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. Under higher pressure the melting point decreases ____ - The pressure comes from the weight of the ice shelf.






2. Ozone layer in high stratosphere (25-40 km altitude) absorbs about 95-99% of ultraviolet radiation.






3. Low clouds are a ____ feedback; they will reflect more sunlight. Clouds reflect shortwave radiation but also absorb longwave radiation






4. Atmospheric Cooling - Both negative (stabilizing) feedbacks - It is not happening now - but it has happened in the past - Ice-albedo feedback was the dominant feedback during the ice ages.






5. Refers to the irregular warming in the Sea Surface Temperatures (SST) from the coasts of Peru and Ecuador to the equatorial central Pacific - the Southern Oscillation






6. Slow steady decline of about 4% per decade in the total volume of Earth's stratospheric ozone.






7. Top layer of soil that thaws during the summer and freezes again during autumn. - Between 1 and 3 m thick.






8. The transition of a substance from the solid phase directly to the vapor phase - or vice versa - without passing through an intermediate liquid phase.






9. 85%






10. Laser radar - H V - Long time series - high accuracy - Density






11. Wet gets _____ - dry gets ____ - Wet - 50ON (sub polar) Canada - N Europe - Russia - Tropical area- monsoon (rainforest) - Drier - Subtropics - Australia - S. Africa - Mediterranean - Caribbean - Mexico - SW US






12. The heat input is either driven by the 1- thermohaline circulation associated with sea ice formation. The direct influx of intermediate warmth water.






13. Clouds 40~90% - Vegetation 10~15%






14. Troposphere - Stratosphere (Ozone Layer) - Mesosphere - Ionosphere






15. Ice melting rapidly? What type causes sea level to rise? What have been the main contributors to sea level rise so far? What are the impacts of melting ice? - On nature - On humans






16. This is the total mass change - difference between input and outputs—snow accumulation-ablation.






17. Temperature needed to melt at depth is much lower than that needed to melt at the surface.






18. 1. Land usage changes 2. Seasonal timing 3. Rising CO2 levels may be a factor






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






20. By contrast reflects only about 7% of solar radiation (Albedo~7%) - absorbing 93%.






21. Closed talik can develop when lakes fill in with sediment and become deposits of dead plant material (bog).






22. Less frequent and weaker






23. ~15% of incident solar energy (albedo 85)






24. Help darkens the snow and ice surface - increasing the amount of energy that is absorbed.






25. Pollution: heat and sunlight cook the air and the chemical compounds which are in it. This combines with the nitrogen oxide and creates 'smog'. This makes breathing difficult for those with respiratory ailments.






26. 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.






27. High clouds are a ____ feedback; larger greenhouse warming - Clouds reflect shortwave radiation but also absorb longwave radiation






28. Nitrogen (N2 78%) and Oxygen (O2 21%) - Their linear 2 atom molecular structure






29. O The amount of energy moving in the form of photons or other elementary particles at a certain distance from the source per unit of area per second. Area/second






30. Set up in 1988 by WMO and UNEP.






31. Arctic troposphere is thinner (8-10 km) than the tropics...The depth of the atmospheric layer is much shallower in the Arctic - It takes less energy to warm the Arctic rather than the Tropics - Same as heating an apartment vs. a house






32. Water vapor means more water up in the clouds and less in the ground!






33. Sea ice and continental ice. This is caused by Atmospheric warming triggers.






34. South polar vortex - Temperatures drop below 80O Celsius in the lower stratosphere - At these temperatures the chemicals in the stratosphere freeze and form Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCS) - These increase the concentration of CFCs in turn destroyi






35. Climate models suggest once the sea ice cover is thinned sufficiently - a strong kick from natural variability could initiate a rapid slide towards ice-free conditions in the summer.






36. Forms in a mosaic of favoured locations.






37. Ice sheets have a very ____ Albedo






38. Refers to a body of freshwater - usually shallow - formed in a depression by melt water from thawing permafrost.






39. Is unfrozen ground that is exposed to the ground surface and to a larger mass of unfrozen ground beneath it.






40. CO2 GHG forcing - H2O - dominant/major GHG






41. Amount of light absorbed by surface






42. Hydrological drought is associated with the effect of low rainfall on water levels in rivers -!reservoirs -!lakes and aquifers.






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






44. Number of days that exceed a given temperature






45. Betts et al found that: if CO-2 __________ this has a physiological effect on plant transpiration increased simulated runoff by 6% b. How? i. More CO2 1. Plants pores open less 2. This reduces transpiration 3. More water in the land surface






46. They saw a massive thinning of the ice where it enters into the ocean - This is due to the pronounced melting of the ice once it is in contact with the ocean. Melt rates of 25 m/year near the grounding lines and more than 10 m/year on average.






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






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






49. 2ppm of the atmosphere - less than 20% of greenhouse gases - 1/3 greenhouse gases effect of CO2






50. Concentration of 380 ppmv - Have risen about 40% - Preindustrial~ 270~280 ppmv