climate change

Question 1

1. What is the most likely cause of current climate change?

Answer 1

increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases ( or human activity )

Question 2

2. What was the suspected cause of past climate changes like the ice ages that have occurred

Answer 2

variation in the amount of solar radiation received

Question 3

3. Give an example of how changes to photosynthesis may affect living organisms.

Answer 3

it could reduce the productivity

Question 4

4. What is albedo? How does it affect rainfall?

Answer 4

it is the reflexion of light, it affect the amount of solar energy absorbed by the surface. for example, more albedo= cooler surface so less rainfall

Question 5

5. What are the most important greenhouse gases? What do they do with respect to global
   temperatures?

Answer 5

carbon dioxide, methane, water vapour and nitrous oxide

Question 6

6. What is meant by “radiative forcing”?

Answer 6

a measure of how the energy balance in the earths atmosphere

Question 7

7. Which is the most important greenhouse gas with respect to human actions? What human action is
   the most responsible for its increase in the atmosphere? Where have these emissions come from?

Answer 7

carbon dioxide, the burning of fossil fuel are the cause

Question 8

8. What actions have led to an increase in methane concentrations?

Answer 8

industrialization and increase in food supply

Question 9

9. According to the evidence, how much has the earth’s temperature warmed in the years between
   1906 and 2005?

Answer 9

about 0.85c

Question 10

10. Most of the warming over the past 150 years or so has occurred since________.

Answer 10

14-15 years

Question 11

12. Highly___________regions appear to be warming at a slower rate than less_____________
    regions. How can this be explained?

Answer 11

Industrialized and industrialized possibly due to the atmospheric and oceanic circulation

Question 12

13. What is the IPCC? How has its position on warming changed since it’s first report in the 1990s?

Answer 12

intergovernmental panel on climate change ( IPCC ) is an international body of scientists set to look at issues of climate change. they said that global warming is normal but now the human impact is too great.

Question 13

14. What are AOGCMs?What factors affect their use as predictive tools?

Answer 13

GCM ( general circulation models ) predict conditions of a warmer planet. it is very costly and the results are approximate

Question 14

15. How might climate change be positive for some human activities?

Answer 14

more rainfall in some places, more fertile days for farmers

Question 15

16. How might the hydrological system be affected?

Answer 15

more water in the atmosphere so dry places will be more dry and wet places more wet, less rainfall and more flood

Question 16

17. What will the effects in northern regions? Explain the positive feed back we can expect in this region

Answer 16

more growing seasons and less ice in water so better transportation

Question 17

18. What are the implications for marine environments?

Answer 17

more iceberg, less hard ice for animals and flood

Question 18

19. What are SIDS? How will they be affected by climate change?

Answer 18

Small island developing states, they will be affected by sea level that rises

Question 19

20. What are the policy responses to climate change?

Answer 19

migration and adaptation

Question 20

21. How could climate change be considered a“global scale environmental justice”issue?

Answer 20

if all countries would actually be a problem

Question 21

22. What undermined the effectiveness of the Kyoto agreement?

Answer 21

the inability to enforce target and timetables

Question 22

23. What is emissions trading?

Answer 22

trading of emissions between countries

Question 23

24. How will our energy future play an important role in future climate change?

Answer 23

every use of energy will be multiple with pop growth