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. Sea ice - Continental ice sheets - Permafrost (frozen soil) - Mountain glaciers - Snow cover






2. 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






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






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






5. 240 w/m squared






6. If the mean annual air temperature is only slightly below 0 degrees C - permafrost will form only in spots that are sheltered.






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






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. Melting Point decreases






10. 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.






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






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






13. The Earth emits this.






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






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






16. 85%






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






18. Forms in a mosaic of favoured locations.






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






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






21. Radiation absorbed by atmospheric greenhouse gases?






22. Over the Northern Hemisphere than the tropics.






23. 342 W/m squared - DWEC - These things reflect sunlight (30%): water vapor - clouds - dust particles - earth's surface






24. O Unfrozen soil that stays within the permafrost.






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






26. 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.






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






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






29. Warming- positive feedback - Cooling- negative feedback.






30. 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.






31. Like weighing oneself on the scale.






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






33. 78% nitrogen - 28% oxygen - Greenhouse gases: Have a more complex molecular structure and can absorb and re:radiate heat in all directions.






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






35. ~15% of incident solar energy (albedo 85)






36. 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:






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






38. Measures input and output.






39. Under higher pressure the melting point decreases ____ - The pressure comes from the weight of the ice shelf.






40. 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






41. Where does the ozone protect us?






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






43. O The amount of energy moving in the form of photons or other elementary particles at a certain distance from the source per unit of area per second. Area/second






44. Longwave radiation - any radiation with a long wave will heat up quickly.






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






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






47. Wet gets _____ - dry gets ____ - Wet - 50ON (sub polar) Canada - N Europe - Russia - Tropical area- monsoon (rainforest) - Drier - Subtropics - Australia - S. Africa - Mediterranean - Caribbean - Mexico - SW US






48. Really measures volume.






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






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