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. The last portion of a glacier grounded to bedrock - after this line there are ice shelves.






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






3. 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






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






5. Atmosphere retains ____ CO2






6. Average molecular life span is less than 10 years - Major sources: Wetlands and oceans - Raising cattle and landfills.






7. Greenhouse gases are mixed in the ____






8. High vs low






9. Is defined usually on the basis of the degree of dryness (in comparison to some 'normal' or average amount






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






11. Industrial product - 300 ppb (parts per billion)






12. SMB- mass balance due to processes that affect the surface of the ice sheet. Precipitation- evapotranspiration-runoff-blowing snow etc.






13. 240 w/m squared






14. Taliks are found under lakes because of the ability of water to store and vertically transfer heat energy - Vertical extent of the taliks found under lakes is related to the depth and volume of the overlying water body.






15. Same as heating an apartment v home - Thinner atmosphere than tropics; warms faster.






16. All processes that add snow or ice to a glacier or to flowing ice or snow cover.






17. Permafrost- A frozen soil






18. 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






19. The high pressure decreases the melting point and favors melting - Melt water being less dense rises along the water column along the ice shelf bottom and may either escape the cavity or refreeze at some intermediate depth. Melting point decreases:






20. 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.






21. 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






22. Is not an externally imposed perturbation to the climate system.






23. Warming- positive feedback - Cooling- negative feedback.






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






25. 1. We live in troposphere. Greenhouse gases here warm up the Earth 2. Above stratosphere. The ozone in this layer protects us.






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






27. 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.






28. How much is the planet really warming?






29. Floating extensions are ice shelves - rivers of ice are ice streams or outlet glaciers - the junctions with the ocean are called the grounding line.






30. Over the Northern Hemisphere than the tropics.






31. 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.






32. 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






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






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






35. Land Based Ecosystems retain ____ CO2.






36. Water vapor - 36-70% - carbon dioxide - 9-26% - methane - 4-9% - ozone - 3-7%






37. Precipitation extremes appear to generally increase across the planet at especially high latitudes.






38. Less frequent and weaker






39. Measures input and output.






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






41. he increase of ozone concentration in the atmosphere helps ____ our planet






42. 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






43. The last portion of a glacier grounded to bedrock - after this line there are ice shelves.






44. Number of days that exceed a given temperature






45. 78% nitrogen - 28% oxygen - Greenhouse gases: Have a more complex molecular structure and can absorb and re:radiate heat in all directions.






46. O Unfrozen soil that stays within the permafrost.






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






48. The amount of light reflected by an object.






49. Frozen +2 years - Few centimeters to 1500 m






50. 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.