Chapter 2 Flashcards
What is absolute temperature?
temp measured on the kelvin scale
lowest possible temp where molecular motion stops
What is zero kelvin?
absolute zero
What are temperature anomalies?
difference between absolute temp and reference temp
What is cherry picking?
process of intentionally selecting data to yield a result counter to the full data set
What are earth’s 2 major ice sheets?
Greenland (northern hemisphere)
Antarctica (southern hemisphere)
Why are the ice sheets so important?
they contain most of the world’s fresh water
What is grounded ice?
ice that is resting on land
What are paleoproxies?
long-lived geological, chemical, or biological systems that have the climate imprinted on them
What are the steps for reconstructing past climate info?
age of each ice layer is determined from its depth inside the glacier (deeper = older)
characters observed must be translated into climate characteristics of interest
What are icehouse periods?
ice gets down to latitude of the US midwest
What are greenhouse periods?
earth is largely ice-free
What were the ice ages?
ice sheets expanded to cover large parts of northern hemispheres and land areas
What are interglacials?
warm periods between ice ages where the ice sheets contract
What is the Eocene Climatic Optimum?
2 periods of global warming that occurred during the Eocene epoch
What are the 2 periods of global warming in the Eocene Climatic Optimum?
Early Eocene Climatic Optimum
Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum
