Exam (elaborations)
ES 200 Final Exam Study Guide Solutions
ES 200 Final Exam Study Guide Solutions
he average temperature and average precipitation over a 30-year period are used to define a region's: -
ANSWER-climate
A major source of climate change assessments is the IPCC whose full name is: - ANSWER-
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
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ES 200 Final Exam Study Guide Solutions
he average temperature and average precipitation over a 30-year period are used to define a region's: -
ANSWER✔✔-climate
A major source of climate change assessments is the IPCC whose full name is: - ANSWER✔✔-
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
When moist air hits a mountain it rises, cools, and drops its moisture as rain on one side of the
mountain. As the air moves over the mountain, the area it passes over will get less rain over time than
the other side of the mountain. This phenomenon is called the: - ANSWER✔✔-rain shadow effect
The isotopes of oxygen differ in the number of _____________ in their nucleus. - ANSWER✔✔-neutrons
Reliable records of air temperature measurements go back about 200 years. To estimate temperatures
older than 200 years we have to use proxies that allow us to estimate temperature from them. Examples
of proxies include stomata in fossil leaves and tree rings. - ANSWER✔✔-True
Oxygen isotopes are used to estimate temperatures of the past. The ratio of 18O to 16O (18O/16O) is
measured as a proxy for temperature. During colder periods the ratio of 18O/16O in ocean water is
larger than in warmer periods because: - ANSWER✔✔-More 16O in water is locked up in ice on land.
Approximately 200 to 300 million years ago the Earth's average temperature was thought to be over 10
oC warmer than today's. Mass extinctions occurred. One theory for the warmer temperature is that the
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atmosphere held high concentrations of CO2 gas. The source for this gas was: - ANSWER✔✔-volcanic
eruptions that spilled lava over a massive area over a 1 million-year period.
When the Earth's temperature was 10 oC warmer than today's temperature, CO2 concentrations in the
atmosphere were probably over twice the levels they are today. These large quantities of CO2 were
slowly removed from the atmosphere, cooling the earth, by: - ANSWER✔✔-rock weathering reactions
which took the CO2 out of the atmosphere and stored it in limestone bedrock containing CaCO3.
Temperature anomalies are used to summarize temperature data from around the world. Anomalies are
calculated for individual weather stations on a given day by subtracting the temperature on that day
from: - ANSWER✔✔-a baseline of average temperature determined over a number of years from the
same station.
Temperature anomalies are used because temperatures at individual stations in a region may not be
representative of the temperatures in a whole region, but the changes over time at that station are likely
to track the changes throughout the region. - ANSWER✔✔-True
El Nino events occur periodically when the winds blowing westward across the ocean have become
weaker or changed direction. When these events occur the water off the west coast of South America
becomes _______________. - ANSWER✔✔-warmer
Sea level is rising as global temperatures rise. The causes of sea level rise include the melting of ice
sheets as well as glaciers. Another and potentially larger cause of sea level rise is: - ANSWER✔✔-water
expands on warming
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The sun emits radiation in the visible range while the Earth emits radiation in the infrared range. This is
because: - ANSWER✔✔-the sun is hotter than the earth
Wein's Law states that warmer bodies give off radiation at longer wavelengths than cooler bodies. -
ANSWER✔✔-False
The Stefan-Boltzman Law says that: - ANSWER✔✔-warmer bodies give off more radiation (more Wm-2)
than colder bodies.
Greenhouse gases contribute to global warming because they: - ANSWER✔✔-absorb and re-emit
infrared radiation
Which of the following include major greenhouse gases? - ANSWER✔✔-water vapor, methane, nitrous
oxide
Energy balance models of the Earth have shown that the amount of incoming energy from the sun is
slightly greater than the amount of energy re-emitted back into space. As a result the Earth is warming.
Where is most of the excess energy being stored? - ANSWER✔✔-ocean
The Earth's surface receives from the sun approximately 161 Wm^-2 of radiation. It also receives an
amount of radiation from the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The amount of radiation from the
greenhouse gases that is emitted back to the earth's surface is approximately: - ANSWER✔✔-342 Wm^-2
Where in the atmosphere are most greenhouse gases found? - ANSWER✔✔-Troposphere (approximately
0-6 miles)
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Climate forcing agents are things that can cause Earth's temperature change. Some forcing agents cause
the Earth to warm by absorbing radiation and re-emitting it. Other forcing agents cause Earth's
temperature to cool. Which of the following cause Earth's temperature to cool when they are in the
atmosphere? - ANSWER✔✔-Sulphuric acid, nitric acid, volcanic particles ejected during eruptions
Water vapor can be considered the strongest greenhouse gas because it aborbs more wavelengths of
light than any other gas. - ANSWER✔✔-true
Radiative forcing is a measure for how a given 'forcing agent' (e.g., greenhouse gas) has contributed to
global temperature rise from the year 1750 to today. Which of the following has the largest radiative
forcing value? - ANSWER✔✔-carbon dioxide
Radiative forcing agents that have negative values in Wm-2 would tend to lower temperatures on Earth. -
ANSWER✔✔-true
As the number of sun spots increases the amount of incoming radiation the Earth receives from the sun
also increases. - ANSWER✔✔-true
If a certain greenhouse gas has a radiative forcing value of 1 Wm-2, how much of a temperature change
could be attributed to this? [Hint: use the climate sensitivity parameter.] - ANSWER✔✔-Rise of 0.4 oC
As Earth's temperature rises, the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere increases. This causes more
infrared radiation from the earth to be absorbed by the vapor, and this also causes the temperature to
rise, leading to increasing amounts of water vapor in the atmosphere. This process is an example of: -
ANSWER✔✔-positive feedback loop
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