Deck 18: Global Climate

Question 1

California has set a target to become carbon-neutral by the year 2050.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Presently, glaciers cover ____ of Earth's surface.

A)less than 10 percent
B)less than 1 percent
C)more than 25 percent
D)approximately 15 percent
E)approximately 35 percent

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The average global surface air temperature since the late 1800s has risen by more than 8 degrees Celsius.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Throughout much of Earth's history, the global climate was probably much warmer than it is today.

Question 5

The most recent North American glaciers reached their maximum thickness and extent between about 26,000 and 20,000 years ago.

Question 6

A warm spell called the Bölling-Alleröd period occurred about 6,000 years ago.

Question 7

Thick sheets of ice advanced over North America as far south as New York as recently as ____.

A)year 1816 ("the year without a summer")
B)year 1550
C)18,000 to 22,000 years ago
D)1,000 to 2,000 years ago
E)2 million years ago

Question 8

Volcanic eruptions rich in sulfur tend to warm Earth's surface.

Question 9

Most of the recent global warming is due to an enhanced greenhouse effect caused by increasing levels of greenhouse gases, such as CO₂.

Question 10

A theory ascribing climatic changes to variations in Earth's orbit is the Theory of Plate Tectonics.

Question 11

Most of the ice on Earth is in the ____ ice sheets.

A)Greenland and Antarctic
B)Greenland and Arctic
C)alpine and Arctic
D)Siberian
E)North American

Question 12

Seasonally high tides, becoming more common in many areas as sea levels continue to rise along the U.S. East Coast, are known as ____.

A)nor'easters
B)nuisance flooding
C)coastal flooding
D)climatic flooding
E)easterlies

Question 13

Although we often think of sea level as being a fixed height around the world, it can actually vary by more than 30 cm (12 in.)based on natural processes.

Question 14

Climate models predict that, by the end of this century, increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases will result in an additional global warming that could be as much as several degrees Celsius.

Question 15

For the industrialized nations that participated in the Kyoto Protocol, emissions dropped by more than 22 percent from 1990 to 2012. Nevertheless, because of nonparticipating nations, the global total of greenhouse gas emissions actually increased by more than 25 percent over the same period.

Question 16

Changes in the circulation patterns of the ocean and atmosphere, which redistributes energy within the climate system, is an example of an external cause of climate change.

Question 17

As oceans cool, they remove more CO₂ from the atmosphere.

Question 18

Even a rise in global temperature of several degrees Celsius might be enough to raise sea level by ____ or more.

A)a centimeter
B)10 cm
C)1 m
D)10 m
E)20 m

Question 19

The water vapor-greenhouse feedback represents a positive feedback mechanism.

Question 20

As Earth rotates on its axis, it wobbles like a spinning top, and this wobble, is known as the eccentricity of Earth's axis.

Question 21

Throughout much of Earth's history, the global climate was probably ____ it is today.

A)much colder than
B)slightly cooler than
C)much warmer than
D)much wetter than
E)about the same as

Question 22

Glaciers form over land where temperatures are sufficiently low so that, during the course of a year, ____.

A)ice crystallization does not occur
B)snow will not accumulate
C)snow compaction does not occur
D)less snow falls than will melt
E)more snow falls than will melt

Question 23

If the Earth were in a cooling trend, which process below would most likely act as a positive feedback mechanism?

A)Increasing the snow cover around the Earth
B)Increasing the water vapor content of the air
C)Decreasing the amount of low stratified cloud cover around the globe
D)Increasing the carbon dioxide content of the air
E)Decreasing snow cover in middle and high latitudes

Question 24

Ice core data from Greenland reveal that rapid shifts in climate (from ice age conditions to a much warmer state)took place in as little as ____ over central Greenland around the end of the Younger Dryas.

A)100 years
B)10 years
C)1 year
D)1,000 years
E)4,000 years

Question 25

During the Little Ice Age, ____.

A)the climatic optimum occurred
B)the Bering land bridge formed
C)alpine glaciers grew in size and advanced
D)continental glaciers covered large portions of North America
E)sea level lowered by about 280 feet

Question 26

Over the Northern Hemisphere, the period from 1983 to 2012 was likely the warmest 30-year period of the last ____ years, according to the IPCC.

A)100
B)300
C)1,400
D)2,000
E)10,000

Question 27

The higher the ratio of oxygen-18 to oxygen-16 in the shells of organisms that lived in the sea during the geologic past, the ____ the climate at that time.

A)colder
B)warmer
C)wetter
D)drier
E)more humid

Question 28

Global temperatures probably have not varied by more than ____ during the past 10,000 years.

A)0.5 degree Celsius
B)1 degree Celsius
C)2 degrees Celsius
D)4 degrees Celsius
E)5 degrees Celsius

Question 29

The continental ice sheets over North America disappeared ____.

A)between about 9,000 and 6,000 years ago
B)approximately 14,700 years ago
C)about 2.5 million years ago
D)between about 5,000 and 4,000 years ago
E)about 1300 years ago

Question 30

In mid-2017, the United States announced its intention to withdraw from the ____ Agreement, a climate agreement that was introduced in 2015 and adopted by virtually every one of the world's nations.

A)Paris
B)Kyoto
C)London
D)Washington
E)Shanghai

Question 31

The greatest warming experienced over the globe in the last 100 years has occurred in ____.

A)Greenland and the mid-latitude continents in summer and fall
B)the United States in winter and spring
C)parts of Antarctica during the entire year
D)the arctic and over the mid-latitude continents in winter and spring
E)the oceans of the Southern Hemisphere and parts of Antarctica in spring and summer

Question 32

The most recent North American glaciers reached their maximum thickness and extent between about ____.

A)700 and 600 million years ago
B)65 and 55 million years ago
C)2.5 and 2 million years ago
D)50,000 and 45,000 years ago
E)26,000 and 20,000 years ago

Question 33

The Bering land bridge allowed human and animal migration to occur from _______________.

A)Africa to South America
B)Australia to Africa
C)South America to North America
D)Asia to North America
E)Africa to Antarctica

Question 34

The ____ represents a time about 12,000 years ago when northeastern North America and northern Europe reverted to glacial conditions.

A)Younger Dryas
B)Pleistocene epoch
C)mid-Holocene maximum
D)Bölling-Alleröd period
E)Medieval Climatic Optimum

Question 35

The water vapor-greenhouse feedback represents a ____ feedback mechanism.

A)neutral
B)positive
C)directional
D)negative
E)balanced

Question 36

A cause of external climate change is changes in ____.

A)incoming solar radiation
B)composition of the atmosphere
C)Earth's surface
D)All of these are correct.
E)None of these is correct.

Question 37

The study of annual growth rings of trees is known as _____________.

A)herbchronology
B)dendrochronology
C)paleoclimatology
D)sclerochronology
E)pollen in deep ice caves

Question 38

If Earth were in a warming trend, which of the processes below would most likely act as a negative feedback mechanism?

A)Increasing the water vapor content of the air
B)Increasing the snow cover around the Earth
C)Decreasing the amount of low stratified cloud cover around the globe
D)Increasing the carbon dioxide content of the air
E)Decreasing the snow cover in middle and high latitudes

Question 39

The Viking colony in Greenland perished during the ____.

A)Pleistocene epoch
B)climatic optimum
C)Little Ice Age
D)Younger Dryas
E)Bölling-Alleröd period

Question 40

Generally, the ____ the air when the snow fell, the richer the concentration of oxygen-16 in an ice core.

A)wetter
B)warmer
C)colder
D)drier
E)denser

Question 41

The Maunder Minimum refers to a time when ____.

A)Earth was in the middle of an ice age
B)the tilt of Earth's axis was less than it is now
C)Earth was closer to the Sun than it is now
D)few snowstorms occurred over the United States
E)there were fewer sunspots on the Sun

Question 42

Particles that reduce the amount of sunlight reaching Earth's surface tend to cause ____ of the surface air during the ____.

A)a net cooling; day
B)a net warming; night
C)less precipitation; day
D)less precipitation; night
E)greater humidity; day

Question 43

When an oceanic plate encounters a lighter continental plate, it responds by ____.

A)pulling carbon dioxide out of the air
B)forming mountains
C)releasing gases into the atmosphere
D)a process called subduction
E)lowering global surface temperatures

Question 44

When all of the Milankovitch cycles are taken into account, the present trend should be toward ____ over high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.

A)warmer winters
B)warmer springs
C)warmer summers
D)cooler summers
E)cooler winters

Question 45

Volcanoes that have the most impact on global climate seem to be those rich in ____.

A)nitrogen
B)water vapor
C)carbon dioxide
D)sulfur
E)oxygen

Question 46

The greater the ____ of Earth's orbit, the greater the variation in solar energy it receives between its closest and farthest approach to the Sun.

A)wobble
B)eccentricity
C)obliquity
D)tilt
E)precession

Question 47

Sunspots occur in cycles, with the number and size reaching a maximum approximately every ____ years.

A)5
B)7
C)11
D)18
E)25

Question 48

In the chemical weathering-CO₂ feedback, as chemical weathering increases, ____.

A)the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere stabilizes
B)the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere decreases
C)the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere increases
D)Earth's climate begins to warm
E)more water vapor evaporates from the oceans

Question 49

Everything else being equal, the more CO₂ in the atmosphere, the ____.

A)cooler the surface air
B)warmer the surface air
C)more cloud cover of Earth
D)greater the amount of precipitation
E)the more likely ice will form in polar regions

Question 50

If the number of sulfate aerosols inside a cloud should increase, the cloud would have to share its available moisture with the added nuclei, and ____ cloud droplets would be produced.

A)the same number, but larger
B)fewer, but larger
C)more, but larger
D)fewer, but smaller
E)more, but smaller

Question 51

Because of precession, 11,000 years from now, seasonal variations in the Northern Hemisphere should be ____ at present, and seasonal variations in the Southern Hemisphere should be ____ at present.

A)less than; less than
B)less than; greater than
C)greater than; the same as
D)greater than; less than
E)the same as; greater than

Question 52

The slow shifting of the continents and the ocean floors is explained by the ____.

A)Milankovitch theory
B)chemical weathering-CO₂ feedback
C)Theory of Plate Tectonics
D)Maunder minimum
E)greenhouse effect

Question 53

The atmospheric concentrations of which of the following greenhouse gases has been decreasing since the mid-1990s?

A)Chlorofluorocarbons
B)Nitrous oxide
C)Methane
D)Carbon dioxide
E)All of these are correct.

Question 54

Overall, the most prevalent greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is ____.

A)methane (CH₄)
B)nitrous oxide (N₂O)
C)chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
D)carbon dioxide (CO₂)
E)sulfur dioxide (SO₂)

Question 55

An infamous cold spell often linked to volcanic activity occurred during the year 1816, which has come to be known as ____.

A)the cold year
B)the Dark Ages
C)the Dreadful Year
D)the year without a summer
E)the year of crop failure

Question 56

The fact that we find glacial features near sea level in Africa today is explained by the ____.

A)Theory of Plate Tectonics
B)Milankovitch theory
C)precession of Earth's axis
D)eccentricity of Earth's orbit
E)changes in the obliquity of Earth's orbit

Question 57

The mayors of more than 1,000 towns and cities in the United States pledged to reduce the levels of carbon dioxide emissions in their municipalities below ____ levels.

A)year 1850
B)year 1900
C)year 1950
D)year 1990
E)year 2000

Question 58

____ may be the most important weather element in terms of the impact on humans.

A)Volcanoes
B)Temperature
C)Precipitation
D)Tornadoes
E)Clouds

Question 59

The average global surface air temperature since the since the late 1800s has risen by more than ____.

A)0.2 degree Celsius
B)0.4 degree Celsius
C)0.5 degree Celsius
D)0.8 degree Celsius
E)1.2 degrees Celsius

Question 60

The Sun's energy output, called brightness, varies by ____ with sunspot activity.

A)less than 1 percent
B)about 2 percent
C)about 5 percent
D)about 10 percent
E)more than 15 percent

Question 61

The most recent glacial period, called the ____________________, began about 2.5 million years ago.

Question 62

____________________ are huge magnetic storms on the Sun that show up as cooler (darker)regions on the Sun's surface.

Question 63

Warm periods that occur between glacial advances are referred to as ____________________.

Question 64

In an attempt to mitigate the impact humans have on the climate system, representatives from 160 countries met to work out a formal agreement, called the ____, to limit greenhouse gas emissions in industrialized nations.

A)Global Geoengineering Agreement
B)Canadian Protocol
C)International Solar and Wind Power Initiative
D)Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)Assessment
E)Kyoto Protocol

Question 65

Climate models estimate that average global sea level will rise by an additional ____ or more by the end of this century.

A)5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 in.)
B)20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 in.)
C)40 to 60 cm (16 to 24 in.)
D)70 to 90 cm (28 to 35 in.)
E)80 to 100 cm (31 to 40 in.)

Question 66

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), "extremely likely" means a probability of at least ____ percent.

A)25
B)50
C)75
D)95
E)100

Question 67

The basic premise of the ____________________ theory is that, as Earth travels through space, three separate cyclic movements combine to produce variations in the amount of solar energy that falls on Earth.

Question 68

When an oceanic plate encounters a lighter continental plate, it responds by diving under it in a process called ____________________.

Question 69

An example of a ____________________ mechanism is the snow-albedo feedback, in which an increase in global surface air temperature might cause snow and ice to melt in polar latitudes.

Question 70

The northern-latitude warm spell during the current interglacial period, or Holocene epoch, is sometimes called the ____________________.

Question 71

More than 90 percent of the energy trapped by increased greenhouse gases in recent decades has gone not into the atmosphere but into the ____.

A)cities
B)deserts
C)tropical rainforests
D)polar ice caps
E)ocean

Question 72

Changes in the composition of the atmosphere that cause the Earth's climate to change are one example of a(n)____________________ cause of climate change.

Question 73

The ____________________ ratios of calcium carbonate shells have provided information about the sequence of glacier advances.

Question 74

Climate scientists believe that most of the recent global warming is due to increasing levels of ____________________.

Question 75

The volcanic eruptions having the greatest impact on climate are those rich in ____________________ gases.

Question 76

The slow shifting of the continents and the ocean floors is explained in the widely accepted theory of ____________________.

Question 77

If global temperatures were to rise enough so that all of the world's glaciers melted, the average sea level would rise about ____________________ m.

Question 78

The ice began to retreat about 14,700 years ago as surface temperatures slowly rose, producing a(n)______ spell called the Bölling-Alleröd period.

Question 79

The use of global-scale technological fixes to counter climate change by either removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere or by changing the amount of sunlight that reaches Earth is called ____.

A)the Kyoto Protocol
B)geoengineering
C)radiative forcing
D)radiative equilibrium
E)plate tectonics

Question 80

Some of the oxygen in seawater is composed of 8 protons and ____________________ neutrons, giving it an atomic weight of 18.