Weather 2

Question 1

Forcing

Answer 1

when there is an imbalance between the absorption of solar radiation and energy emitted by the top of the earth’s atmosphere (The cause)

Question 2

Feedback

Answer 2

is the reaction of the climate system to the forcing.

Question 3

Weather

Answer 3

the state of the atmosphere at any given place and time

Question 4

Climate

Answer 4

the average state of the weather, on time scales of seasons and longer (often expressed as 30-year averages)

Question 5

Climate proxies

Answer 5

a source of information from natural and human records that can be used to estimate past climate conditions

Question 6

Examples of proxies

Answer 6

instrumental, historical, tree-rings, ice-cores, lake sediments, coral reefs, ocean sediments, continental coastal sediments

Question 7

Natural proxies examples

Answer 7

trees (tree ring correlate to climate and stable isotope can provide temperature) and corals (coral annual growth signs can provide temperature and sea level)

Question 8

Varves

Answer 8

distinct laminated beds on some lake sediments that have annual layers that contain several proxies

Question 9

Plant spore proxies

Answer 9

pollen and spores have a hard waxy coating that resists weathering that can reveal the climatic conditions

Question 10

Ice cores

Answer 10

Provide a continuous record of climate from 80 thousand years ago. Gas bubbles in ice preserve past atmospheric conditions, stable isotopes of O and H of the ice are used.

Question 11

Marine cores

Answer 11

deep-sea sediment cores provide missions of years of records of climate. Shells of plankton contain CaCO3 with proportions of O18 and O16 which are preserved. The ratio of O18 to O16 in seawater depends on water temperature and ice volume on land.

Question 12

What controls long-term climate

Answer 12

tectonic forcing

Question 13

What controls short-time scale climate

Answer 13

milankovitch cycles and solar cyces

Question 14

Climate Forcing

Answer 14

any process or disturbance that drives changes in climate

Question 15

Examples of external climate forcing

Answer 15

tectonic, orbital, solar, volcanism, anthropocentric

Question 16

Examples of internal climate forcing

Answer 16

greenhouse gases, aerosols, albedo, ocean-atmosphere circulation patterns

Question 17

Difference between internal and external climate forcing

Answer 17

Internal forcing occurs within the natural climate cycle

Question 18

Earth’s climate fluctuates between ____ and ____ states

Answer 18

greenhouse, and icehouse

Question 19

Two mojor external factors control short term climate

Answer 19

solar variation and milankovich cycles

Question 20

Milankovich cycles

Answer 20

due to minor variations in Earth’s orbit and in the tilt of the earth’s axis controls the distribution of solar irradiation over the earth’s surface.

Question 21

Eccentricity

Answer 21

a measure of Earth’s orbit departure from circularity. It influences the perihelion (when the earth is nearest to Sun) and aphelion (when the earth is farthest from the sun).

Question 22

Tilt

Answer 22

Earth’s axis tilt influenced the extent to which a given portion of the earth’s surface points away or toward the sun at any given time.

Question 23

Earth’s tilt range

Answer 23

between 24.75 and 21.27

Question 24

Precession

Answer 24

the direction of the tilt of the earth rotates relevant to the earth’s elliptical orbit.

Question 25

____ changes the timing of the winter and swimmer solstices and fall and spring equinox.

Answer 25

precession

Question 26

Quaternary glaciation

Answer 26

marks the start of large-scale Northern Hemisphere glaciation at ~2.6 million years ago

Question 27

Glacial-integration cycles

Answer 27

Are driven by initial increases in temperature by Milankovich cycles but are driven by an increase in CO2 concentrations that drive other feedbacks

Question 28

glacial/interglacial cycles happen every ____ years

Answer 28

100 thousand