Test your basic knowledge |

Global Warming

Subjects : literacy, science
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. CO2 GHG forcing - H2O - dominant/major GHG






2. Grounding line is the last portion of a glacier grounded to bedrock - after this line there are ice shelves - Glaciers contribute to sea level rise after passing the grounding line - Maximum thinning at grounding line.






3. Much of the Arctic is overlain by snow and sea ice (land ice and sea ice) - It makes warming a much bigger deal in the Arctic






4. Soil at or below the freezing point of water for two or more years - Can be: Terrestrial - Subsea - Can be: Continuous: exists across a landscape as an unbroken layer. More than 90% is frozen - Discontinuous






5. Some parts of the planet are dry because of their location: most of the deserts are around 30 N and 30 S - where sinking air predominates






6. Cooler water and drought conditions.






7. SALTY WATER = MORE DENSE - Maximum density at 4OC - This is why ice melting is a big deal; if the whole circle slows down - Ice bergs are fresh water higher sea level rise.






8. The order of 1 m/year. Melting is ten times more.






9. Extent will increase the warming because less energy will be reflected back to the atmosphere by the ice and more will be absorbed by the ocean.






10. Ice sheets have a very ____ Albedo






11. Less frequent and weaker






12. A naturally or artificially caused decrease in the thickness and/or areal extent of permafrost - It is caused by the deepening fo the active layer and the thawing of the adjacent permafrost.






13. CO2 - CH4 - O3 - H2O - N2O - CFCs






14. US is responsible for ___ of the total CO2






15. ~15% of incident solar energy (albedo 85)






16. Greenhouse gases are mixed in the ____






17. Precipitation intensity will rise ___ for every 1 OC of warming.






18. The difference between the incoming radiation energy and the outgoing radiation energy - A measure of the net energy.






19. If the Earth is warmer - are we going to have the Hadley cell stronger or weaker? Hotter = heat rises which increases the circulation.






20. Thawing permafrost weakens coastal lands. Risk of flooding in coastal wetlands. Pollution and toxins locked in the snow and ice will be released.






21. A dome shaped cover of perennial ice and snow.






22. Long time series started in the '70s and yielding good data in the '90s - Detects elevation with high accuracy: 10 cm precision (laser) to 1 m (radar) - 2/3 Gravity Surveys (GRACE) - Weighing the total mass every 30 days - Direct monthly estimate






23. When inversion breaks up _______________. - Consequently - anything that breaks inversions or makes them form less often could produce major ground level warming.






24. Reduction of Summer Sea- will increase the warming because less energy will be reflected back to the atmosphere by the ice and more will be absorbed by the ocean - Snow and snow covered ice absorb 15% of incident solar energy - Ice absorbs 10% of inc






25. Rainy on yearly average. In these regions - rising air predominates.






26. Arctic warms faster than other parts of the globe in response to a given increase in greenhouse gasses - More direct route to warming - In the Arctic a greater fraction of any increase in radiation absorbed by the surface goes directly into warming t






27. Where do greenhouse gases warm up the Earth?






28. Total absorbed solar radiation






29. Sea ice extent in Antarctica is rapidly reducing. Seasonal variability. People - Animals and Ice






30. LW - SW - 55% absorbed by surface






31. 78% nitrogen - 28% oxygen - Greenhouse gases: Have a more complex molecular structure and can absorb and re:radiate heat in all directions.






32. Carbon dioxide - Methane - Ozone - Water Vapor - Few others - Most ___________________ are mixed in the troposphere (Except water vapor) - Water vapor is concentrated closer to the ground.






33. Prolonged period of excessively hot weather - Which may be accompanied by high humidity.






34. Rain is getting harder and the rain is lasting longer since the past couple of decades and will continue for that amount.






35. Is best viewed as a combination of...- Natural Variability - Associated with atmospheric circulation patterns - Growing Radiative Forcing - Associated with rising concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases - Strongly suggests a human influence.






36. A climate forcing agent formed through the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels - biofuel - and biomass; emitted both anthropogenic:ally and naturally.






37. 2ppm of the atmosphere - less than 20% of greenhouse gases - 1/3 greenhouse gases effect of CO2






38. O Climate change in the Arctic is occurring now - Changes have been huge already






39. 342 W/m squared - DWEC - These things reflect sunlight (30%): water vapor - clouds - dust particles - earth's surface






40. Volcanic eruptions - Sunspots - Wobbly Earth






41. What can cause a change in the Earth's climate balance?






42. 240 w/m squared






43. Same amount of H2O - Mass does not change - Density of ice < density of water - Volume of ice > volume of water






44. O Unfrozen soil that stays within the permafrost.






45. On a clear cold day - the thin layer of air hugging the ground is called inversion. This layer is much cooler than the air a few hundred meters above it.






46. Amount of light absorbed by atmosphere






47. Atmosphere retains ____ CO2






48. If the mean annual air temperature is only slightly below 0 degrees C - permafrost will form only in spots that are sheltered.






49. Antarctica - stratosphere - Sep-Oct






50. ~10% of incident solar energy (albedo 90)