EPS 7 Final
Parties to the UNFCCC commit to the UNFCCC objective of
"prevent[ing] dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system"
If a sand dune's feedback parameter is +25 kg/s/m, by what amount does its net rate of inflow change if we apply a sudden height perturbation of −5 m?
-125 kg/s
If a sand dune's feedback parameter is −3 kg/s/m, what is the final perturbation if a forcing of −9 kg/s is applied?
-3 m
If a sand dune's feedback parameter is −15 kg/s/m, by what amount does its net rate of inflow change if we apply a sudden height perturbation of 3 m?
-45 kg/s
At the current rate of global warming of 3 K/century, roughly how much additional sea-level rise have we committed the planet to each year?
.2 m
Using Wien's law, what is the peak wavelength of radiation emitted by an object with a temperature of 6000 K?
.5 micron
Aerosol spray cans are responsible for how much radiative forcing?
0 W/m^2
Roughly how much sea-level rise do we get from melting the Arctic sea ice?
0 m
To make 1 J of ethanol energy from Brazilian sugarcane, we have to expend
0.1 to 0.25 J
What is a typical capacity factor for a solar panel?
0.15
How long does it take to drive 5 km at 2 km/hour?
0.25 hours
What is a typical capacity factor for a wind turbine?
0.3
What is another way to write 300 Mya?
0.3 Gya
How much higher is global mean sea level today than it was in the preindustrial?
0.3 m
If a sand dune's feedback parameter is −8 kg/s/m, what is the final perturbation if a forcing of 4 kg/s is applied?
0.5 m
To make 1 J of ethanol energy from U.S. corn, we have to expend
0.6 to 1.3 J
900 millibars equals
0.9 bar
To generate the needed 60 TW of power, roughly what percentage of Earth's land surface would we need to cover in solar cells?
1 %
Borehole paleothermometry reveals a mean global ground-temperature increase over the past ~100 years of
1 K
When wind turbines are distributed over a property to maximize the electrical power generated per land area, roughly what amount of electrical power per area can we hope to generate?
1 W/m^2
Utility-scale solar power costs roughly how much to install per watt of rated power?
1 dollar/ W
Utility-scale wind power costs roughly how much to install per watt of rated power?
1 dollar/ W
Ocean acidification puts 60% of the carbon burned by humans into the ocean on a timescale of
1 thousand years
What is roughly the per-capita consumption of coal in the United States?
1 ton/year
Proven reserves of uranium could provide the needed 60 TW of power for how long?
1 year
Roughly how much is 1.07^5?
1.35
What is roughly the maximum potential global power generation from hydroelectric dams?
1.5 TW
Taken altogether, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and halocarbons are responsible for how much radiative forcing?
1.5 W/m^2
What is the modern estimate for the likely range of Earth's climate sensitivity?
1.5 to 4.5 K
Roughly what is 1.02^30?
1.60
Using the minus-thirty-and-halve approximation, what is 50 ◦F in Celsius?
10 C
Roughly at what rate are fossil fuels being burned today?
10 GtC/year
In a dry atmosphere, what is the numerical value of the lapse rate?
10 K/km
Consider a metal rod that has 10 W of heat conduction between its two ends, which are maintained at temperatures of 200 K and 400 K. If we raise the temperature of both ends by 100 K, what is the new rate of heat conduction along the rod?
10 W
If a lightbulb produces 100 J of heat and light while on for 10 seconds how much electrical power does the lightbulb consume?
10 W
Roughly how thick is Earth's atmosphere?
10 km
Using Wien's law, what is the peak wavelength of radiation emitted by an object with a temperature of 300 K?
10 micron
The acidified ocean is returned to its original pH on a timescale of
10 thousand years
At Earth's surface, atmospheric pressure is equivalent to
10 tons per square meter
At the current rate of global warming of 3 K/century, how long does it take to get an additional committed sea-level rise equal to the height of a Cal basketball player?
10 years
Methane in the atmosphere oxidizes to CO2 on what timescale?
10 years
What is the timescale for a human to grow to its maximum height?
10 years
Roughly what fraction of land area is suitable for wind power, i.e., has a wind class of 3 or higher?
10%
How far does a person go if they jog at 3 m/s for 1 hour?
10.8 km
Using the approximate Stefan-Bolzmann law, power per area=6(T/100)^4, what is the temperature of a planet that radiates 6 W/m^2?
100 K
After ocean acidification and dissolution of calcium carbonate, silicate weathering removes the remaining 20% of the extra carbon still in the atmosphere on a timescale of
100 thousand years
In a business-as-usual scenario, what is a likely concentration of atmospheric CO2 in the year 2100?
1000 ppm
What is the likely amount of carbon contained in methane clathrates?
1000-10000 GtC
How much power does the average American consume?
10000 W
If the partial pressures of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and water vapor are 780 mbars, 200 mbars, 10 mbars, and 30 mbars, what is the total pressure?
1020 mbars
If we hold the concentrations of greenhouse gases constant at the levels anticipated in 2100 for the RCP8.5 scenario, roughly how much land warming would we get if we waited long enough?
12 K
In the business-as-usual scenario, the global mean temperature will be 4 K warmer than preindustrial in 2100. What will the rate of sea level rise be?
12 mm/year
When was the universe formed?
14 Gya
An overshot water wheel generates power by capturing the gravitational potential energy of water as it is carried by the wheel from its top to its bottom. If a 2-m-diameter overshot water wheel processes 7 kg/s of water, roughly how much power does it generate?
14 W
Roughly how much wind power could we possibly extract from the global land surface?
15 TW
Consider a metal rod that has 10 W of heat conduction between its two ends, which are maintained at temperatures of 200 K and 400 K. If we lower the temperature of the cold end from 200 K to 100 K, what is the new rate of heat conduction along the rod?
15 W
Consider a metal rod that has 10 W of heat conduction between its two ends, which are maintained at temperatures of 200 K and 400 K. If we raise the temperature of the hot end from 400 K to 500 K, what is the new rate of heat conduction along the rod?
15 W
Averaging over all land, day/night, seasons, and weather, the power per land area of sunlight is
150 W/m^2
Including all soil depths, permafrost contains how much carbon?
1500 GtC
2^4 equals
16
If planet A is the same size as planet B, but is twice as hot, how much more rapidly does planet A lose energy by radiation?
16 times
If a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen has a total pressure of 900 mbars, and if the partial pressure of nitrogen is 720 mbars, what is the partial pressure of oxygen?
180 mbars
In what year was the greenhouse effect postulated, thereby initiating the field of climate science?
1824
The prediction of global warming was made in what year?
1896
In what decade did measurements on Mauna Loa first document rising concentrations of CO2?
1960s
In what year did congressional testimony first raise public awareness about global warming?
1988
The IPCC was founded in __________ and issued its first assessment report in _________.
1988 and 1990
By how much have Berkeley's warm-season maximum temperatures increased over the past 125 years?
2 K
What is the current radiative forcing from the extra CO2 that is currently in the atmosphere?
2 W/m^2
If planet A is the same temperature as planet B, but has twice the area, how much more rapidly does planet A lose energy by radiation?
2 times
Roughly at what rate is the atmospheric concentration of CO2 increasing?
2.5 ppm/year
The carbon contained in peat down to 1 meter is equivalent to how many years of fossil-fuel burning at the current rate of emissions?
20
At what rate are humans currently consuming energy?
20 TW
Assuming a 2000-year timescale for the adjustment of sea level, if sea level is rising at 10 mm/year, roughly what is the committed sea-level rise?
20 m
Consider a 0.01 kg feather initially at rest, so vi = 0, at height hi in a vacuum. It is dropped and reaches a final speed of vf = 20 m/s at the ground, where hf = 0. What was hi?
20 m
Consider a 2 kg bowling ball initially at rest, so vi = 0, at height hi in a vacuum. It is dropped and reaches a final speed of vf = 20 m/s at the ground, where hf = 0. What was hi?
20 m
When the planet has warmed by 3 K, roughly what is the committed sea-level rise?
20 m
Roughly how much higher will CAPE be when the temperature has increased by 3 K?
20%
Roughly what fraction of Earth's atmosphere is oxygen?
20%
Roughly what fraction of the carbon burned by humans is still in the atmosphere as CO2 after 10,000 years?
20%
How much carbon is there in peat worldwide down to one-meter depth?
200 GtC
If the concentration of atmospheric CO2 increases by 100 ppm, roughly how much more carbon is there in the atmosphere?
200 GtC
Which of the following is a typical temperature of a blowtorch?
2000 K
Imagine that the Arctic has 3 million km^2 of ice in September of 2030, and that September Arctic ice area is decreasing in 2030 by 2 million km^2 per decade. In what year would you project the Arctic to be ice-free in September?
2045
A typical building has 3 meters between floors and the average American adult weighs 80 kg. How much energy does it take to lift 5 average American adults up 2 floors in a typical building?
24 kJ
Using the minus-thirty-and-halve approximation, what is 80 F in Celsius?
25 C
If a planet's total solar irradiance, or TSI, is 1000 W/m^2, what is the average incident sunlight per planetary surface area?
250 W/m^2
In an atmosphere with water, approximately what is the temperature at a height of 4 km if the temperature at a height of 2 km is 283 K?
270 K
What is 0 C in Kelvin?
273 K
What was the preindustrial concentration of CO2?
280 ppm
What is the average temperature of Earth?
288 K
What is 20 C in Kelvin?
293 K
If Earth's mean temperature increases from 288 K to 291 K when CO2 is doubled from its preindustrial concentration, what mean temperature would you expect if CO2 were quadrupled from its preindustrial concentration?
294 K
Given Earth's feedback parameter of -1.1 W/m2/K, what is roughly its final temperature perturbation in response to a doubling of CO2, which causes a forcing of 3.7 W/m2?
3 K
What is the modern best estimate of Earth's climate sensitivity?
3 K
Roughly how much power will a 10-MW wind turbine generate?
3 MW
What is 3 Gya?
3 billion years ago
At the current rate of sea-level rise, how much higher will global mean sea level be in 10 years?
3 cm
At roughly what rate is global mean sea level rising currently?
3 mm/year
Averaging over all land, day/night, seasons, and weather, and assuming a typical solar-cell efficiency, the electrical power per land area generated by PV panels is
30 W/m^2
Using Wien's law, what is the peak wavelength of radiation emitted by and object with a temperature of 100 K?
30 micron
If a town is underlain by 3 m of permafrost, and if the permafrost is thawing there at a rate of 10 cm/year, in roughly how long will the town have no permafrost?
30 years
On planet Zorkon, the effective height of longwave emission to space is at 9 km where the temperature is 210 K. If the lapse rate in Zorkon's dry atmosphere is 10 K/km, what is the surface temperature?
300 K
Which of the following is a typical temperature on Earth?
300 K
If a planet's TSI is 2000 W/m^2 and its albedo is .4, how much power per area must the planet radiate?
300 W/m^2
How many Joules of heat are generated by a heater that outputs 500 W for 10 minutes?
300 kJ
What is 30 C in Kelvin?
303 K
On planet Kruftulon, the effective height of longwave emission to space is at 3 km where the temperature is 310 K. If the lapse rate in Kruftulon's dry atmosphere is 10 K/km, what is the surface temperature?
340 K
Roughly how much more water vapor is in an atmosphere once it warms up by 5 K?
35%
The human body produces about 100 W of heat. How much heat does the human body emit in an hour? Recall that an hour has 3600 seconds.
360 kJ
How many gas giants are there in our Solar System?
4
How many rocky planets are there in our solar system?
4
What is the mean of 0, 4, and 8?
4
If we hold the concentrations of greenhouse gases constant at the levels anticipated in 2100 for the RCP4.5 scenario, roughly how much globally averaged warming would we get if we waited long enough?
4 K
When was the Earth formed?
4.5 Gya
Using the minus-thirty-and-halve approximation, what is 110 ◦F in Celsius?
40 C
How much fossil fuel have humans burned?
400 GtC
What is the current concentration of atmospheric CO2?
400 ppm
Roughly how much power will a 300-W solar panel generate?
45 W
Which of the following is a typical temperature of an oven?
450 K
If a sand dune's feedback parameter is +24 kg/s/m, by what amount does its net rate of inflow change if we apply a sudden height perturbation of 2 m?
48 kg/s
Roughly at what rate are the ocean and plants absorbing CO2 at present?
5 GtC/year
Roughly how much coal is available for humans to burn?
5 TtC
Consider a metal rod that has 10 W of heat conduction between its two ends, which are maintained at temperatures of 200 K and 400 K. If we lower the temperature of the hot end from 400 K to 300 K, what is the new rate of heat conduction along the rod?
5 W
Consider a metal rod that has 10 W of heat conduction between its two ends, which are maintained at temperatures of 200 K and 400 K. If we raise the temperature of the cold end from 200 K to 300 K, what is the new rate of heat conduction along the rod?
5 W
Consider a 0.01 kg feather initially at rest, so vi = 0, at height hi in a vacuum. It is dropped and reaches a final speed of vf = 10 m/s at the ground, where hf = 0. What was hi?
5 m
Consider a 2 kg bowling ball initially at rest, so vi = 0, at height hi in a vacuum. It is dropped and reaches a final speed of vf = 10 m/s at the ground, where hf = 0. What was hi?
5 m
The power per area emitted by an object, in W/m^2, is equal to
5.67(T/100)^4
What is roughly the per-capita consumption of oil in the United States?
50 barrels/year
If the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere increases by 100 GtC, roughly how much does the concentration of CO2 increase?
50 ppm
How much kinetic energy is in a 3 kg ball traveling at 2 m/s?
6 J
If we hold the concentrations of greenhouse gases constant at the levels anticipated in 2100 for the RCP4.5 scenario, roughly how much land warming would we get if we waited long enough?
6 K
What is the approximate power per area emit- ted by a person in W/m^2?
6(3^4)
What is the approximate power per area emitted by the inside wall of an oven in W/m^2?
6(4.5^4)
In an atmosphere with water, what is the numerical value of the lapse rate?
6.5 K/km
If a laser delivers 30 W of energy to a target over 2 seconds, how much energy does it deliver to the target?
60 J
To allow all 10 billion people to live like Americans, roughly how much electrical power does humanity need to generate?
60 TW
If a bank account accrues interest at a rate of 2% per year, by what percentage has the initial principal increased after 30 years?
60%
How many GtC were there in the preindustrial atmosphere?
600 GtC
What is the temperature of the sun where it emits light?
6000 K
When of the following is a typical temperature on the sun?
6000 K
Roughly how much higher is CAPE in an atmosphere once it has warmed by 1 K?
7%
According to the Clausius-Clapeyron equation, pv* increases with temperature exponentially at a rate of approximately
7% / K
If humans burn 5000 GtC in a couple centuries, roughly what will the atmospheric concentration of CO2 be in the year 12017?
750 ppm
How many planets are there in our Solar System?
8
If we hold the concentrations of greenhouse gases constant at the levels anticipated in 2100 for the RCP8.5 scenario, roughly how much globally averaged warming would we get if we waited long enough?
8 K
If a sand dune's feedback parameter is −20 kg/s/m, by what amount does its net rate of inflow change if we apply a sudden height perturbation of −4 m?
80 kg/s
3^4 equals
81
How much kinetic energy is in a 2 kg ball traveling at 3 m/s?
9 J
Given Earth's feedback parameter of -1.1 W/m2/K, what is roughly its final temperature perturbation in response to a brightening of the Sun that leads to 9.9 W/m2 of extra solar absorption?
9 K
At roughly what rate will sea-level be rising when the planet has warmed by 3 K?
9 mm/year
What is an AMSU?
Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit
What is the empirical formula for coal?
C or CH
Through this program, car manufacturers are forced to sell cars that have, on average, a miles-per-gallon efficiency above some threshold.
CAFE
Which of these is an example of a halocarbon?
CF2Cl2
What is the empirical formula for oil?
CH2
What is the chemical formula for methane?
CH4
What is the empirical formula for gas?
CH4
What chemical formula most accurately describes the burning of natural gas?
CH4 + 2O2 --> CO2 + 2 H2O
Photosynthesis is best described by what chemical reaction?
CO2 + H2O + photon --> O2 + CH2O
When permafrost thaws, it releases
CO2 and CH4
Which is not a contributing factor to the seasonal cycle in atmospheric CO2?
CO2 is a greenhouse gas
What chemical reaction ultimately removes the excess carbon from the atmosphere and ocean?
CaSiO3 + CO2 --> CaCO3 + SiO2
When was most coal formed?
Carboniferous period (300 Mya)
Which of the following carbon pools has the largest amount of carbon at present?
Coal
COP stands for
Conference of the Parties
Who is credited with alerting scientists to global warming by documenting the rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?
Dave Keeling
Who is credited with postulating the existence of a greenhouse effect and thereby kicking off the field of climate science?
Dave Keeling
Through this program, consumers are told what the annual energy cost of an appliance is likely to be.
Energy Star
True or False: Biomass energy has the potential to provide all of humanity's current energy needs.
False
True or False: Biomass energy has the potential to provide all of humanity's future energy needs.
False
True or False: Halocarbons are still found in aerosol spray cans.
False
True or False: Observations prove that global warming has made hurricanes more frequent.
False
True or False: Observations prove that global warming has made tornadoes more frequent.
False
True or False: Observations prove that global warming has made tornadoes more intense.
False
True or False: Pressure decreases as we move downwards in a fluid like the ocean or atmosphere.
False
What is the first molecule that CO2 forms when dissolved in water?
H2CO3
Which chemical reaction describes ocean acidification?
H2CO3--> H+ + HCO3-
In what form is most of the dissolved carbon in the ocean?
HCO3-
Through this program, the federal government pays for a fraction of your residential solar PV installation.
ITC
The IPCC stand for
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
How is a Watt defined in terms of other units?
J/s
Who is credited with alerting the public to global warming with his congressional testimony?
James Hansen
Who discovered that mechanical work gets converted to heat, thereby establishing the law of conservation of energy?
James Joule
Who is credited with starting the industrial revolution with their invention?
James Watt
Which of the following is responsible for the industrial revolution?
James Watt, scientific revolution and abundant coal
Who is credited with identifying the gases responsible for the greenhouse effect?
John Tyndall
What is the unit for energy?
Joule
When was most oil formed?
Jurassic period (150 Mya)
What are a set of appropriate units for the lapse rate?
K/km
Who created the cloud classification scheme that we use today?
Luke Howard
The Curiosity rover is on which planet?
Mars
What is the most abundant molecule in Earth's atmosphere?
N2
Why is there abundant nitrogen in Earth's atmosphere?
N2 does not like to stay in magma so it's emitted by volcanoes, and N2 does not readily react chemically.
What is the chemical formula for nitrous oxide?
N2O
Which of these is an example of a NOx?
NO2
Which of the following is required for forming ozone in smog?
NOx, volatile organic compounds, and sunlight
Which of the following is not a rocky planet: Mercury, Neptune, Venus, Mars, Earth?
Neptune
Atmospheric CO2 decrease most rapidly in
Northern-Hemisphere summer.
Respiration is best described by what chemical reaction?
O2 + CH20 --> CO2 + H2O + photon
What is the chemical formula for ozone?
O3
Through this program, the federal government pays some number of dollars for each joule of electricity generated from the first 10 years of a wind turbine's life?
PTC
Order the Phanerozoic eras from oldest to most recent.
Paleozoic Mesozoic Cenozoic
What is Earth's biggest negative feedback?
Planck feedback
Through this program, a state requires that a fraction of the electricity sold by utilities comes from renewable sources like wind and solar.
RPS
What book is credited with kicking off the U.S. environmental movement in 1962?
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
International coordination on climate change began in 1992 with a document adopted in
Rio de Janeiro
Who first predicted global warming and made a calculation of Earth's climate sensitivity?
Svante Arrhenius
From what optical depth into the Sun does the Sun emit light to space?
T=1
How deep into a gas does the gas emit radiation like a solid surface?
T=1
True or False: In a house, hot air rises and cold air sinks.
True
True or False: In a pot of water heated from below, hot water rises and cold water sinks.
True
True or False: In the atmosphere, hot air rises and cold air sinks.
True
True or False: Relative humidity is the vapor pressure in the air divided by the saturation vapor pressure.
True
Which of the following countries uses Fahrenheit?
U.S., Bahamas, Belize, Cayman Islands and Palau
Which of the following federal agencies does not have its own climate model?
USPS
The document adopted in 1992 is called the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
What industrialized country did not join the Kyoto Protocol?
United States
What is the only country that plans to not be a party to the Paris Agreement?
United States
Which of the following is not a gas giant: Neptune, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Uranus?
Venus
How is a Joule defined in terms of other units?
W(s)
The IPCC was founded by
WMO and UNEP
What is the unit for power?
Watt
Which person did not play a role in discovering the power per area of radiation emitted by an object: Watt, Stefan or Boltzmann?
Watt
What is a GtC?
a billion tons of carbon
Roughly how much of the recoverable coal have humans used?
a few percent
Ethanol fuel is made from stuff found in
a glass of beer.
Biodiesel is made from the stuff found in
a jug of vegetable oil
What is an acid?
a molecule that adds H+ ions to water
Methane clathrate is
a water-ice lattice that encases methane molecule
What is the primary source of anthropogenic nitrous oxide?
agriculture
Which of the following is not one of the three major sectors of energy consumption?
agriculture
Parties to the UNFCCC include
all nations on Earth
Which of the following describes planet Mercury: no atmosphere, smallest planet, closest to the Sun?
all of the above
Which of the following emits photons?
all of the above
Many of those who deny the science of climate change today also previously denied the science of
all of the other answers
CAPE is proportional to
amount of water vapor in the air
The radiative forcing by extra greenhouse gases is best described as causing
an decrease of outgoing power.
Which causes the greater amount of additional warming?
an increase of CO2 from 300 to 400 ppm instead of an increase of CO2 from 400 to 500 ppm
Which of the following radiates the most power: an object with Area=100 m^2 and T=200K, an object with Area=1 m^2 and T=1000 K, or an object with Area=1000 m^2 and T=100 K?
an object with Area=1 m^2 and T=1000 K
What is plankton?
any collection of microscopic organisms that drift in the sea
What is HO3-?
bicarbonate ion
Which of the three has the shortest wavelength: red, green or blue?
blue
What is another name for cyanobacteria?
blue-green algae
Which of the following is an example of conduc- tion?
burn hand on a hot pan
Which of the following is not a leading source of anthropogenic methane emissions?
burning natural gas
Imagine that the price of a single permit is 100 $, with each permit covering 1 tC. If a company gets 0 permits for free for the year, and the company burns 3 tC of fossil fuel in that year, what does the company do?
buys 3 permits and thereby loses 300 $
Imagine that the price of a single permit is 100 $, with each permit covering 1 tC. If a company gets 3 permits for free for the year, and the company burns 6 tC of fossil fuel in that year, what does the company do?
buys 3 permits and thereby loses 300 $
Imagine that the price of a single permit is 100 $, with each permit covering 1 tC. If a company gets 0 permits for free for the year, and the company burns 6 tC of fossil fuel in that year, what does the company do?
buys 6 permits and thereby loses 600 $
What is CaCO3?
calcium carbonate
Between a blue berry and a red berry, which has the higher temperature?
cannot tell because their color is scattered light
A carbon-pricing scheme in which 100 permits are given out for free and 2000 permits are auctioned with proceeds divvied up among all households is best described as
cap & trade and everyone gets the money
A carbon-pricing scheme in which 2000 permits are given out for free and 100 permits are auctioned with proceeds divvied up among all households is best described as
cap & trade and polluters get the money
A carbon-pricing scheme in which 2000 permits are given out for free and 100 permits are auctioned with proceeds spent on renewables research and development is best described as
cap & trade and polluters get the money
A carbon-pricing scheme in which 100 permits are given out for free and 2000 permits are auctioned with proceeds spent on renewables research and development is best described as
cap & trade and victims get the money
In this carbon-pricing scheme, the market sets the price of carbon emissions
cap-and-trade
Which of the following gases is relatively opaque to longwave radiation?
carbon dioxide
In this carbon-pricing scheme, the government sets the price of carbon emissions.
carbon tax
What is CO3--?
carbonate ion
What is H2CO3?
carbonic acid
Climate sensitivity is the
change in temperature for a doubling of CO2.
A natural-gas-fired power plant is powered by
chemical reactions
Which of the following is a mechanism built into the Kyoto Protocol to allow countries to avoid reducing their own emissions?
clean development mechanism
Low atmospheric surface pressure usually corresponds to
cloudy and rainy weather
Compared to the Earth, is Mars cold or hot?
cold
Would most people consider 40 K cold or hot?
cold
Would most people consider 40 ◦F cold or hot?
cold
What is the source of a storm cloud's buoyancy?
condensation
By what process does air that is in contact with the Earth's surface get heat?
conduction
When a mass exchanges energy with an adja- cent mass by jiggling against it, what do we call this?
conduction
What do we call a fundamental law of physics that says that stuff is neither created nor destroyed?
conservation law
By what process does a blob of air move its heat from Earth's surface up into the atmosphere?
convection
When energy moves from one place to another because a mass carries that energy there, what do we call this?
convection
Why does a small piece of burning paper float up into the air?
convection
What made the Cenozoic the Age of Mammals rather than the Second Age of Dinosaurs?
cooler climate in the Cenozoic
If the Earth suddenly becomes warmer than its steady-state temperature, the Planck feedback tends to make the Earth
cooler.
What happens to the temperature of your skin when you exercise?
cools down
What is the most certain way to date glacial ice?
counting layers
What caused the Great Oxygenation Event 2.4 billion years ago?
cyanobacteria
The Climate Science Legal Defense Fund
defends climate scientists being threatened or harassed
The divvying up of the world into Annex-I and Annex-II countries broadly reflects
different economic conditions in North America and Western Europe compared to the former Soviet Socialist republics
What were the Mesozoic megafauna?
dinosaurs
The acidified ocean is returned to its original pH by
dissolution of calcium carbonate
Fossil Free UC is trying to get UC to
divest from fossil-fuel companies
If we could somehow double the albedo of Mars, would its temperature go up or down?
down
What do we call an animal that relies on environmental heat to keep its body warm?
ectotherm
What force prevents you from pushing one hand through your other hand?
electromagnetic
What do we call an animal that generates its own heat to keep its body warm?
endotherm
What is a sink of a storm cloud's buoyancy?
entrainment
True or False: Observations prove that global warming has made hurricanes more intense.
false
Compared to the Earth, is Mars farther from the Sun or closer to the Sun?
farther
Which of the following is not an SI unit?
foot
Coal is
fossilized peat
Natural gas is
fossilized plankton
Oil is
fossilized plankton
Where does radiation move energy into, out of, or within the Earth?
from the Sun to the Earth, from the surface to the atmosphere, within the atmosphere, and from Earth to space
Where does conduction move energy into, out of, or within the Earth?
from the surface to the atmosphere
Which way do storms move in the continental United States?
from west to east
Why is the sky blue?
gas molecules scatter short wavelengths more than long wavelengths
What is an example of something that a wind mill does not do?
generate electricity
Tilting PV panels towards the Sun allows them to
generate more power per panel area.
Overall, the land surface and the top layers of soil tend to ____________ with warming.
get drier
When a gas is depressurized, its temperature
goes down.
When a gas is pressurized, its temperature
goes up.
What force holds electrons in orbit around the nucleus?
gravitational
Roughly how much of the recoverable oil have humans used?
half
Condensation of water vapor does the following:
heats the air.
A toaster converts __________-grade energy into ___________-grade energy.
high/ low
The higher the k and/or ρ of some gas in the atmosphere, the ____________ the effective height of emission to space.
higher
Would most people consider 40 ◦C cold or hot?
hot
Which of the following is an example of convection?
hot air balloon rises
Which emits water molecules at a faster rate?
hot water
Burning a significant portion of the recoverable fossil fuel will push Earth into what climate state?
hothouse
What climate state was Earth in at the time of the dinosaurs?
hothouse
Which is an example of an endotherm?
human
What is H+?
hydrogen ion
What climate state is Earth in now?
icehouse
If someone claims to have a plant that generates biofuel energy at a rate of 10 W per square meter of cropland, you would say that is
impossible.
Snowball Earth has occurred
in the Precambrian Era
What is another name for longwave radiation?
infrared
Which of the three has the longest wavelength: infrared, visible or ultraviolet?
infrared
A negative perturbation
is a decrease in the stock from its steady-state level.
A positive forcing
is an externally applied increase in the net inflow.
A negative forcing
is an externally applied reduction in the net inflow.
A positive perturbation
is an increase in the stock from its steady-state level.
If the number of air molecules in a sealed jar is doubled without changing the temperature, how does the pressure in the jar change?
it doubles
If the number of water molecules in the air is doubled without changing the temperature, what happens to the water vapor pressure pv?
it doubles
If the temperature of air in a sealed jar is doubled without changing the number of air molecules, how does the pressure in the jar change?
it doubles
What is so super about a supercomputer?
it has many ordinary computers connected together
If the height of a sand dune is 50 meters and the net inflow of sand is 10 kg/s, what can we say about this sand dune?
it is not in a steady state
If a sand dune's feedback parameter is +8 kg/s/m, what happens if we suddenly reduce the height of the dune by 2 m?
it will disappear
If a sand dune's feedback parameter is −5 kg/s/m, what happens if we suddenly add 4 m of sand?
it will go back to its original steady state
Which of the following is a mechanism built into the Kyoto Protocol to allow countries to avoid reducing their own emissions?
joint implementation
An AMSU measures temperature at many heights in the atmosphere by measuring atmospheric emission at multiple wavelengths on the side of an oxygen resonance that each have a different
k and so a different T=1 level
What are the units of kinetic energy?
kg m^2/s^2
Which of the following is not a positive feedback?
lapse-rate feedback
What motivated the formation of the International Meteorological Organization, later renamed the World Meteorological Organization, in the 1800s?
large size of storm compared to European countries, invention of the telegraph and a desire to make weather forecasts
When water vapor condenses, this is an example of
latent converting to sensible.
What do we call energy hidden in a particular phase of matter?
latent heat
Lifting a 20-kg weight a height of 0.5 m a total of 7 times requires ___________ lifting a 5-kg weight a height of 1 m a total of 15 times.
less energy than
If RH<1, then
liquid water evaporates.
Which is an example of an ectotherm?
lizard
What do we call the radiation emitted by a planet?
longwave
Imagine that the carbon tax is 100 $/tC. If a company burns 3 tC of fossil fuel in that year, what does the company do?
loses 300 $
Imagine that the carbon tax is 100 $/tC. If a company burns 6 tC of fossil fuel in that year, what does the company do?
loses 600 $
A coal-fired power plant converts ___________-grade energy into __________-grade energy.
low/ high
Which of the following is not one of the primary pieces of evidence for global warming?
lunar brightness records
What was James Watt's primary contribution?
making the steam engine much more efficient
With the exception of high-energy nuclear reactions, which of the following is always conserved?
mass, momentum, and energy
CAPE is the ______________ amount of kinetic energy per mass of air that a cloud could theoretially get by rising through the atmosphere with __________ and no drag.
maximum/ no entrainment
Which is not a type of photon?
meson
When talking about the wavelengths of radiation from the Sun and Earth, it is most convenient to use which unit?
micrometer
Which of the following is not the same as the rest?
micron=millionth of a meter=micrometer=um
For climate studies, what are the two most important instruments inside a Stevenson enclosure?
min-temperature and max-temperature thermometers
Pulling a seed out of molten silicon is a way to generate
monocrystalline silicon.
How many COPs have there been?
more than 20
An extra molecule of CH4 in the atmosphere causes __________ an extra molecule of CO2 in the atmosphere.
more warming than
Plastering all residential roofs with solar panels would generate
much less than 60 TW.
A cap and trade scheme with auctioning of all permits preferentially favors
neither
A carbon tax with proceeds divvied up among all households preferentially favors
neither
Through this program, you are allowed to effectively sell your surplus solar electricity to the utility during the daytime.
net metering
Which of the following is not a greenhouse gas?
nitrogen
Do suction cups work in space?
no
If a bank account accrues interest at a rate of 4% per year, by what percentage has the initial principal increased after 50 years?
none of the other answers
Roughly how much more water vapor is in an atmosphere once it is 20 K warmer?
none of the other answers
If a sand dune's feedback parameter is +1 kg/s/m, what is the final perturbation if a forcing of -2 kg/s is applied?
nonsense question because the dune is unstable
If a sand dune's feedback parameter is +3 kg/s/m, what is the final perturbation if a forcing of 3 kg/s is applied?
nonsense question because the dune is unstable
Which of the following is a violation of conservation of energy?
nothing
Which of the following is a violation of conservation of mass?
nothing
Which of the following is a violation of conservation of momentum?
nothing
If RH=1, then
nothing happens.
What is special about 0 K?
nothing moves
Americium in your smoke detector releases energy by
nuclear fission
Existing nuclear power plants are powered by
nuclear fission
A hypothetical tokamak power plant is powered by
nuclear fusion
The Sun is powered by
nuclear fusion.
If constructed, the Keystone XL pipeline will carry
oil from Albert tar sands
If constructed, the Dakota Access Pipeline will carry
oil past Native-American land
A cap and trade scheme with free distribution of permits based on historical emissions preferentially favors
old companies
A carbon tax with proceeds returned to companies based on historical emissions preferentially favors
old companies
What does optically thick mean?
opaque
Large optical depth T>>1 corresponds to being
optically thick
Small optical depth T<<1 corresponds to being
optically thin
The temperature of Mercury is most similar to which of the following: an ice cube, an oven, Berkeley, liquid nitrogen or a blowtorch?
oven
Which of the following gases is transparent to longwave radiation?
oxygen
Why is the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere decreasing?
oxygen is being reacted with carbon to make carbon dioxide
Which of the following is the ideal gas law?
p is proportional to NT
What is appropriate clothing for 280 K?
pants and a sweater
Dalton's law states that
partial pressures add.
Scotch, the alcoholic drink and not the people, is made using
peat.
What do we call the layer of the Sun that emits light to space?
photosphere
By what process do cyanobacteria release oxygen?
photosynthesis
What kind of orbit do most AMSUs fly?
polar
Freezing silicon in a vat is a way to generate
polycrystalline silicon.
Is the ice-abedo feedback a positive or negative feedback?
positive
With respect to Earth's temperature, an increase in CO2 in the atmosphere can be described as a
positive forcing.
The number of what particle determines what element an atom is?
proton
By what process does energy from the Sun get to Earth's surface?
radiation
When a mass exchanges energy with a faraway mass by sending photons to it, what do we call this?
radiation
Which of the following is not a step in enacting a new treaty?
reconciliation
Which of the three has the longest wavelength: green, red or blue?
red
The purpose of a Stevenson screen is to
reflect away sunlight, provide shade, provide a ventilated enclosure
The climate of Venus is best described as
runaway greenhouse.
Silicon is obtained from
sand.
Imagine that the price of a single permit is 100 $, with each permit covering 1 tC. If a company gets 6 permits for free for the year, and the company burns 3 tC of fossil fuel in that year, what does the company do?
sells 3 permits and thereby earns 300 $
When liquid water evaporates, this is an example of
sensible converting to latent
What do we call regular heat that you can feel?
sensible heat
The energy budget of a wet-bulb thermometer is described by power being delivered to the bulb as __________ heat and power being removed from the bulb as ___________ heat.
sensible/ latent
Phil Tagami is trying to
ship coal to Asia through an Oakland port
What is appropriate clothing for 300 K?
shorts and t-shirt
What do we call the radiation emitted by the sun?
shortwave
Order the four global climate states from coldest to warmest.
snowball/ icehouse/ hothouse/ runaway greenhouse
What is peat?
soggy swamp soil
Permafrost is
soil that is frozen all year long
Which of the following is not synonymous with the others?
solar power tower
What is serial computing?
solving a single problem on a single computer
What is parallel computing?
solving a single problem on multiple computers at the same time
The fossil-fuel industry employs scientists and public-relations firms primarily to
spread doubt about the state of climate science
What word do we ascribe to a sand dune that has no grains of sand being added or removed?
static equilibrium
What do we call a situation where wind is actively blowing sand onto and off of the sand dune, but the height of the sand dune is not changing in time?
steady state
What force keeps neutrons and protons bound together?
strong
The objective of the IPCC assessment reports is to
summarize the state of climate science
January is during the Southern Hemisphere's
summer.
Which of the following was not a consequence of the Great Oxygenation Event?
swarms of earthquakes
According to the Clausius-Clapeyron equation, the saturation vapor pressure pv* is a function only of
temperature.
What causes the seasons?
the Earth's axis of rotation is titled with respect to Earth's orbital plane
The divvying up of the world into Annex-I and non-Annex countries broadly reflects
the North-South divide
What best describes the atmospheric greenhouse effect?
the atmosphere lets shortwave pass through but greenhouse gases readily absorb longwave
Between a blue star and a read star, which has the higher temperature?
the blue star by Wien's law
What is the lapse rate?
the decrease in atmospheric temperature with height
The rate of heat conduction, in watts, from a hot place to a cold place is proportional to
the difference in temperature between the hot and cold places.
What is the definition of wavelength?
the distance form a peak to an adjacent peak
Why does burning fossil fuels cause global warming?
the extra atmospheric CO2 lifts the T=1 layer to a colder level in the atmosphere
What is albedo?
the fraction of sunlight reflected to space
What is the cloud base?
the height at which the rising air first condenses water vapor, the height at which rising air hits a RH of one, and the height at which the saturation vapor pressure first equals the rising air's vapor pressure
As you move from the equator to one of the poles, the land tends to get less solar power per land-surface area. This is because
the higher latitudes receive sunlight at a more glancing angle.
The optical depth T for some path of light through a gas depends on
the length change of z of the light path, a constant k describing how readily the gas tends to absorb or scatter radiation, and the density p of the gas
The Clausius-Clapeyron equation tells us
the pressure of water molecules leaving a liquid surface.
Lifting a 10-kg weight a height of 0.5 m a total of 5 times requires ___________ lifting a 5-kg weight a height of 1 m a total of 5 times.
the same energy as
The timescale for a process is
the time it takes for the process to be mostly done
The active layer is
the top layer of soil that thaws out at least once every year
In the ocean and in the atmosphere, pressure is equal to
the weight per area of overlying fluid
Halocarbons were initially phased out by international law because
they generated the ozone hole
Which radiates the most power, a wall with a total area of 2 m^2 and temperature of 310 K, or a chair with a total area of 2 m^2 and temperature of 310 K?
they radiate the same power
What is true about all photons?
they travel at the same speed
What does optically thin mean?
transparent
What is another name for shortwave radiation?
ultraviolet
Which of the the three has the shortest wavelength: infrared, visible or ultraviolet?
ultraviolet
Studies of boreholes reveal that these layers of the ground are warmer than they would be in the absence of global warming.
upper layers
Which of the following is not an example of a gas being pressurized?
using a can of air duster to clean a computer
Denoting wind speed by v, the kinetic energy of a blob of air is proportional to
v^2
Denoting wind speed by v, the power generated by a wind turbine is proportional to
v^3.
Which of the following is an example of radiation?
warm hands by the fireplace
If the Earth suddenly becomes cooler than its steady-state temperature, the Planck feedback tends to make the Earth
warmer.
Venus is the ____________ planet in the Solar System
warmest
AMSU records show the atmosphere
warming at low altitudes and cooling at high altitudes
The unique fingerprint of CO2-induced global warming is
warming at low altitudes and cooling at high altitudes
Which more strongly absorbs longwave radiation?
water vapor
If RH>1, then
water vapor condenses
What is acidic water?
water with a high concentration of H+ ions
What is Earth's biggest positive feedback?
water-vapor feedback
What happens when we calculate the average temperature of Earth the same way that we did for Mercury and Mars?
we get too cold a temperature
What color are clouds as seen from space?
white because water drops and ice scatter all wavelengths
What is appropriate clothing for 260 K?
winter jacket and earmuffs
When the Northern Hemisphere is in summer, the Southern Hemisphere is in
winter.
Where does convection move energy into, out of, or within the Earth?
within the atmosphere
Do suction cups work in the deep ocean?
yes
If your skin temperature is less than the wet-bulb temperature, then
you are dying
If your skin temperature is much greater than the air temperature, then
you are not sweating
If your skin temperature is in between the air temperature and the wet-bulb temperature, then
you are sweating