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Climate Change > Final > Flashcards

Final Flashcards

1
Q

The solid Earth is differentiated into layers. The density of oceanic crust is

A

greater than that of continental crust

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2
Q

The Hawaiian islands have been formed by a volcanic phenomenon known as a

A

stationary hotspot

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3
Q

What tectonic changes occurred in the LAST 50 MILLION YEARS?

A

Australia and South America both drifted away from Antarctica

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4
Q

What is true about the ITCZ?

A
  • In ITCZ, converging air rises and forms clouds
  • trade winds flow out of tropical regions converging into ITCZ
  • ITCZ is area of permanently low pressure
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5
Q

The primary reason the surface of Venus is much hotter than that of Earth is b/c Venus:

A

has much greater levels of CO2 in atmosphere than Earth does

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6
Q

largest reservoir of carbon in Earth’s system today

A

Earth’s crust

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7
Q

Which changes occur in a descending (sinking) parcel of air?

A

Air warms up adiabatically, no condensation occurs and no clouds form

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8
Q

What evidence did Alfred Wegener present to support his hypothesis of the continental drift in 1915?

A

similar shapes of widely separated continental margins

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9
Q

Why has Earth remained habitable throughout its history?

A

Chemical weathering of continental rocks both responds to and modifies level of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in atmosphere over geologic time scales

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10
Q

Many island arcs like the Aleutian Islands were formed when two tectonic plates interacted. Along what type of plate boundary do island arcs usually form?

A

oceanic-oceanic convergent plate boundary

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11
Q

Which type of tectonic plate boundary is likely to result in formation of deep ocean trench?

A

convergent with one oceanic and one continental plate colliding

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12
Q

As the temperature in a parcel of air goes up, its ability to hold water vapor:

A

increases exponentially

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13
Q

Negative Earth climate system feedbacks:

A

always suppress climate changes initially caused by external forcing

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14
Q

Why does chemical weathering occur faster in the Andes than in the Amazon Valley?

A

The Andes have more fresh rock exposed than do the Amazon lowlands

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15
Q

appropriate data archive for reconstructing what climate was like 100 MILLION YEARS AGO?

A

ocean sediment cores

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16
Q

What does the existence of ice sheets at tropical latitudes on all continents between 950 and 650 million years ago suggest?

A

Atmospheric CO2 concentrations were very low

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17
Q

fractionation

A

enrichment of oxygen heavier isotope O18 in ocean water as lighter oxygen isotope O16 is preferentially stored in snow and ice

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18
Q

Model simulations of climate on Pangaea indicate that the climate was likely one with:

A

very dry conditions in the tropical continental interior

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19
Q

What evidence is there for asteroid impact 66 million years ago?

A

Sediments containing grains of quartz w/ shock-produced texture (shock lamellae)

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20
Q

Gateway Hypothesis

A

suggests that separation of Antarctica from Australia and South America allowed ice sheets form on Antarctica

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21
Q

About how much would global sea level rise if all ice stored in Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets were returned to ocean?

A

65 meters

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22
Q

long-term effects (over millions of years) of the Chicxulub asteroid impact on climate include atmospheric:

A

There were no significant long-term effects on climate

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23
Q

The tectonic uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas:

A

resulted in increased rate of chemical weathering

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24
Q

What does climate modeling tell us about atmospheric CO2 concentrations above 1,000 ppm?

A

Large ice sheets cannot exist when CO2 concentrations are above 1,000 ppm

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25
Q

What may cause relative global sea level to rise?

A

thermal expansion of ocean water

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26
Q

The Himalayan Mountains were formed 55-45 million years ago b/c of a continental-continental

A

convergent plate boundary

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27
Q

formation of Isthmus of Panama 7-4 million years ago was the result of the Cocos Plate

A

subduction under the Caribbean Plate

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28
Q

The Arabian Plate and the African Plate have been

A

diverging for tens of millions of years which resulted in formation of Red Sea

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29
Q

What kind of feedback does chemical weathering provide to the initial climate forcing?

A

negative

30
Q

What kind of feedback does albedo provide to the initial climate warming or cooling?

A

positive

31
Q

Summer monsoon is caused by

A

uneven heating of ocean vs. continental landmasses

32
Q

In summer monsoon, area of ____ pressure forms over ocean and area of ____ pressure forms of continent.
This results in high amount of rainfall in South Asia during the ____

A

high, low

winter

33
Q

CaSiO3 + H2O + CO2 ->

A

CaCo3 + SiO2 + H2O

34
Q

When is Earth closest to the Sun in its present orbit?

A

during the Northern Hemisphere’s winter

35
Q

precession of the equinoxes

A
  • causes solstices and equinoxes to move around Earth’s orbit.
  • has an average period of 23,000 years.
  • results from a wobble of Earth’s axis and a slow shift in the orbital ellipse axes.
36
Q

The orbital monsoon hypothesis predicts that

A

greater summer insolation intensifies the wet summer monsoon.

37
Q

Which isotopic transfer occurs during inter-glaciations?

A

O16-enriched water is transferred from the land to the ocean

38
Q

Why is there a phase lag between changes in insolation and changes in ice volume?

A

The response time of the ice sheet is about one quarter of the orbital cycle wavelength.

39
Q

Why do strongest monsoons occur in Northern Hemisphere rather than Southern Hemisphere today?

A

Landmasses are larger in the Northern Hemisphere.

40
Q

What is the correlation between the CO2 oscillations and changes in ice volume, as recorded in the
Antarctica Dome C ice cores over the last 800 thousand years?

A

CO2 is low when ice volume is high.

41
Q

According to Milankovitch theory, what season of insolation is most important in controlling the growth
and melting of ice sheets?

A

summer

42
Q

How are CH4 (methane) variations over the last 800,000 years as measured in ice cores linked to orbital changes in summer insolation?

A

They are linked to changes in the strength of the summer monsoons in tropical and subtropical regions.

43
Q

changes in the strength of the summer monsoons in tropical and subtropical regions.

A

20,000 years ago

44
Q

Where was C12-enriched organic matter ultimately transferred to during the Last Glacial Maximum?

A

the deep ocean

45
Q

Millennial oscillations of climate

A

may be the product of random behavior.

46
Q

How did the Tibetan plateau uplift affect the monsoons of South Asia over the last 30-40 million years?

A

Monsoon intensity in East and Southeast Asia increased since the Tibetan uplift.

47
Q

Younger Dryas

A
  • The cause of the Younger Dryas remains unexplained.
  • cold episode that interrupted the general interglacial warming.
  • named after an Alpine flowering plant.
  • occurred between 12,900 and 11,600 years ago.
48
Q

What conditions characterized the LGM?

A

The global sea level was 120 meters (360 feet) lower than today.

49
Q

δO18 changes over the last 2.75 million years show

A

a general cooling trend interrupted by interglacials.

50
Q

According to the geologic data, during which of the following times were North African lakes at their
highest levels? (* think of the North African monsoon)

A

11,500-7,500 years ago

51
Q

Approximately 11,500 years from today, the June 21 solstice position near perihelion will (increase
or decrease) __________________ Northern Hemisphere’s summer radiation

A

increase

52
Q

If the Earth’s axis was ______________________ (tilted, horizontal, vertical,
perpendicular, parallel, circular) in respect to the orbital plane, the length of every day would be the
same everywhere on Earth

A

perpendicular

53
Q

The orbital monsoon theory suggests that monsoonal strength is modified by a(an) _______ (41-thousand -year obliquity cycle, 100-thousand-year
eccentricity cycle, 23-thousand-year precessional cycle, seasonal change, rotation on Earth’s axis,
equatorial bulge, carbon dioxide concentration) due to the strong relationship between the monsoonal
circulation and _______ (decreased seasonal amplitude, increased
seasonal amplitude, cloud cover, volcanism, continental collisions).

A
  • 23-thousand-year precessional cycle

- increased seasonal amplitude

54
Q

What was the general climate trend during the early time of human evolution?

A

a general shift to dryer climates in Africa

55
Q

What is hypothesized to have occurred ~ 5,000 years ago that could turn the tropospheric CH4 (methane) trend toward a gradual increase?

A

the spread of rice irrigation in Asia

56
Q

What is the problem with the climatic explanation of the megafaunal extinction 12,500 years ago?

A

No comparable pulse of extinction occurred in any of the fifty earlier deglaciations.

57
Q

With present insolation and natural interglacial greenhouse gas (GHG) levels, what would be the state of glaciation in the Northern Hemisphere today?

A

year-round snow cover in northern parts of North America and Eurasia

58
Q

For about what fraction of Earth’s history have our species Homo Sapiens been present?

A

1/22,500 of Earth’s age

59
Q

The Little Ice Age:

A

occurred from about 1400 to 1900 CE.

60
Q

Which of the following characterizes average (non-El Nino) conditions in the Pacific Ocean?

A

strong trade winds pull surface water away from the shore causing upwelling at the American coast

61
Q

How do explosive volcanic eruptions affect climate?

A

They may result in a short-term cooling of the climate.

62
Q

The Medieval Warm Period (the Medieval Climatic Anomaly):

A

was marked by a significant drying of climate in North, Central, and South America

63
Q

About 10% of the warming observed since the end of the Little Ice Age can be explained by this natural factor

A

increase in solar irradiance after the Maunder Minimum

64
Q

What is happening today to Earth’s crust in areas that were underneath the ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum?

A

Bedrock is rising leading to rapid drop in relative sea level

65
Q

How much did sea level rise during the 20th century?

A

0.17 meters

66
Q

What accounts for the sea level rise in the 20th century?

A
  • melting of land-based ice

- thermal expansion of sea water

67
Q

The water extracted from the ocean and locked in glaciers during the Last Glacial Maximum:

A

was equivalent to the layer of ocean water of about 125meters thick.

68
Q

Why does coal, primarily used for electricity production,still remain attractive for many local communities despite its well-known adverse environmental effects?

A

Local coal is much cheaper for power production than petroleum or gas.

69
Q

What is a major disadvantage of geothermal power?

A

It is highly localized and most often can be produced only in the zones of active volcanism.

70
Q

What region has the greatest potential to harvest solar power based on the amount of incoming solar radiation?

A

Sub-Saharan Africa

71
Q

Which does not necessarily indicate that the climate has been warming?

A

Air temperature in downtowns of major cities is 3° to 4°C higher than in the surrounding farmlands.

72
Q

The areas south of the former ice sheets(New England, Northern Germany, France) have been recording an unusually rapid sea level rise because of

A

sinking due to the peripheral forebulge collapse

Climate Change (7 decks)

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