QUIZ 1

Question 1

Climate

Answer 1

the average / usual weather over many years (long-term and large scale spatially)

Question 2

climate change

Answer 2

a change in the climate (long-term weather) (not necessarily anthropogenic)

Question 3

weather

Answer 3

the state of the atmosphere at a given moment in time including precipitation, temperature, humidity. It is different in different parts of the world, and changes over minutes, hours, days

Question 4

Example of climate and weather

Answer 4

Tambora (climate), Hurricane Sandy (weather)

Question 5

anthropogenic climate change

Answer 5

human caused climate change through the increase of GHG emissions

Question 6

when did anthropogenic climate change start?

Answer 6

around the industrial revolution (1880-90s), BUT the world temperature only increased around 0.5 C from 1800s-1970s.

Question 7

when did the most significant warming occur?

Answer 7

1979-1982

Question 8

Seasonal cycles of CO2

Answer 8

In the summer, plants undergo photosynthesis and take up CO2 and in the winter, photosynthesis decreases and plants decompose, releasing CO2 back into the atmosphere

Question 9

Spatial cycles of CO2

Answer 9

Not evenly distributed across the globe. Concentrations are higher in regions with significant human activities, such as industrial areas, urban centres etc. Typically lower over oceans and in less populated areas

Question 10

Greenhouse effect

Answer 10

gases in the atmosphere like CO2 trap in the sun’s heat, similar to the glass of a greenhouse

Question 11

What are the four gases in the atmoshpere

Answer 11

1. carbon dioxide CO2
2. methane NH4
3. nitrous oxide N2O
4. halocarbons of CFCs (gases containing F, Cl, Br)

Question 12

Which gas lasts the longest?

Answer 12

CO2, can last up to thousands of years

Question 13

Why does the northern hemisphere warm more?

Answer 13

more land mass in the northern hemisphere and the polar ice caps are melting faster than Antarctica because they don’t have land mass under them.

Question 14

How do we know that they Earth has warmed?

Answer 14

1. temperature records, many reliable thermometer records since the 1850-60s
2. proxy records: changes in the baseline that we have documented that are non-thermometer but have strong correlation to temperature such as ice cores, tree rings, or wine grape harvest

Question 15

Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP)

Answer 15

GHG emissions scenarios used in IPCC’s Fifth Assessment. They are ran by many different models and teams to help standardise across models and teams.

Question 16

The three main RCP scenarios:

Answer 16

1. RCP 2.6: assumes that global annual GHG emissions (measured in CO2-equivalents) peak between 2010 and 2020, with emissions decline substantially thereafter
2. RCP 4.5: peak around 2040, then decline (what countries are trying to hit right now)
3. RCP 8.5: emissions continue to rise throughout the 21st century

Question 17

How does today’s temperature compare to geological time?

Answer 17

It has been this warm on the planet before. Unmitigated scenarios of GHG emissions produce climates like those of the Eocene which suggests that we are effectively rewinding the climate close approx. 50 My, reversing a multimillion year cooling trend in less than two centuries

Question 18

How does today’s temperature compare to human’s time on Earth?

Answer 18

Since human’s time on Earth, the Earth has experienced multiple glacial-interglacial periods. Since the beginning of agriculture, the Earth has only gotten warmer. We have not seen our current temperature in 10 My.

Question 19

What generates uncertainty?

Answer 19

• human actions (different RCP/SSPs show this)
• the future is ALWAYS uncertain - especially across years
• differences in models
• the number of models used: more models = less uncertainty

Question 20

What drives variation in sea level? (three reasons)

Answer 20

1. bathtub model: land ice goes into the water raising the sea level
2. gravitational tide: water will migrate away from the ice sheet
3. post-glacial rebound: when the heavy ice sheet melts, the pressure is released from the Earth’s crust and it essentially pops up

Question 21

What is the scale of recent sea level rise?

Answer 21

approx. 20-25 cm

Question 22

Three things that cause forest fires:

Answer 22

1. temperature / drought
2. fuel (biomass)
3. ignition

Question 23

What is the IPCC?

Answer 23

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: the UN’s body for assessing the science related to climate change. It provides policymakers with regular scientific assessments on climate change, its implications and potential future risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation options.

Question 24

Why do we need the IPCC?

Answer 24

Essentially to back up science: creates consensus documents summarizing the current state of research, including climate models run by many different groups which give a range of uncertainty in future preductions

Question 25

Why do we say climate change instead of global warming?

Answer 25

Captures changes in many parts of the climate, not just temperature like droughts, sea level rise, stronger storms and hurricanes.

Question 26

Detection

Answer 26

Showing climate (or other related attribute) has changed, usually in a statistical sense. Might involve identifying changes in temperature patterns, precipitation, or extreme weather events.

Question 27

Attribution

Answer 27

the process of establishing the most likely causes for the detected change with some defined level of confidence. GCM models are allll about attribution.