Chapter 12: Climate and Climate Change Flashcards
Which of the following is a statement of climate as compared to weather?
A) Today, it is cloudy and raining.
B) Rainfall amounts were about average this month.
C) The winters here are dry and warm.
D) The temperature will rise during the next week.
E) It is 56°F and sunny.
C) the winters here are dry and warm
Which is not a component of the climate system?
A) Human influences
B) Average daily temperature
C) Solar inputs
D) Ocean currents
E) Mountain ranges
B) average daily temperature
Which of the following is considered a variable gas?
A) Nitrogen
B) Oxygen
C) Argon
D) Water vapor
E) None of these are considered variable gases.
D) water vapor
Which is not a glacial hazard?
A) Tsunamis
B) Ice dams
C) Ice avalanches
D) Crevasses
E) Lahars
A) tsunamis
What are the three main time periods for which climate data
are available for study?
A) Industrial, twentieth century, modern
B) Victorian, Industrial, modern
C) Industrial, nineteenth century, twentieth century
D) Instrumental, historical, paleo-proxy
E) None of these are the correct time periods.
D) instrumental, historian, paleo-proxy
Which is not an example of paleoclimate proxy data?
A) Carbon-14
B) Ocean temperatures
C) Corals
D) Ice cores
E) Tree rings
B) ocean temperature
What is the greatest difficulty in using Global Climate Models for prediction of future climate change?
A) Difficulty is only limited by our acceptance of the modeled
results.
B) Coordinating among the many global climate models.
C) The models require large expensive computing power.
D) The models are inaccurate.
E) Modeling future human behavior
E) modeling future human behavior
When has the most important evidence for global warming
been collected and from what data?
A) In the past 150,000 years from land temperatures
B) In the past 150,000 years from ocean temperatures
C) In the past 150 years from proxy evidence
D) In the past 150 years from farmers’ crop records
E) In the past 150 years from ocean temperatures
C) in the past 150 years from proxy evidence
What is the greenhouse effect?
A) Trapping of heat by water vapor and several other atmospheric gases
B) None of these describe the greenhouse effect
C) Increase in vegetation from rising temperatures
D) The rise in average temperature
E) Human activity that produces carbon dioxide
A) trapping of heat by water vapor and several other atmospheric gases
According to the figure, how have global temperatures changed over the last 800,000 years?
A) There is no way to know with our current knowledge – the figure is inconclusive.
B) They have increased and decreased many times.
C) They have been increasing.
D) They have been decreasing.
E) They have been steady.
B) they have increased and decreased many times
According to the figure, what has been the general trend in temperatures over the last 140 years?
A) There is no way to know with our current knowledge – the figure is inconclusive.
B) They have increased and decreased many times.
C) They have been increasing.
D) They have been decreasing.
E) They have been steady.
C) they have been increasing
[Blank] is defined as an imposed change in Earth’s energy balance.
A) Climate change
B) Global warming
C) Climate restructuring
D) Climate forcing
E) None of these are correct.
D) climate forcing
Which of these areas is a consequence if the ocean conveyor belt was not present?
A) All of these are consequences
B) Southeastern South America would be cooler
C) There would be no climate change
D) There would be no Milankovitch cycles
E) Northern Europe would be cooler
E) Northern Europe would be cooler
Why do scientists believe human activities are contributing to global warming?
A) There is no evidence that human activities are contributing to global warming
B) The recent warming greatly exceeds the natural variability
C) The climate system is stable and can only change with anthropogenic forcing
D) All natural changes have shown to be cooling the temperature
E) Carbon dioxide levels have decreased in the past few decades
B) the recent warming greatly exceeds the natural variability
Which of the following is not expected to be caused by global warming?
A) Decreased water supply to irrigate crops
B) Increase in years between successive fires at a given location
C) Shutting down of ski resorts on glaciers
D) Migration of disease carrying mosquitoes
E) Change in intensity and frequency of violent storms
B) increase in years between successive fires at a given location
Which of the following is not a problem associated with
glacial and sea ice melting?
A) Melting glacial ice can lead to a rise in sea level.
B) Melting glacial ice can increase melting due to exposed bare ground.
C) Melting sea ice can lead to a rise in sea level.
D) Glacial and sea ice melting reduces the water supply in some locations.
E) Melting sea ice can lead to a change the habitat for polar
bears, walruses, and some seabirds.
C) melting sea ice can lead to a rise in sea level
Which is not a potential consequence of sea level rise?
A) Bleaching of coral reefs
B) Increased coastal erosion
C) Disappearance of small islands
D) Relocation of communities and structures
E) Landward migration of beaches and estuaries
A) bleaching of coral reefs
Which is not a way ecosystems will be impacted by global
warming in the next 100 years?
A) Some areas will receive precipitation less often but will be more intense
B) Oceans are becoming more acidic
C) All of these are ways the ecosystem will be impacted
D) Growing seasons will be shortened
E) River and stream temperatures will increase
D) growing seasons will be shortened
Which is a main reason it is difficult to apply
uniformitarianism to understand the current climate processes?
A) We have never seen similar climate processes in the past.
B) It is not difficult, we have all the data needed to apply uniformitarianism.
C) The period of interest (past few centuries to 1000 years ago) is the one that is the most difficult to collect climate data.
D) Uniformitarianism is not used to understand current climate processes.
E) There is conflicting data from the period of interest (past few centuries to 1000 years ago).
C) The period of interest (past few centuries to 1000 years ago) is the one that is the most difficult to collect climate data.
According to the figure, if carbon dioxide emissions were reduced and the peak was during years 2000–2050, when could we expect to see temperatures stabilize?
A) Immediately after the emissions are reduced
B) Possibly in year 2300
C) The temperatures will not stabilize
D) Not until year 3000 at a minimum
E) Possibly in year 2100
B) possibly in year 2300
Which is not a way to sequester carbon?
A) Salt aquifers in the United States
B) Sedimentary rocks that contain salty water
C) Saltwater aquifer below the North Sea
D) Depleted oil fields
E) Glacier ice in Greenland
E) Glacier ice in Greenland
Which is not an abrupt climate change that could cause a serious risk to humans and the natural environment?
A) Rapid release of methane to the atmosphere
B) Abrupt change in pattern of circulation in the Atlantic Ocean
C) Rapid change in sea level
D) Rapid release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere
E) Droughts and floods
D) rapid release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere
If abrupt climate change during the next century is unlikely,
why is it important to make changes now?
A) It takes time to initiate policy changes
B) Geological data shows that short-term changes are best
C) All of these are reasons to make changes now
D) Stabilization is immediate, so the sooner the better
E) We are running out of sequestration locations
A) it takes time to initiate policy changes
