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






2. 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






3. A mass of land ice - continental or sub-continental in extent - and thick enough to cover most of the underlying bedrock topography - If you have a warm ocean - it will melt the ice sheet. Its shape is mainly determined by the dynamics of its outward






4. 78% nitrogen - 28% oxygen - Greenhouse gases: Have a more complex molecular structure and can absorb and re:radiate heat in all directions.






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






6. More common






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






9. 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.






10. Sea ice - Glaciers and Ice sheets - Alaska- ice glaciers - Greenland- ice sheets






11. Absolute thresholds - Monthly maximums and minimums - Threshold departures - Percentile departure - Atmospheric Water Vapor: More water vapor in the air - warmer nights!






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






13. Number of days that exceed a given temperature






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






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






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






17. 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.






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






19. A thick - floating slab of freshwater ice extending from coast to coast.






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






21. Forms in a mosaic of favoured locations.






22. 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






23. 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:






24. 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






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






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






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






28. The amount of light reflected by an object.






29. High cloud has a _____ effect and cool cloud has a ____ effect






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






31. The Earth emits this.






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






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






34. Amount of light absorbed by atmosphere






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






36. An area of unfrozen ground that is open to the ground surface but otherwise enclosed in permafrost.






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






38. Higher temperature increases atmospheric water vapor @ global scale more water vapor in the air that causes nights to stay warmer.






39. When meltwater seeps through a flowing glacier - it can lubricate the base and hasten the glacier's seaward flow.






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






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






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






43. In ________- inversion layer is more common in the Arctic






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






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






46. Massive cooldown has allowed colder conditions to persist leading to cfcs stabilizing leading to ozone depletion. Later - more warming will lead to more moisture in the air which will lead to more snowfall!






47. ~15% of incident solar energy (albedo 85)






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






49. 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.






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