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






2. Measures input and output.






3. 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






4. Precipitation intensity will rise ___ for every 1 OC of warming.






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






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






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






8. US is responsible for ___ of the total CO2






9. 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.






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






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






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






13. The land-surface configuration that results from the melting of ground ice in a region where permafrost degrades is called Thermokarst.






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. The past climate...for this reason - both keep good records of climate change.






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






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






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






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






20. How often does El Nio occur?






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






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






23. Reduction of Summer Sea- 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 - Snow and snow covered ice absorb 15% of incident solar energy - Ice absorbs 10% of inc






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






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






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






27. How much is the planet really warming?






28. Melting Point decreases






29. The Day After Tomorrow - Circulation will slow by 10% to 50% in the next century






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






31. Most of the deserts are around 30 N and 30 S - where sinking air predominates






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






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






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






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






36. High vs low






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






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






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






40. More common






41. Rain is getting harder and the rain is lasting longer since the past couple of decades and will continue for that amount.






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






43. CO2 - CH4 - O3 - H2O - N2O - CFCs






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






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






46. Like weighing oneself on the scale.






47. 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.






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






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






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