Practice Exam Flashcards
Which of the following trends is entirely a result of anthropogenic influence?
a. increasing global sea level
b. warming global average temperature from 1980 to 2000
c. increasing fossil fuel burning emissions
d. increase in average tropical cyclone strength
e. decrease in summer extent of Arctic sea ice
C. increasing fossil fuel burning emissions
Which of the following is the weakest evidence that global climate change is currently taking place due to anthropogenic emissions?
a. Rising global sea level
b. warming surface temperatures
c. lowering ocean PH
d. melting Arctic sea ice
e. more hurricanes
e. More hurricanes
Which of the following is a mitigation cost associated with climate change?
a. building a levee
b. buying storm insurance
c. repairing tornado damage
d. building wind turbines
e. divesting from fossil fuels
d. building wind turbines
The various climate model scenarios are labeled RCPn.n. What does the letter C stand for?
a. climate
b. concentration
c. carbon
d. cost
e. community
b. concentration
The various climate model scenarios are labeled RCPn.n. What does the number n.n represent?
a. population
b. carbon dioxide emissions
c. carbon dioxide concentration
d. maximum temperature limit
e. radiative forcing
e. Radiative forcing
Which region is predicted to have the largest warming in surface air temperatures in this century?
a. Arctic
b. over the oceans
c. tropical deserts
d. mediterranean
e. mid-latitude land
a. Arctic
What is the main cause of current rising global sea level?
a. warming of deep ocean water
b. melting land ice
c. melting sea ice
d. ground water extraction
e. CO2 dissolved in the oceans
b. melting land ice
What part of the electromagnetic spectrum is most responsible for the greenhouse effect?
a. ultraviolet
b. visible
c. solar infrared
d. terrestrial infrared
e. microwave
d. terrestrial infrared
Which of the following acts least like a radiating black-body?
a. sun
b. Earth’s surface
c. clear atmosphere
d. thick clouds
e. snow
c. Clear atmosphere
What property of a material do you need to know in order to convert its energy change into a temperature change?
a. density
b. heat capacity
c. latent heat
d. phase
e. albedo
b. heat capacity
Why is the planet Earth currently not in energy balance?
a. arctic sea ice is melting
b. incoming solar radiation is increasing
c. outgoing longwave radiation has decreased
d. most of the climate feedbacks are positive
e. the radiative forcing at the surface is negative
c. outgoing longwave radiation has decreased
What is the role of the surface evaporation of liquid water in the Earth’s annual global energy budget?
a. decreases the surface albedo.
b. cools the surface
c. cools the atmosphere
d. increases radiative forcing
e. offsets greenhouse heating
b. cools the surface
Why is there a net meridional transfer of heat from the topics to the poles mediated by the atmospheric and oceanic dynamics?
a. the net radiative heating of the earth
b. induced by the rotation of the Earth
c. needed to offset the greenhouse gas heating
d. consequence of the Hadley cell circulation
e. to offset net radiative heating and cooling latitudinal differences
e. to offset net radiative heating and cooling latitudinal differences
Which of the following would be associated with a clear atmosphere containing no greenhouse gases?
a. the entire atmosphreic column would be isothermal
b. no scattering of solar radiation
c. the surface temperature would drop below the equilibrium planetary temperature
d. the atmosphere would be transparent in the infrared
e. clod forcing would become negative
d the atmosphere would be transparent in the infrared
What is the important physical link between the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and the surface air emperature?
radiative forcing
Which of the following would decrease the top of the atmosphere radiative forcing the most?
a. increase in carbon dioxide
b. increase in methane
c. increase in cirrus clouds
d. increase in cumulus clouds
e. increase in solar constant
d. increase in cumulus clouds
Why aren’t the main atmospheric constituents of nitrogen and oxygen classified as greenhouse gases?
they are diatomic
How do we know the pre-industrial concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide?
ice cores
Which of the following anthropogenic forcing agents has the largest positive radiative forcing?
a. methane
b. carbon dioxide
c. CFCs
d. aerosols
e. nitrous oxide
b. carbon dioxide
Which sector produces the most anthropogenic nitrous oxide emissions?
a. fossil fuel production
b. agriculture
c. transportation
d. biomass burning
e. power stations
b. agriculture
What does methane produce when it gets destroyed in the atmosphere by photochemistry?
b. carbon dioxide
What is the largest natural source of atmospheric methane?
wetlands
Where will most of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide end up on time scales of about a thousand years?
deep oceans
How do stratospheric aerosols cool the climate?
reflects solar radiation
Which of the following is a vector-borne disease?
a. heat stress
b. respiratory failure from air pollution
c. malaria
d. malnutrition
e. heart disease
c. malaria
In the global hydrological cycle what happens to run-off?
Goes to the ocean
How can global warming result in a werter equator but a drier subtropics?
stronger Hadley circulation
What is the most likely reason for the Greenlnd ice sheet to begin a catastrophic decrease in mass in the next 100 years?
faster flow of ice streams
How is most of the current net radiative heating of the Earth being used up?
warming the oceans
When has severe tropical sea coral bleaching events already occurred?
during an El Nino
When was the last time the oceans had a pH as low as we will experience later in this century?
millions of years ago
What does the environmental niche of a particular plant species determine in terms of climate change?
its ability to adapt
how is it possible for the current land sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide to become a land source of CO2 in the future?
soil microbial activity
Which factor is least important in supporting a hot greenhouse world during earth’s geological past?
a. continents at the poles
b. weak mountain building
c. faster sea floor spreading
d. more volcanism
e. active subduction
continents at the poles
What is required for a climate thermostat to operate?
negative feedbacks
How is our current earth similar to the conditions during the mid-pliocene?
atmospheric co2 concentration
What is the fundamental forcing that is responsible for the glaciation cycles during the last one million years?
orbital variations
What is the most likely explanation for the drought in the Sahel in the latter half of the 20th century?
weaker monsoon
In what way is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum useful in understanding current global warming?
effects of a rapid release of organic carbon
Which is not a positive feedback? a. warmer- more plant growth b. warmer- ice melt c. warmer- permafrost methane release D. warmer-more water vapour e. warmer-fewer cumulus clouds
a. warmer-more plant growth
How long does the earth take to achieve a new equilibrium climate after an instantaneous doubling of carbon dioxide?
over 500 years
What would happen if anthropogenic CO2 emissions stopped increasing and then remained at a constant rate?
temperatures keep on rising
Which of the following is most effective in decarbonizing the economy?
replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy
Which of the following is most likely to decrease the ocean sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide?
a. increase in phytoplankton and productivity
b. warmer high latitude sea surface temperatures
c. increase in ocean pH
d. more upwelling from the deeper ocean
e. greater natural fertilization of the surface waters of the oceans
warmer high latitude sea surface temperatures
Which of the following is not a factor that appears in the Kaya Identity.
a. carbon intensity
b. carbon sinks
c. population
d. affluence
e. energy intensity
carbon sinks
Which factor in the Kaya identity should decrease rapidly in order to stay within a maximum of 2’C global warming?
a. carbon intensity
b. carbon sinks
c. population
d. affluence
e. energy intensity
carbon intensity
Why is anthropogenic land use a net carbon source for the atmosphere?
deforestation
What was the determining factor in selecting 2’C as the maximum amount of global warming we can accept?
unacceptable climate change
Which alternative energy source is not ultimately derived from solar radiant energy?
a. photovoltaics
b. wind
c. hydro
d. biofuels
e. nuclear
e. nuclear
Which of the following is not a detriment in using traditional biomass for energy?
a. deforestation
b. air quality
c. energy efficiency
d. human health
e. cost
e. cost
