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. How often does El Nio occur?






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






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






4. Antarctica - stratosphere - Sep-Oct






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






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






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






8. 2ppm of the atmosphere - less than 20% of greenhouse gases - 1/3 greenhouse gases effect of CO2






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






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






11. Melting Point decreases






12. Sea ice and continental ice. This is caused by Atmospheric warming triggers.






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






14. 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






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






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






18. 342 W/m squared - DWEC - These things reflect sunlight (30%): water vapor - clouds - dust particles - earth's surface






19. 20% human produced CO2 emissions. Tropical forests hold around 50% of the carbon present in vegetation on Earth.






20. Number of days when temperatures climb above average by a fixed amount.






21. Tundra absorbs more energy than ice and snow but less than scrubs and forest - and with those plants migrating towards the north - they will further contribute ot absorb more energy.






22. How much is the planet really warming?






23. Where does the ozone protect us?






24. 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






25. Radiation that comes from the Sun - Visible light - 'near infrared' - ultraviolet radiation.






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






27. 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






28. Over the Northern Hemisphere than the tropics.






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






30. Grace - Tells us how much mass change we have - M - This is the measure of gravity (gives us the mass) - Directly measure mass change - Poor resolution






31. 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






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






33. 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






34. Forms in a mosaic of favoured locations.






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






36. Volcanic eruptions - Sunspots - Wobbly Earth






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






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






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






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






41. 78% nitrogen - 28% oxygen - Greenhouse gases: Have a more complex molecular structure and can absorb and re:radiate heat in all directions.






42. 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






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






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






46. Total absorbed solar radiation






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






48. 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






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






50. Greenhouse gases are a ___ portion of the atmosphere