Chapter 14 Flashcards
The average weather conditions of a location or region over time
Climate
Present-day warming of the world’s climate that most scientists believe is likely to continue and is at least partly caused by human activities
Global Warming
The realm of human activity
Anthroposphere
The sun varies in total energy output, variously expressed as ___ or ___
Solar Luminosity or Radiant Flux
A relatively cold period, when Earth’s ice cover greatly exceeded its present extent
Glaciation (or glacial period or Ice Age)
A relatively warm period, when Earth’s ice cover and climate resembled those of the present day
Interglaciation (or interglacial period)
Dark, relatively cool spots that are visible on the surface of the sun
Sunspots
The period of dramatically low sunspot activity from 1645 to 1717, had very harsh winters and cold weather
Maunder Minimum
Departure from circularity
Eccentricity
The combined influences of astronomical-orbital factors that produce changes in Earth’s climate
Milankovitch Cycles
The reflectivity of a surface, as a percentage of total reflected radiation
Albedo
Extremely fine, suspended particles of dust, volcanic ash, ice, pollutants, and other substances
Aerosols
___ clouds are high-altitude and have a net effect of warming, wispy clouds have low albedos, allows the shortwave radiation to pass through it and absorb some of the outgoing long wave radiation - re-radiating it back down to the surface
Cirrus
___ clouds are low-altitude, thicker and less transparent. They have high albedos and reflect incoming solar energy back to Elon’s Satellites in space but also trap outgoing longwave energy and send it back to the surface
Stratocumulus
The warmer ocean temperature that likely contributed to a rise in global surface temperature that culminated about 55 million years ago in an event termed ___
Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
A cycle in which output from a process becomes an input into the same process
Feedback
A ___ feedback is when a system is stabilizing or self-limiting, responds to change in a way that is opposite from the initial input
Negative
A ___ feedback is self-perpetuating and self-reinforcing (vicious cycle). Response to change is in same direction as initial input
Positive
The set of processes by which ___ from reservoir to reservoir through the global environment
Carbon Cycles
Long-term storage of a material, in isolation from the atmosphere
Sequestration
A place in the Earth system where a material is stored for a period of time
Reservoir
A reservoir that takes in more of a given material than it releases
Sink
An enormous volume of methane is trapped in frozen molecules of ice in seafloor sediment
Gas Hydrates
A long-term or underlying pattern in a time series of data
Trend
The climate of an ancient time
Paleoclimate
Records of natural events that are influenced by, and closely mimic, climate
Climate Proxy Record
The portion of greenhouse warming that results from human activities rather than from natural processes
Anthropogenic Greenhouse Effect
Sometimes called Accelerated or Enhanced Greenhouse effect
A computer model of the climate system, linking processes in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere
General Circulation Model
An international, interdisciplinary panel of scientists and other experts, established to keep the world community up to date on the science of the global climate system.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
