Practice

Question 1

What is the IPCC?

Answer 1

Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change

Question 2

What is the approximate global average surface temperature?

Answer 2

15 degrees celcius

Question 3

What is the definition of albedo?

Answer 3

The fraction of incoming sunlight that is reflected

Question 4

What is global warming potential?

Answer 4

A measure of the relative potency of different gases

Question 5

Sea level is currently…

Answer 5

rising globally at 3-4mm per year

Question 6

What is the largest single source of uncertainty in predictions of global mean temperature change for the end of the 21st century?

Answer 6

Variations in future anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions

Question 7

What is a climate change scenario?

Answer 7

A description of a feasible future climate

Question 8

What is a Complex Climate Model?

Answer 8

A mathematical representation of all the physical processes and feedbacks which affect the Earth’s climate

Question 9

According to the IPCC AR6 model projections, what is the maximum likely sea level rise by 2100?

Answer 9

1m

Question 10

Which of the following emissions are not part of an emission scenario?

Answer 10

Emissions of soot by cars

Question 11

What is a regional climate model?

Answer 11

A model which covers a part of the world in more detail than a global climate model

Question 12

Approximately, by how much is temperature likely to increase in Reading by 2050?

Answer 12

2-3 degrees celcius

Question 13

How is average rainfall likely to change in southern England?

Answer 13

Less in the summer, more in the winter

Question 14

The most recent decade has been approximately how much warmer than pre-industrial times?

Answer 14

1.5 degrees celcius

Question 15

What is the long term temperature goal in the Paris Agreement?

Answer 15

To hold the increase in temperature to well below 2 degrees above
pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the increase to
1.5 degrees.

Question 16

What is meant by the term CO2 equivalent?

Answer 16

It expresses the effect of a greenhouse gas in terms of the
amount of CO2 which would have the same effect

Question 17

What is climate feedback?

Answer 17

A response to a climate process that either intensifies or minimizes the initial effect of a climate forcing (often either warming or cooling)

Question 18

What is an example of a positive climate feedback?

Answer 18

The melting of polar ice, a drop in albedo with the melting of polar ice - particularly sea ice, the release of carbon as a result of melting permafrost, the amount of water in the atmosphere, this increases as the world gets warmer, and puts even more water into the atmosphere

Question 19

What is an example of a negative climate feedback?

Answer 19

Excess cloud formation from ocean evaporation, increasing temperature radiates more heat into space, this is called Planck feedback and comes from the Stefan-Boltzmann law

Question 20

What is climate forcing?

Answer 20

Climate forcing is the physical process of affecting the climate on the Earth through a number of forcing factors.

Question 21

What is an example of climate forcing?

Answer 21

Variations in solar radiation levels, volcanic eruptions, changing albedo, and changing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere

Question 22

From what does the natural greenhouse effect occur?

Answer 22

Absorption of infrared radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface by water vapour and carbon dioxide

Question 23

Globally averaged surface temperatures in this decade have been…?

Answer 23

About 1.2 degrees Centigrade warmer the 1850-1900 average

Question 24

What is radiative forcing?

Answer 24

Radiative forcing is what happens when the amount of energy that enters the Earth’s atmosphere is different from the amount of energy that leaves it.
Radiative forcing is the imbalance in the planetary radiation balance caused by a climate change mechanism, and can be caused by both natural changes (e.g., changes in total solar irradiance) and human-induced effects (e.g., increased concentrations of greenhouse gases). When it is positive, the climate system tends to warm; when it is negative, the climate system tends to cool.

Question 25

What is total solar irradiance?

Answer 25

A measure of the solar power over all wavelengths per unit area incident on the Earth’s upper atmosphere. It is measured perpendicular to the incoming sunlight. TSI varies on a quasi-regular cycle about 11 years in length. Between the maximum and minimum of this solar cycle, the TSI varies by about ±1 W m^-2 or ±0.1%, leading to a radiative forcing of around 0.175 W m^-2.

Question 26

The human-induced greenhouse gas radiative forcing since pre-industrial times is due to…?

Answer 26

Carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, the halogenated gases and nitrous oxide.

Question 27

Calculations indicate that the central estimate of the surface warming induced by well-mixed greenhouse gases between the periods 1850-1900 and 2010-2019 was…?

Answer 27

…about 50% greater than the observed warming of 1 degree.

Question 28

If we emit a pulse of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, approximately how much of it would remain in the atmosphere in 60 years time?

Answer 28

about 45%

Question 29

If the global-mean surface temperature rise due to human activity is (“to a 50% likelihood”) to be kept below 1.5 deg C, then what cumulative emission of CO2 (in Gigatonnes (Gt) CO2) is allowable, and approximately what proportion of this emission do we have left?

Answer 29

13%

Question 30

The global warming potential (GWP(100)) for an emission of nitrous oxide is almost 10 times higher than that of methane because…?