GEL2 Final (part 4)

foraminifera

Tiny sea creatures called __________ equilibrate with the water around them, thus preserving a chemical record of past climatic changes

South Pole

Today, Earth's largest existing glacier is centered on the _________

True

Trees and corals lay down annual growth rings, which can provide paleoclimate information

d) All of these

Tropical climatic environments ("A" environments) a) Are humid, with precipitation exceeding evaporation throughout the year b) Have small annual temperature ranges. c) Have virtually no recognizable season. d) All of these

sunspot

A __________ is a temporary cool, dark spot on the Sun's photosphere

b) D.

A climate type not found at sea level in the Southern Hemisphere is a) B. b) D. c) C. d) E

True

Aerosols such as fine dust can cause dramatic changes in atmospheric albedo, causing global cooling

a) The past climate was warmer than today.

Assume you are a climatologist analyzing carbon dioxide bubbles trapped in an ice core. The cross section of ice core you are looking at is 1 million years old. During your analysis, you find that there is a greater quantity of carbon dioxide in the ice core than there is today. What does this tell you? a) The past climate was warmer than today. b) The past climate was cooler than today. c) the past climate was the same as today

c) The past climate was cooler than today

Assume you are a climatologist analyzing seafloor sediment. You have a 200,000 year old cross section of sediment in which you are going to analyze the ratio of oxygen-18 to oxygen-16. During your analysis, you determine that there is a greater quantity of oxygen-18 than oxygen-16 (beyond today's present values). What does this tell you? a) The past climate was the same as today. b) The past climate was warmer than today. c) The past climate was cooler than today

c) During periods of greater moisture and warmer conditions, tree rings will generally be wider

Assume you are a climatologist analyzing tree rings to determine past climates. If you see a period of time where the length between tree rings are larger than at other times, what does that tell you? a) During periods of greater moisture and warmer conditions, tree rings will be gray in color. b) During periods of greater moisture and warmer conditions, tree rings will generally be narrow. c) During periods of greater moisture and warmer conditions, tree rings will generally be wider

d) Variable

Based on the study of past climate, we can conclude that future, long-term climates will be a) Nearly stable. b) Continually colder. c) Continually water. d) Variable

ocean

Because of its ability to absorb energy and retain it in the form of heat, the __________ serves as a great reservoir of thermal energy that helps moderate climate

a) Feedback.

Cold water absorbs more carbon dioxide than warm water. Assume a mechanism (such as the Milankovitch Cycle) leads to global cooling. Sea surface temperatures will then begin to decrease. Subsequently, more carbon dioxide will be removed from the sky (as it will be absorbed in large quantities by the cold water). As a result, atmospheric temperatures will get cooler. This process is an example of a) Feedback. b) Threshold. c) Global warming. d) Thermohaline circulation

negative

Controlling the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere requires __________ feedbacks in the carbon cycle

False

The positions, shapes, and altitudes of landmasses have little influence on climate

a) Oxygen-18

During periods of glaciation, ocean waters become more enriched with which isotope? a) Oxygen-18 b) Oxygen-16 c) Oxygen-17

glaciation

During the last __________ , the climate of the northern middle and high latitudes became so cold that a vast ice sheet formed over central and eastern Canada

True

During the last glaciation, world sea level was about 120 meters lower than it is today

b) 100 to 200 meters.

During the warm Middle Cretaceous Period, about how much higher was sea level versus today? a) 50 to 75 meters. b) 100 to 200 meters. c) 500 to 600 meters. d) 1000 to 1100 meters

warmest

Each of the past 10 years has been one of the 25 __________ temperature years on record

d) 15,000 years

Earth has been relatively warm for about how many years? a) 1000 years. b) 1 million years. c) 100,000 years. d) 15,000 years

atmosphere

Earth's __________ acts like a selective filter for solar radiation and thus causes greenhouse warming

True

Earth's climate system is characterized by feedbacks, both positive and negative

True

Earth's climate system is dynamic, with many interacting components

aphelion

Eccentricity influences perihelion and __________ , the points at which Earth is nearest and farthest from the Sun

False

Fluctuations in the energy output of the Sun does not influence insolation

True

For a climate proxy to be useful, there must be a mechanism for determining the age of climatic evidence in the record

d) Five

How many climate groups are in the Köppen Climate Classification system? a) Two. b) Four. c) Three. d) Five

a) By continental glaciers carving troughs that filled with water.

How were the Great Lakes of North America created? a) By continental glaciers carving troughs that filled with water. b) By continental glaciers that filled with loess. c) By the movement of cirque glaciers. d) All of these

True

Humans emit more than 8 billion tons of carbon in the atmosphere every year through fossil fuel burning alone

False

Measurements of oxygen isotopes in glacier ice enable scientists to determine the time frame when the snow was accumulating

b) Decrease in temperature.

Large volcanic eruptions (like Mount Pinatubo in 1991) can produce a veil of ash that envelopes the stratosphere. If this were to occur, what would be the most likely temperature result at sea level? a) Increase in temperature. b) Decrease in temperature. c) Increase in precipitation. d) Decrease in precipitation

True

Paleoclimatic evidence includes desert sand dunes now covered by vegetation and channel systems of now-dry streams

True

Seafloor sediments provide a continuous historical record of climate change

a) Doubled.

Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has a) Doubled. b) Remained the same. c) Decreased in half. d) Quadrupled

a) May be one of the causes for global climate change.

Sunspots a) May be one of the causes for global climate change. b) Occur on a regular seven-year cycle. c) Affect the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. d) Are areas of much higher surface temperature than non-sunspot regions

b) 6 degrees Centigrade.

Temperatures increased by about how many degrees from the Pleistocene Epoch to the Holocene Epoch? a) 3 degrees Centigrade. b) 6 degrees Centigrade. c) 20 degrees Centigrade. d) 1 degree Centigrade

b) Eccentricity cycle.

The 100,000 year cycle of the extent of Earth's elliptical orbit around the Sun is called the a) Obliquity (tilt) cycle. b) Eccentricity cycle. c) Precession cycle. d) Motorcycle.

False

The 1990s and the 2000s were the coolest decades on record

d) Obliquity (tilt) cycle

The 41,000 year cycle of the tilt of Earth's axis is called the a) Motorcycle. b) Eccentricity cycle. c) Precession cycle. d) Obliquity (tilt) cycle

True

The Köppen Climate Classification system combines measurements of average temperature, precipitation, and seasonal variation to define climate types

a) Began before the Little Ice Age.

The Medieval Warm Period a) Began before the Little Ice Age. b) Persisted until the middle of the nineteenth century. c) Lowered crop production significantly. d) None of these

False

The Medieval Warm Period gave way about 10,000 years ago to the Little Ice Age

False

The average length of a glacial-interglacial cycle over the past 800,000 years was about 50,000 years

b) Fossil fuels.

The burning of which of the following has added largest quantities of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere? a) Paper. b) Fossil fuels. c) Crop burning. d) Forest fires

bubbles

The chemical composition of air __________ trapped in ice indicates that during glacial times the atmosphere contained less carbon dioxide than it does today

False

The chemical compositions of ancient air samples trapped in ice show that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide fluctuate quite regularly, with no correlation to air temperature

paleoclimates

The climates of ancient times is known as _________

True

The earliest recorded glacial episode dates to about 2.4 billion years ago

False

The most recent Pleistocene glaciation started about 1 million years ago

c) Tropical rainforest.

The natural vegetation of tropical climatic environments ("A" environments) is generally a) Desert scrub. b) Boreal forest. c) Tropical rainforest. d) Mediterranean

d) 21.5 to 24.5 degrees

The obliquity cycle (the Earth's tilt) fluctuates between what angles during its 41,000 year cycle? a) 20 to 22 degrees. b) 25 to 27 degrees. c) 23 to 26 degrees. d) 21.5 to 24.5 degrees

c) Ash, carbon dioxide.

The release of __________ by volcanoes could lead to cooling, whereas the release of __________ by volcanoes could lead to warming. a) Oxygen, ash. b) Carbon dioxide, ash. c) Ash, carbon dioxide. d) Ash, oxygen

fractionation

The scientific term for the separation and differential concentration of isotopes of slightly different mass is called __________

b) Precipitation and temperature.

The two weather variables used most often as indicators of climate are a) Pressure and precipitation. b) Precipitation and temperature. c) Wind and pressure. d) Temperature and cloud cover

True

Thermohaline circulation plays a central role in climate

records

Through the study of climate __________ scientists have established a detailed chronology of climatic changes over Earth's history

Little Ice Age

Throughout much of western Europe and adjacent islands, the __________ climate was characterized by unusually cold, harsh conditions

plants

Under full-glacial conditions, __________ that are currently limited to polar and high-altitude regions could move into forests in northwestern Europe

b) The technique of establishing a date using tree rings.

What is dendrochronology? a) The technique of establishing a date using ice cores. b) The technique of establishing a date using tree rings. c) The technique of establishing a date using shark teeth. d) The technique of establishing a date using sedimentary deposits

a) A mathematical explanation of long term climate changes based on Earth-Sun

What is the Milankovitch Cycle? a) A mathematical explanation of long term climate changes based on Earth-Sun geometrical relationships. b) A type of motor car used in the late 1800's for geologic exploration. c) An explanation of climate changes on Earth based on Molecular cloud. d) An explanation of long term climate changes on Earth, based on human activity

a) About 900 to 1000 meters along the southern part of the transect.

What is the difference between present and ice-age snowlines along western North America? a) About 900 to 1000 meters along the southern part of the transect. b) About 1500 to 2000 meters along the southern part of the transect. c) About 200 meters along the southern part of the transect. d) About 3000 meters along the southern part of the transect

d) Changes to thermohaline circulation

What would be the greatest effect to climate from the movement of continents via plate tectonics? a) Polar wandering. b) Changes in the position of the forests. c) Changes in the position of certain land animals. d) Changes to thermohaline circulation

30

When all of the evidence is accounted for, it shows that for the Pleistocene Epoch, about ___________ glacial ages occurred

b) There will be less seasonal variation between summer and winter.

When the Earth's tilt is minimal, which would probably be true? a) There will be greater seasonal variation between summer and winter. b) There will be less seasonal variation between summer and winter. c) There will be no seasonal variation between summer and winter d) None of these

d) Antarctic ice cores

Which of the following climate proxies provide the longest time frame of data? a) Human records. b) Deep-sea sediments. c) Tree ring analysis. d) Antarctic ice cores

c) Tropical fossils.

Which of the following discoveries in the subarctic is a strong indication that global climates have changed? a) Palms. b) Prehistoric tundra. c) Tropical fossils. d) All of these.

c) Carbon dioxide.

Which of the following is an important greenhouse gas? a) Oxygen. b) Nitrogen. c) Carbon dioxide. d) Carbon monoxide

a) Sunspots.

Which of the following is considered a short-term external climate change factor (versus a long-term climate change factor)? a) Sunspots. b) Changes in the Earth's orbit (eccentricity). c) Changes in the Earth's tilt (obliquity). d) Changes in the Earth's orientation (precession)

e) The Earth's core.

Which of the following is not part of Earth's climate system? a) The cryosphere. b) The geosphere. c) The atmosphere. d) The hydrosphere. e) The Earth's core.

a) Smaller contrast between winter and summer.

Which of the following would lead to a potential ice age? a) Smaller contrast between winter and summer. b) Larger contrast between winter and summer. c) Neither of these

Hydrocarbon

__________ molecules can become trapped by molecules of ice in sediment that is near the freezing temperature of seawater

Pollen

__________ studies show that in glacial times the vegetation distribution was quite different from what we see today