Midterm Flashcards
What happens to certainty of future projections over time?
As we go further and further into the future, predictions of climate conditions become less and less reliable or certain
What three things together do we normally mean when we say “climate”?
Temperature
Precipitation
Humidity
climate is immediately driven by what?
Greenhouse gases
How do we calculate temperature anomalies?
Anomalies are just the difference between the reference temperature for an area and the actually temperature at a given time.
If sea level rises by 2cm, how much beach space can we expect to lose?
100-200 cm
How is methane released?
Cow farts because they have a multi chambered stomach
Why is methane worse than carbon dioxide even though there is more CO2?
Methane has a “global warming potential” 32 times that of CO2, which is 1.
What is global warming potential?
Global warming potential is a molecules effectiveness as a greenhouse gas
Which component of climate is the one immediately affected by the presence of greenhouse gases?
Temperature is first affected and the disturbance then spreads via temperature to precipitation and then humidity
Does climate change occur naturally or as a result of human activity?
Both. The balance of greenhouse gases can be thrown off by geology, biology, astronomy or human activity
Does climate cause increased flooding or increased drought?
Both
Why do climate scientists prefer to say “climate change” instead of “global warming”?
Because even though the global average temperature is increasing, on a local level we are redistributing climate conditions
Do climate scientists prefer to say “climate change “ or “global warming”
climate change
What is dendrochronology?
study of tree rings to tell us things about climate in the past
What usually causes extinctions?
Sudden shifts in the amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere
