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. Frozen +2 years - Few centimeters to 1500 m






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






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






4. How often does El Nio occur?






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






6. 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






7. 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.






8. South polar vortex - Temperatures drop below 80O Celsius in the lower stratosphere - At these temperatures the chemicals in the stratosphere freeze and form Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCS) - These increase the concentration of CFCs in turn destroyi






9. How much is the planet really warming?






10. Set up in 1988 by WMO and UNEP.






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






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






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






14. Number of days that exceed a given temperature






15. Ice sheets have a very ____ Albedo






16. 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






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






19. Ozone layer in high stratosphere (25-40 km altitude) absorbs about 95-99% of ultraviolet radiation.






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






21. 240 w/m squared






22. Radiation absorbed by atmospheric greenhouse gases?






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






24. Positive Albedo Feedback - increase in temperature melts ice and snow reduces albedo increases temperature melts ice and snow reduces albedo... ETC






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






26. Deep tropics between 15O N and 15 O S are quite rainy on yearly average. In these regions - rising air predominates.






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






28. 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.






29. 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






30. Like weighing oneself on the scale.






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






32. Hydrological drought is associated with the effect of low rainfall on water levels in rivers -!reservoirs -!lakes and aquifers.






33. 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.






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






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






36. The amount of light reflected by an object.






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






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






39. CO2 ____ in winter in the NH and ____ decreases during the 'greening season'






40. he increase of ozone concentration in the atmosphere helps ____ our planet






41. Warming- positive feedback - Cooling- negative feedback.






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






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






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






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






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






47. Permafrost- A frozen soil






48. Greenhouse gases are a ___ portion of the atmosphere






49. InSAR - +snow/-ice loss - ice dynamics - requires a lot of data.






50. 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.