Climate change

Question 1

Medieval Warming Period case stidy

Answer 1

Period in history when temperatures were warmer and thus European cultures flourished

Question 2

Earth systems science

Answer 2

To recognize and perhaps modify the changes we have initiated, we need to understand how the entire Earth works as a system. The discipline, called Earth systems science, seeks to further this understanding by learning how the various components of the system—the atmosphere, oceans, land, and biosphere—are linked on a global scale and interact to affect life on Earth.

Question 3

Monitoring

Answer 3

the regular collection of data for a specific purpose; real-time monitoring refers to collecting these data while a process is actually occurring.

Question 4

Earth’s climate system,

Answer 4

defined as the system consisting of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, land surface, biosphere, and cryosphere (i.e., ice, snow, and frozen ground), which are linked and often interact with each other in complex ways

Question 5

Climate

Answer 5

The characteristic atmospheric condition (weather) at a particular place or region over time periods of seasons, years, or decades.

Question 6

Hadley cells

Answer 6

There are three cells of circulation (called Hadley cells, named after George Hadley, who first described them) in each hemisphere. Simplified, warm air rises at the equator and moves toward the poles, where it sinks after going through cell 2 (see Figure 18.6), and return flow is along the surface toward the equator.

Question 7

troposphere

Answer 7

The lower, active part of the atmosphere, where weather occurs

Question 8

The instrumental record

Answer 8

Starting about 1860, measurements of temperatures have been made at various locations on land and in the oceans

Question 9

The historical record.

Answer 9

A variety of historical records go back several hundred years. Included are people’s written recollections (e.g., books, newspapers, journal articles, personal journals) of the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age, as well as ships’ logs, travelers’ diaries, and farmers’ crop records.

Question 10

proxy data

Answer 10

refers to data that are not strictly climatic but that can be correlated with climate, such as temperature of the land or sea. Some of the information gathered as proxy data includes natural records of climate variability, as indicated by tree rings, ocean sediments, ice cores, fossil pollen, corals, and carbon-14

Question 11

dendrochronology

Answer 11

Tree ring chronology

Question 12

Coral reefs

Answer 12

consists of corals (and other organisms) that have hard skeletons composed of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) extracted by the corals from the seawater. The calcium carbonate contains isotopes of oxygen, as well as a variety of trace metals, that can be used to estimate the temperature of the water that the coral grew in. Thus, corals are a source of paleo-proxy data that can help us to interpret climate change. Corals may be dated by using several dating techniques, and a chronology of change over time may be constructed.

Question 13

cosmic rays

Answer 13

come from outer space and are a product of the energy from the sun

Question 14

Global warming

Answer 14

Refers to the hypothesis that the mean annual temperature of the lower atmosphere is increasing as a result of burning fossil fuels and emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Question 15

Milankovitch cycles

Answer 15

The question that begs to be answered is: Why does climate change? Examination of Figure 18.18 suggests that there are cycles of change lasting 100,000 years, separated by shorter cycles of 20,000 to 40,000 years

Question 16

Climate forcing

Answer 16

an imposed change of Earth’s energy balance

Question 17

Climate sensitivity

Answer 17

response of climate to a specific climate forcing after a new equilibrium has been established

Question 18

climate response time

Answer 18

the time required for the response to a forcing to occur

Question 19

Global dimming

Answer 19

Slight cooling caused by human release of air pollution particles that reflect incoming solar radiation back to space.

Question 20

Glacier

Answer 20

a land-bound mass of moving ice

Question 21

firn

Answer 21

Glacial ice forms as snow accumulates over a period of years, is compressed from the weight of overlying snow, and recrystallizes as a granular ice known as firn

Question 22

continental glaciers, or ice sheets

Answer 22

Glaciers that cover large tracts of land

Question 23

glacial surge

Answer 23

rapidly advancing glaciers

Question 24

ground moraine, or till plains

Answer 24

composed of till, material carried and deposited by the continental glaciers that completely buried preglacial river valleys

Question 25

outwash

Answer 25

material carried away from glaciers by meltwater in streams

Question 26

permafrost

Answer 26

Permanently frozen ground

Question 27

continuous permafrost

Answer 27

the only ice-free ground is beneath deep lakes or rivers

Question 28

discontinuous permafrost

Answer 28

characterized by scattered islands of thawed ground in a predominantly frozen area.

Question 29

loess

Answer 29

windblown silt

Question 30

primary loess

Answer 30

has been essentially unaltered since being deposited by the wind

Question 31

secondary loess

Answer 31

as been reworked and transported a short distance by water or intensely weathered in place

Question 32

hydroconsolidation

Answer 32

occurs when the clay films or calcium carbonate cement around the silt grains wash away.

Question 33

positive feedback cycle

Answer 33

This explains, in part, why warming at higher latitudes and elevations may exceed other areas

Question 34

El Niño

Answer 34

An event during which trade winds weaken or even reverse and the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean becomes anomalously warm; the westward moving equatorial current weakens or reverses.

Question 35

slip face

Answer 35

downward slope of a sanddune

Question 36

dune migration

Answer 36

When the wind blows, sand moves up the gentle slope and down the slip face, causing the dune to move in the direction of the wind. The process is known as dune migration.

Question 37

Desertification

Answer 37

Conversion of land from a more productive state to one more nearly resembling a desert.

Question 38

saline aquifers

Answer 38

Two geologic environments have received considerable attention in this regard. The first is sedimentary rocks that contain salty water. These rocks, known as saline aquifers, are fairly widespread at numerous locations on Earth and have large reservoir capacity with the potential to sequester large amounts of carbon.

Question 39

Abrupt climate change

Answer 39

large-scale change in the global climate system that takes place over a few decades or less. Such change is anticipated to persist for at least a few decades and will cause substantial disruptions to both human and natural systems.