Climate Change exam 1

Approximately how much would global sea level rise if all of the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean melted?

0 feet

When was the greenhouse effect discovered?

1820s

Doubling atmospheric CO2 levels by itself (i.e., only considering its direct effect) would cause the planet to warm by roughly how much?

1°C

How much will doubling atmospheric CO2 likely change global temperature (i.e., "climate sensitivity")?

2.5-4°C warmer

Approximately how much would global sea level rise if all of the ice on the planet melted?

200 feet

Roughly how large is a 1˚C warming in Fahrenheit?

2˚F

If you took away the atmosphere's greenhouse effect, Earth would be ________________.

50 to 60°F colder

Which map correctly displays wind patterns on the Earth? (notice that all have the same, correct atmospheric pressure patterns; only the wind directions differ)

A

Which sets up the conditions for cold Arctic air to spill south over the US east coast in winter?

A wavy jet stream

Which does not affect global average temperature (i.e., the global energy balance)?

Atmospheric circulation

Which graph shows a system with a reversible tipping point?

B

Which is true about how the carbon cycle worked in the centuries before humans started emitting carbon (i.e., before the Industrial Revolution)?

Carbon flows between different reservoirs were in balance, so the level of CO2 in the atmosphere was stable

Which is true?

Clouds and rain tend to form where air rises

What does Myles Allen argue is best way to stop climate change in his TED talk "Fossil fuel companies know how to stop global warming. Why don't they?"?

Dispose of CO2 by sequestering it underground

Which of the following statements does "Climate Hustle" agree with?

Earth's climate is an incredibly complicated system to understand

"Before the Flood" says that the 2015 Paris climate agreement included a global carbon tax, which will ensure that every country reduces their emissions as much as pledged.

False

"Climate Hustle" agrees that carbon emissions are driving global warming and sea level rise at alarming rates, but it argues that we will be able to adapt to whatever changes they bring.

False

According to "Before the Flood", chicken is a larger source of greenhouse gas emissions than beef.

False

Emma Marris says in "Inevitable planetary doom has been exaggerated" that Earth is now most of the way through its sixth mass extinction and 60% of species have been wiped out in the past century.

False

Greta Thunberg's TED talk "The disarming case to act right now on climate change" focuses on the importance of kids not skipping school and studying science so that they can start working on solutions to the climate problem when they become leaders in several decades.

False

Greta Thunberg's TED talk argues that society is demoralized from too much focus on the climate crisis, and that the most important first step is to make people feel hopeful by giving them pep-talks full of positive ideas.

False

Katherine Hayhoe says in her article "Why hope and optimism are crucial for fighting climate change" that she is optimistic because the majority of people report frequently talking about climate change.

False

What would happen to the salinity of the North Atlantic and the strength of the deep ocean conveyor belt if western North America was covered by flat plains instead of the Rocky Mountains?

Fresher North Atlantic and weaker conveyor circulation

Approximately how much of our CO2 emissions has nature absorbed from the atmosphere?

Half of it

Which is the largest potential contributor to sea level rise?

Ice sheets

How does CO2 warm the planet?

It absorbs earth's outgoing radiation and re-emits it back toward the surface

How much has global sea level changed over the past century?

It has risen 8 inches

Which is NOT part of how "Climate Hustle" characterizes atmospheric CO2?

It is currently near the highest levels it has been in Earth history

Why is the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica thought to be especially vulnerable to climate change?

It sits on land beneath sea level that slopes inward toward the center of the ice sheet

How much would sea level rise around Greenland if the Greenland Ice Sheet melted?

Less than the global average

For gas molecules to absorb infrared radiation, they need to have their electric charge be _____________________.

Lopsided toward one side of the molecule

Which of the following is an example of a climate feedback?

Melting glaciers delivering freshwater to the North Atlantic and slowing the deep ocean conveyor belt circulation Thawing Arctic soils releasing greenhouse gases to the atmosphere Melting sea ice increasing absorption of solar radiation Warmer temperatures allowing insect populations to rise and kill carbon-absorbing forests

What is the current status of Earth's energy balance?

Satellites and ocean warming both confirm that more energy is coming into the climate system than escaping it out to space

Where has a "cold blob" been observed in recent years, suggesting the global ocean conveyor belt may be weakening?

The North Atlantic

What is the initial trigger at the end of an ice age?

The earth's orbit changes causing stronger Arctic sunlight to melt ice sheets

Which emits radiation with the shortest wavelengths?

The hotter blue center of a flame

Which of the following does NOT vary in sync with the growth and decay of Arctic ice sheets over ice age cycles?

The intensity of summer sunlight in the Southern Hemisphere

What barriers to action on climate change does Ted Halstead suggest his carbon dividend plan would help overcome in his TED talk "A climate solution where all sides can win"?

The psychological barrier because most citizens would benefit financially. The partisan barrier because regulations could be reduced, which would draw Republican support. The geopolitical barrier because it would give other countries a reason to enact their own carbon dividend plan and cause a domino effect

What would happen to the atmospheric wind belts if the planet spun backwards?

The winds would reverse

Which of the following is NOT true about climate tipping points?

They can be precisely predicted

The poles have larger year-to-year unforced variability than the tropics. If both experience the same rate of forced climate warming, where would you expect this warming trend to be detectable first?

Tropics

"Before the Flood" shows the city of Miami elevating roads and installing pumps to deal with sea level rise.

True

"Climate Hustle" suggests that activists blame climate change for any sort of unusual weather, whether heat waves and droughts or cold snaps and snowstorms.

True

"Climate Hustle" suggests that numerous scientists who once believed in human-caused climate change no longer do.

True

"Climate Hustle" suggests that scientists during the 1970s warned of global cooling.

True

According to "Before the Flood", scientists have known about global warming for over half a century.

True

Rebecca Henderson's TED talk "To save the climate, we have to reimagine capitalism" argues that a major reason for climate change is that fossil fuel prices do not reflect their full costs to society.

True

Ted Halstead argues that the best way to deal with climate change in his TED talk "A climate solution where all sides can win" is to put a rising tax on carbon and return all of the money raised equally to every citizen.

True

The Economist article "The climate issue" argues that while climate change is a major problem that markets have so far done little to solve, the right response is not to overturn capitalism, but rather to steer its strengths to the tasks of helping people adapt to climate change and reducing emissions through innovation.

True

Thomas Friedman says in his NYT column "The climate summit has me very energized, and very afraid" that for the first time at a UN climate summit, the adult delegates in the conference halls were the most afraid of young climate activists protesting outside in the streets.

True

Where has >90% of the heat gained due to Earth's energy imbalance gone over the past 50 years?

Warming the oceans

The Arctic is warming faster than the tropics, reducing the pole-to-equator temperature difference. What should this tend to do to atmospheric circulation?

Weaken it

Will chemical weathering of rocks remove the CO2 humans have emitted to the atmosphere?

Yes, but only after many thousands of years because it is a very slow process

Feedbacks in the climate system tend to __________________ the direct warming from rising greenhouse gases.

amplify

The whole world likely warms up and cools down over the Ice Ages together because of _________________________.

changes in atmospheric CO2 concentrations

Which contains the most carbon?

deep ocean

A tipping point is called that because a system always tips abruptly once the threshold point is crossed

false

Climate only varies if it is pushed by an external forcing.

false

The largest driver of year-to-year temperature variability at any given location is usually an external forcing, such as the steadily rising concentration of atmospheric CO2.

false

There had NOT been abrupt changes in Earth's climate until today.

false

There is no way to compare how much different kinds of forcings affect the climate because they are in different units (e.g., CO2 concentrations are in parts per million, forest cover is in square miles, solar output is in watts, etc.), so one cannot do an "apples to apples" comparison between them.

false

What is the major source of uncertainty in predicting how much global warming will occur due to doubling atmospheric CO2 levels?

how much feedback loops will amplify or diminish the initial warming from CO2

Let's say Earth's climate sensitivity is 3°C. If CO2 concentrations reach twice their preindustrial level in 2050, how much warmer will global temperature be that year?

less than 3°C

Where are the surface and deep ocean best connected (i.e., able to move water vertically)?

the poles due to the cold surface waters

If the atmosphere and ocean stopped circulating __________________.

the tropics would be warmer and the poles would be colder

The atmosphere is mostly _______________________to solar radiation and _____________________ to Earth's radiation.

transparent, opaque

Arctic permafrost thaw and carbon release is an example of an irreversible tipping point.

true

Climate could continue changing all on its own even after humans stop emitting greenhouse gases due to feedback loops.

true

If human fossil fuel emissions continue at the current rate throughout this century, atmospheric CO2 concentrations during the rest of your life will never be as low as they are today.

true

Internal variability within the climate system is organized into recurring patterns or modes.

true

Some tipping points may be temporarily crossed without causing the system to jump to a new state if the forcing is turned back down quickly enough.

true

The atmospheric CO2 concentration is currently higher than it has been for at least 800,000 years.

true

The climate will always vary even if no external forcing is driving it.

true

The global temperature record shows numerous 5 or 10-year intervals of stable or declining temperatures over the past half century.

true

The longer you observe the climate, the more confident you can be if there is a trend in it.

true

The tiniest error in estimating what part of the atmosphere is doing right now could lead to a completely different forecast of what the weather might be in a couple weeks due to chaos.

true

There are thought to be many tipping points throughout the climate system, including the ocean, the ice, and the land, and from the poles to the tropics.

true

Water vapor is a key greenhouse gas, but it cannot force the climate to change, it can only amplify an already ongoing climate change as a feedback.

true

If the deep ocean conveyor belt stopped circulating (i.e., surface waters stopped sinking into the depths of the ocean), global surface temperature would ___________________.

warm even faster

Over what time scale does internal climate variability occur?

years several years decades