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






2. Forms from frozen ocean water - Floats on the ocean surface - Grows over the winter - melts in the summer






3. Number of days that land among the hottest of all days in that month's long-term record.






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






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






6. 78% nitrogen - 28% oxygen - Greenhouse gases: Have a more complex molecular structure and can absorb and re:radiate heat in all directions.






7. 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.






8. 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






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






10. In _______ - the inversions are less frequent and weaker in the Arctic.






11. A process whereby slabs of ice at the glacier margin mechanically fracture and detach from the main ice mass -






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. At the bottom of the ice sheets the temperature doesn't necessarily have to be above 0... it could _____ more easily because of the water






14. Trade winds blow from East to West - Pool of warm water in the west - Meanwhile deep colder water rises up in the Eastern Pacific - The sea level is ~ 50-60 cm higher in Western Pacific (Indonesia) than in the Eastern Pacific (South America/Peru) -






15. 342 W/m squared - DWEC - These things reflect sunlight (30%): water vapor - clouds - dust particles - earth's surface






16. Ocean retains ____ CO2






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






18. 1.4 USA - 57 m total sea level equivalent






19. Changes over time in the highest and lowest single temperature observed during a given month of the year.






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






21. 85%






22. Mass balance due to processes that affect the surface of the ice sheet. Precipitation-evapotranspiration-runoff-blowing snow etc...






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






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






25. 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






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






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






28. 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.






29. 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






30. 1. Altimetry survey 2. Time-variable gravity 3. Ice motion + Regional Climate Modeling






31. 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.






32. Descending Air dry - Convection cells are wet.






33. 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.






34. Where does the ozone protect us?






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






36. Occurs when there is not enough water available for a particular crop to grow at a particular time.Typically seen after!meteorological drought (when rainfall decreases) but before a hydrological drought






37. Amount of light absorbed by atmosphere






38. Over the past century what has happened to the Earth's temperature?






39. More common






40. Radiation that comes from the Sun - Visible light - 'near infrared' - ultraviolet radiation.






41. The amount of light reflected by an object.






42. 1. They are the largest contributor to sea level rise 2. Can affect the thermohaline circulation (mainly in Greenland) 3. Are directly connected to climate change






43. 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.






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






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






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






47. The depletion of stratospheric ozone layer in Antarctica in Springtime (august through October)






48. 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.






49. 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






50. 10 : 1 - grounding ; surface