Chapter 15: Climate Systems and Climate Change

Earth's atmosphere ______.

protects life from radiation

redistributes water

retains heat from the Sun

The difference between weather and climate is mainly that ______.

weather is short-lasting and local; climate involves long-term patterns

The most common gas in the atmosphere is _____.

Nitrogen

Albedo is an important factor in climate dynamics. Another word for albedo is ______.

reflectivity

The greenhouse effect is the process in which the atmosphere retains long-wave radiation emitted from _____.

Earth

What keeps our atmosphere close to the Earth, rather than drifting off into space?

Gravity

Why are ocean currents important in modifying regional climates?

Ocean currents redistribute heat from low latitudes to high latitudes.

Choose the descriptions that pertain to weather rather than to climate.

Precipitation resulting from circulation in the atmosphere

Storms (short-term precipitation and temperature change)

Temporary variations in temperature

Which of the following types of data used to reconstruct ancient climates provides us with the longest look back into how atmospheric temperatures have changed over time?

Air bubbles in ice cores

Choose the two most common gases in the atmosphere.

Oxygen

Nitrogen

Extremely cool coastal waters occurring along the west coast of Central America and parts of the east coasts of North and South America between El Niño events are components of a weather pattern called La_____ (or "the little girl").

nina

Rank the following surfaces in order of decreasing albedo, with the answer with the most albedo at the top and the least at the bottom.

Fresh Snow

White Sand

Green Forest

Black Soil

The Keeling curve shows atmospheric _____dioxide levels have been increasing since the 1950s, contributing to an amplified greenhouse effect and global warming.

carbon

The greenhouse effect refers to the fact that certain gases in the atmosphere, such as methane, ______.

capture and retain some energy in the atmosphere

The foggy and cool conditions in San Francisco Bay are just one example of how important ______ are in influencing climate on land.

ocean currents

Ice cores tell us about ancient climates because ______.

air bubbles contain tiny samples of the ancient atmosphere

Greenhouse gases make up ______% of the atmosphere.

<0.1

The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the cycle between El Niño conditions and the extremely cool coastal waters during the pattern called ______.

La Niña

Which statement best describes how greenhouse gas emissions changed between 1970 and 2010?

The emissions of CO2, CH4, N2O, and fluorine all increased.

The ______ curve is a measurement of atmospheric carbon dioxide that began in the 1950s at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. It is one of the first indications that CO2 has been steadily increasing since that time.

Keeling

The melting of permafrost could act as a(n) _____feedback to climate change as it will add more carbon dioxide and_____ to the atmosphere.

positive; methane

Which of the following describe climate models and how we best use them?

They help demonstrate cause and effect.

We include both natural and human variables.

______ is an effect of climate change.

Melting of Arctic sea ice and ice shelves in Antarctica

Acidification of the ocean

Bleaching of coral reefs

Increased sea level

What phrase best describes the relative amount of greenhouse gases (%) in the atmosphere?

Low

How much did CO2 emissions from fossil fuels change between 1970 and 2010?

Doubled from about 15 to 30 Gt

The costs of reducing greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to be ______ of global gross domestic product (GDP).

about 1 percent

Melting of polar ice represents a positive feedback in climate warming because ______.

open water has a lower albedo than ice, increasing heat storage

Rising sea level will affect millions of people because ______.

most of the largest cities are on coasts

Scientists commonly use computer climate_____ to understand how systems worked in the past, and then project that information to predict possible future outcomes using both natural and human variables.

models

All of the following are effects we have already seen as a result of climate change, except ______.

thickening of the Arctic sea ice

The _____Protocol is the most well-known global agreement to control climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. (Use only one word per blank.)

kyoto

Which of the following are major points included in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement?

Currently carbon reduction plans need to be revised.

Financing low-carbon development in emerging countries is necessary.

Each country's emissions reduction goals, and their progress toward them, must be publicly available.

Economists (as in the case of the Stern report) calculate that the financial cost of acting now to reduce climate change will be ______.

far less than the cost of doing nothing

Recent estimates show that the United States could provide 80% of their energy needs with renewables by ______.

2030

By 2050, sea level rise is expected to greatly reduce the extent of which of these areas?

Southern Florida

Bangladesh

The Bahamas

The ______ Protocol is an international treaty with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Kyoto

The 2015 _____Climate Agreement involved 195 countries agreeing on revising their current carbon emission reduction plans and having _____carbon emissions as their global goal.

paris; 0

Not only is the United States capable of creating all their energy needs with renewables by 2050, this transition would ______ in other areas including health care, employment, and weather-related losses.

save each person an average of $10,000 annually