EPS 7 - Midterm 2
The IPCC stands for
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
What is the modern estimate for the likely range of Earth's climate sensitivity?
1.5 to 4.5k
Roughly at what rate are the ocean and plants absorbing CO2 at present?
5 GtC/year
Who is credited with postulating the existence of a green house effect and thereby kicking off the field of climate science?
Joseph Fourier
A negative perturbation
is a decrease in the stock from its steady-state level
What type of cloud is this?
see HW 7
What best describes the atmospheric greenhouse effect?
the atmosphere lets shortwave pass through but greenhouse gases readily absorb longwave
Aerosol spray cans are responsible for how much radiative forcing?
0 W/m2
In a business-as-usual scenario, what is a likely concentration of atmospheric CO2 in the year 2100?
1000 ppm
When was the universe formed?
14 Gya
In what decade did measurements on Mauna Loa first document rising concentrations of CO2?
1960s
By how much have Berkeley's warm-season maximum temperatures increased over the past 125 years?
2 K
Coal is
fossilized peat
What is parallel computing?
solving a single problem on multiple computers at the same time
As the Earth cools, the atmosphere holds ____ water vapor and that tends to cause the atmosphere to emit ____ radiation to space.
"less" and "more"
For climate studies, what are the two most important instruments inside a Stevenson enclosure?
min-temperature and max-temperature thermometers
What is another way to write 300 Mya?
0.3 Gya
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?
0.5m ( Forcing / |feedback parameter| )
Including all soil depths, permafrost contains how much carbon?
1500 GtC
What is Earth's biggest negative feedback?
Planck feedback
Which of the following is not a leading source of anthropogenic methane emissions?
burning natural gas (fugitive natural gas, rice paddies, livestock are)
If humans burn 5000 GtC in a couple centuries, roughly what will the atmospheric concentration of CO2 be in the year 12017?
750 ppm
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 (Feedback parameter * height perturbation = net rate of inflow change)
Given Earth's feedback parameter of -1 W/m2/K, what is roughly its final temperature perturbation in response to a brightening of the Sun that leads to 9 W/m2 of extra solar absorption?
9 K ( |feedback parameter| * Temp = forcing )
What is a GtC?
A billion tons of carbon
What is an AMSU?
Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit
What is plankton?
Any collection of microscopic organisms that drift in the sea.
What is the empirical formula for coal?
C or CH
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 + 2H2O
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
Who is credited with alerting scientists to global warming by documenting the rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?
Dave Keeling
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−
Who is credited with alerting the public to global warming with his congressional testimony?
James Hansen
Who is credited with identifying the gases responsible for the greenhouse effect?
John Tyndall
When was most oil formed?
Jurassic period 150 Mya
Who created the cloud classification scheme that we still use today?
Luke Howard
What is the chemical formula for nitrous oxide?
N2O
Which of these is an example of a NOx?
NO2
Atmospheric CO2 decreases most rapidly in
Northern-Hemisphere summer
Respiration is best described by what chemical reaction?
O2 + CH2O → CO2 + H2O + photon
What is the chemical formula for ozone?
O3
Which of the following gases is transparent to longwave radiation?
Oxygen
What book is credited with kicking off the U.S. environmental movement in 1962?
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
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?
Tau = 1
How deep into a gas does the gas emit radiation like a solid surface?
Tau = 1
Which of the following federal agencies does not have its own climate model?
USPS (NOAA, DOE, NSF, NASA do)
The IPCC was founded by
WMO and UNEP
Roughly how much of the recoverable coal have humans used?
a few percent
What is an acid?
a molecule that adds H+ ions to water
Methane clathrate is
a water-ice lattice that encases methane molecules
What is the primary source of anthropogenic nitrous oxide?
agriculture
The active layer is
all of the other answers (flammable, white, cold)
What motivated the formation of the International Meteorological Organization, later renamed the World Meteorological Organization, in the 1800s?
all of the other answers (large size of storms compared to European countries, invention of the telegraph, a desire to make weather forecasts)
The purpose of a Stevenson screen is to
all of the other answers (reflect away sunlight, provide a ventilated enclosure, provide shade)
Which of the following is required for forming ozone in smog?
all of the other answers (volatile organic compounds, sunlight, NOx)
With the exception of high-energy nuclear reactions, which of the following is always conserved?
all the other answers (energy, mass, momentum)
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
What is HCO3−?
bicarbonate ion
What is CaCO3?
calcium carbonate
Which of the following gases is relatively opaque to longwave radiation?
carbon dioxide
What is CO3−−?
carbonate ion
What is H2CO3?
carbonic acid
Climate sensitivity is the
change in temperature for a doubling of CO2
What do we call a fundamental law of physics that says that stuff is neither created nor destroyed?
conservation law
If the Earth suddenly becomes warmer than its steady-state temperature, the Planck feedback tends to make the Earth
cooler
What is the most certain way to date glacial ice?
counting layers
The acidified ocean is returned to its original pH by
dissolution of calcium carbonate
Halocarbons are still found in aerosol spray cans.
false
Natural gas is
fossilized plankton
Oil is
fossilized plankton
Which way do storms move in the continental United States?
from west to east
What is the sky blue?
gas molecules scatter short wavelengths more than long wavelengths
Overall, the land surface and the top layers of soil tend to ____ with warming.
get drier
Roughly how much of the recoverable oil have humans used?
half
The higher the k and/or ρ of some gas in the atmosphere, the ______ the effective height of emission to space.
higher
What is H+?
hydrogen ion
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
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 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
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 τ=1 level
Which of the following is not a positive feedback?
lapse-rate feedback (cloud albedo feedback, water-vapor feedback, ice albedo feedback are positive feedback)
Which of the following is not one of the primary pieces of evidence for global warming?
lunar brightness records
An extra molecule of CH4 in the atmosphere causes an extra molecule of CO2 in the atmosphere.
more warming than
Which of the following is not a greenhouse gas?
nitrogen (methane, carbon dioxide and water vapor are)
Which of the following is a violation of conservation of energy?
none of the other answers (car races, ball falls, tree grows)
Which of the following is a violation of conservation of momentum?
none of the other answers (tree grows, ball falls, car races)
Which of the following is a violation of conservation of mass?
none of the other answers (tree grows, car races, ball falls)
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
What does optically thick mean?
opaque
Small optical depth τ ≪ 1 corresponds to being
optically thin
Large optical depth τ ≫ 1 corresponds to being
optically think
Why is the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere decreasing?
oxygen is being reacted with carbon to make carbon dioxide
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
What kind of orbit do most AMSUs fly?
polar
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
What is peat
soggy swamp soil
Permafrost is
soil that is frozen all year long
What is serial computing?
solving a single problem on a single computer
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
The objective of the IPCC assessment reports is to
summarize the state of climate science
January is during the Southern Hemisphere's
summer
What causes the seasons?
the Earth's axis of rotation is tilted with respect to Earth's orbital plane
The optical depth (tau) for some path of light through a gas depends on
the density of p of gas, the length delta(z) of the light path, a constant k describing how readily the gas tends to absorb or scatter radiation
Why does burning fossil fuels cause global warming?
the extra atmospheric CO2 lifts the τ=1 layer to a colder level in the atmosphere
The timescale for a process is
the time it takes for the process to be mostly done
Halocarbons were initially phased out by international law because
they generated the ozone hole
What does optically thin mean?
transparent
Studies of boreholes reveal that these layers of the ground are warmer than they would be in the absence of global warming.
upper layers
If the Earth suddenly becomes cooler than its steady-state temperature, the Planck feedback tends to make the Earth
warmer
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
What is acidic water?
water with a high concentration of H+ ions
What is the Earth's biggest positive feedback?
water-vapor feedback
What color are clouds as seen from space?
white because water drops and ice scatter all wavelengths
When the Northern Hemisphere is in summer, the Southern Hemisphere is in
winter
As the Earth warms, the atmosphere holds ____ water vapor and that tends to cause the Earth to emit ____ radiation to space.
"more" and "less"
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 (Feedback parameter * height perturbation = net rate of inflow change)
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 (Forcing / |feedback parameter| )
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 (Feedback parameter * height perturbation = net rate of inflow change)
Borehole paleothermometry reveals a mean global ground-temperature increase over the past ~100 years of
1 K
Ocean acidification puts 60% of the carbon burned by humans into the ocean on a timescale of
1 thousand years
Taken altogether, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and halocarbons are responsible for how much radiative forcing?
1.0 W/m2
Roughly at what rate are fossil fuels being burned today?
10 GtC/year
The acidified ocean is returned to its original pH on a timescale of
10 thousand 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
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
What is the likely amount of carbon contained in methane clathrates?
1000-10000 GtC
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 what year was the greenhouse effect postulated, thereby initiating the field of climate science?
1824
The first prediction of global warming was made in what year?
1896
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
What is the current radiative forcing from the extra CO2 that is currently in the atmosphere?
2 W/m2
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
What is roughly the per-capita consumption of oil in the United States?
20 barrels/year
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
What was the preindustral concentration of carbon dioxide?
280 ppm
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 W/m2/K, what is roughly its final temperature perturbation in response to a doubling of CO2, which causes a forcing of 3 W/m2?
3 K ( |feedback parameter| * Temp = forcing )
What is 3 Gya?
3 billion years ago
What is roughly the per-capita consumption of coal in the United States?
3 tons/year
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?
300k (Distance * Lapse rate) + temeprature
On planet Cruftulon, 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
What is the modern best estimate of Earth's climate sensitivity?
3k
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
How much fossil fuel have humans burned?
400 GtC
What is the current concentration of atmospheric CO2?
400 ppm
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
If the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere increases by 100 GtC, roughly how much does the concentration of CO2 increase?
50 ppm
How many GtC were there in the preindustrial atmosphere?
600 GtC
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?
7 K
