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






2. 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.






3. The large-scale ocean circulation that moves water between the deep and surface ocean which effects salinity and temperature change - Supplies heat to the polar-regions.






4. 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.






5. 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.






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






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






8. The air can hold less water vapor - Consequently - less water can be evaporated in the air - and only a small portion of energy is used in this process - Most of the energy that reaches the Arctic goes directly into warming the air






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






10. 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






11. Set up in 1988 by WMO and UNEP.






12. 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.






13. 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.






14. In troposphere = greenhouse warming gas - However - most of it is in the stratosphere.






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






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






17. Less frequent and weaker






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






19. Melting Point decreases






20. ~10% of incident solar energy (albedo 90)






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






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






23. Unfrozen ground that is found within a mass of permafrost






24. 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.






25. Amount of light absorbed by atmosphere






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






27. 85%






28. Holds unique and key information - Are highly interconnected - Respond and drive climate change - Are the largest freshwater reservoirs of the planet - Ice cores tell us that in climate records - nothing is regular and ice sheet plays major role.






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. Ocean retains ____ CO2






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






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






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






34. Industry 40% - Buildings 31% - Transportations 22% - Agriculture 4%






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






36. How often does El Nio occur?






37. 20% human produced CO2 emissions. Tropical forests hold around 50% of the carbon present in vegetation on Earth.






38. In average: +1% in respect to 100 years ago.






39. 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






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






41. More common






42. Where does the ozone protect us?






43. Where do greenhouse gases warm up the Earth?






44. 1.4 USA - 57 m total sea level equivalent






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






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






47. Poor resolution (200-400 km) does not allow us to distinguish glaciers and basins.






48. 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:






49. Pockets of ice in the topmost permafrost caused by thawing which create an underground lake.






50. 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.