cooling effect?

Answer 19

High albedo (like snow and ice) results in the reflection of radiation, leading to a cooling effect. This cooling causes more snow, further increasing albedo, and creating a positive feedback loop.

Question 20

What is unique about the Antarctic compared to the Artic?

Answer 20

The Antarctic has more internal variability than the Arctic because it has no land barriers, the ice is thinner, and is more isolated due to the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

Question 21

What trend has been observed in glaciers worldwide since the 2nd half of the 19th Century?

Answer 21

Glaciers worldwide have retreated, with mass loss increasing since the 1970s. This is highly unusual in the context of the last 2,000 years.

Question 22

When did substantial reductions in spring snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere begin?

Answer 22

1978

Question 23

How has precipitation changed globally since the middle of the 20th century?

Answer 23

Globally averaged land precipitation has likely increased since the middle of the 20th century, with faster increases since the 1980s.

Question 24

What is a driver of drought, aside from observed trends in precipitation?

Answer 24

Land use and water management changes are drivers of drought.

Question 25

What does RCP stand for?

Answer 25

Representative Concentration Pathways

Question 26

What are RCPs?

Answer 26

Scenarios that capture assumptions about economic, social, and physical changes to the environment that influence climate change. They are used to model possible future climate evolution and are not forecasts or policy recommendations.

Question 27

What are the 4 main RCPs?

Answer 27

RCP2.6, RCP 4.5, RCP6, and RCP8.5

Question 28

What do RCPs specify?

Answer 28

RCPs specify concentrations of greenhouse gases that will result in total radiative forcing increasing by a target amount by 2100 (relative to pre-industrial levels)

Question 29

What is RCP 8.5?

Answer 29

A doubling of current emissions by 2050

Question 30

What is RCP7.0?

Answer 30

A doubling of current emissions by 2100

Question 31

What is RCP 4.5?

Answer 31

Emissions remaining at current levels until the middle of the century.

Question 32

What is RCP 2.6?

Answer 32

Emissions declining to net zero

Question 33

What is RCP 1.9?

Answer 33

Emissions declining to net zero by 2050

Question 34

Difference between weather and climate?

Answer 34

Extreme events are natural and not indicative of climate change. Changes in frequency/intensity/duration of extreme events could be a consequence of climate change.