PSC 4810 Quizzes 9-12

What does' Source' mean in Earth's natural cycles (Carbon, Methane, Phospore)?

A component responsible for adding the gas from atmosphere.

Which of the following is an impact of sea-level rise? I. Coastal erosion II. Disruption of ecosystems III. Intrusion of groundwater

All

Why does climate change threaten global food security? I. It affects regions favorable for agriculture shift. II. Large populations operate as subsistence farming. III. Drought conditions will decrease crop yields.

All

Modern instruments have only been around for a little over 100 years. So how do we know what greenhouse gas concentrations (and temperature) were in Earth's past? I. Air bubbles trapped in ice cores provide detailed records of what the atmosphere was like in the past. II. Examining organisms in marine sediments can tell us what the temperature was like in the past. III. Pollen in lake beds shows what plant species have lived there during different times. Different plant populations are associated with different types of climates. IV. Glacial moraines show when and where previous episodes of glaciation occurred. V. Tree rings show the history of drought, fire, and other environmental variations.

All of them.

Paleoclimatology is the study of ancient climates. The origin of the word is from the Greek word "paleo," which means ancient. Paleoclimate occurred before our modern weather instruments, such as thermometers, rain gauges, or barometers existed. Where do we get climate record information from the pre-instrument era?

All of them. Deep-sea and lake sediment cores. Pollen. Tree ring data.

If the greenhouse effect is natural, then why is today's climate change is considered a negative thing?

All of them. Humans have altered a natural process and exaggerated changes that might normally occur over millions of years. Abrupt changes to the climate system may have unintended outcomes that may pose challenges for societies, like more extreme weather, spread of diseases, a decline in marine life, or an alteration of ocean circulation patterns. A small increase in greenhouse gas concentration can have a large effect of increased warming.

A tipping point is the point at which small changes become significant enough to cause a larger, more critical change that can be abrupt, irreversible, and lead to cascading effects. Which of these is a mechanism that could lead to a climate tipping point?

All the options are correct. Arctic methane release. Disruption of the Indian and West African monsoon systems. Loss of Polar ice pack.

Ice cores are cylinders of ice drilled from ice sheets and glaciers. They are essentially frozen time capsules that allow scientists to reconstruct climate far into the past. Layers in ice cores correspond to years and seasons, with the youngest ice at the top and the oldest ice at the bottom of the core. What do ice cores provide that make them extremely helpful in paleoclimate reconstructions?

Annual information on direct measurements of atmospheric gas concentrations . Annual information on snowfall amounts. Annual information on oxygen isotope ratios. All of them.

What is the general relationship between precipitation events and climate change?

As temperature warms, more frequent heavy precipitation events are expected to occur.

What is responsible for global dimming?

Atmospheric aerosols.

The measure of the degree of variety of life in a given region is called:

Biodiversity .

What causes ocean acidification?

CO2 dissolved in ocean water.

Understanding our past is essential to understanding the future. Knowledge about the climate in the past is the key to understanding our future. Where do we get climate record information from the pre-instrument era?

Deep-sea and lake sediment cores. All of the above are correct. Bedrock. Pollen.

These rings can tell us how old the tree is, and what the weather was like during each year of the tree's life. How the study of past climates using specifically tree rings is referred?

Dendroclimatology.

In the paper named "Tree-ring reconstruction of the level of Great Salt Lake, USA, from DeRose et al.", one of the strongest findings on this paper is that PDO or similar Pacific Ocean teleconnections, unlikely to modulate the polarity of ENSO effects on precipitation delivery to northern Utah.

False

Why are glaciers are so important for the perception of a warming world?

Glaciers are sensitive to changes in temperature.

A scientific model is a physical and/or mathematical and/or conceptual representation of a system of ideas, events, or processes. The diagram of horizontal and vertical circulation patterns characteristic of the three-cell model is an example of which type of model?

Graphical.

What is most closely tied with advances of climate model accuracy?

Growing computational resources and capability.

Models have always been important in science and continue to be used to test hypotheses and predict information. To ensure numerical model output is better, scientists must: I. Reduce errors. II. Overcome uncertainty. III. Increase the size of grid cells

I and II.

What represents a natural positive feedback in the climate system? I. Ice-albedo feedback. II. Methane feedback. III. Soil moisture feedback.

I and II.

Is TRUE about deforestation: I. Slash and burn tactics increase the sources for atmospheric CO2. II. Greater negative feedback for climate change. III. Less forests reduce the sinks for atmospheric CO2.

I and III.

A numerical model is a combination of a large number of mathematical equations that depend upon computers to find an approximate solution to the underlying physical problem. Can be pointed as a parameterization in numerical modeling: I. A way to describe relationships that can't be explicitly described using an equation. II. A way to account for natural variability in the climate system. III. A way to account for the changing energy policy of society. IV. A way to describe processes that operate below the scales resolved by the model.

I and IV.

What happens when species migration cause population convergence?

Increases stress on the habitat.

Besides the Milankovitch cycles driving the observed changes of Earth's climate system during the glacial and interglacial periods, what another key factor is necessary to explain the magnitude of changes?

Internal natural feedbacks in the climate system.

An increase in the mean temperature of a statistical distribution results in:

Less cold extremes and more hot extremes.

Which of the following is NOT TRUE of Milankovitch cycles?

Milankovitch cycles affect the seasonal and latitudinal distribution of incoming solar energy. Milankovitch cycles result from variations in eccentricity of Earth's orbit around the sun, and the obliquity and precession of Earths' rotational axis. Milankovitch cycles work with greenhouse gases to enhance global warming in today's climate change. Milankovitch cycles did not result in ice ages millions of years ago due to the different oceanic and continental configurations between hemispheres compared to the recent geological past.

Milankovitch cycles include the shape of Earth's orbit (its eccentricity), the angle that Earth's axis is tilted with respect to Earth's orbital plane (its obliquity), and the direction that Earth's spin axis is pointed (its precession). Which of the following is not true of Milankovitch cycles?

Milankovitch cycles work with greenhouse gases to enhance global warming in today's climate change.

A scientific model is a physical and/or mathematical and/or conceptual representation of a system of ideas, events, or processes. The demonstration of the Coriolis effect by using a rotating tank of water and colored dye is an example of which type of model?

Physical.

Cooling the planet increases the natural sinks within the climate system acting to bind methane and reduce atmospheric concentrations that further cool the climate. This is characteristic of:

Positive feedback.

The definition of impact is one thing crashing into or having an effect on another. What is the most destructive* impact associated with a tropical cyclone? (*Not what kills the most people)

Storm surge.

How does the rate of today's warming compare to previous episodes of rapid climate change on Earth?

Today, the Earth's climate is changing much faster than it has changed in the past.

The process of adjustments to actual or expected climate and its effect is ________.

adaptation

What limits the accuracy of climate models?

all of the above- resolution of processes, inexact equations, rounding errors To assess the skill of the model to reproduce a known period of climate.

The global trend shows that the ice cover is

decreasing.

A warmer ocean holds ___________ oxygen.

less

An isotope is one of two or more species of atoms of a chemical element with the same atomic number and position in the periodic table and nearly identical chemical behavior but with different atomic masses and physical properties. Every chemical element has one or more isotopes. Isotopes are any of two or more forms of the same chemical element that have different numbers of _______

neutrons.

The _________is the period where climate proxies begin to increase their temporal resolution of climate variability.

pleistocene

Changes in the eccentricity of Earth's orbit affect:

the distance between the Sun and Earth at the perihelion and the aphelion.

Milankovitch cycles include the shape of Earth's orbit (its eccentricity), the angle that Earth's axis is tilted with respect to Earth's orbital plane (its obliquity), and the direction that Earth's spin axis is pointed (its precession). Changes in the eccentricity of Earth's orbit affect:

the distance between the Sun and Earth at the perihelion and the aphelion.