Global Change 2

Is global warming spatially uniform across the planet, if not which hemisphere is warming more?

Northern hemisphere

How is sea ice different from land ice?

floating

In Thule, Greenland, which is typically warmer on an average day: the air or the ocean?

Air

What happens when sea ice melts and uncaps the ocean?

Heat release

Does melting sea ice directly cause sea level rise?

No

What is the total possible sea-level change between “Ice Age” and “Hot House” conditions?

~170 meters

What are the two broad ways sea level can change?

Land, ocean volume

Which factor contributes the largest share (45%) to ocean volume increase today?

Glaciers melting

What is the second largest contributor of sea-level rise?

Thermal expansion

On active continental margins, what process causes local sea level to fall?

Plates colliding

Why does the eastern U.S. coastline experience sea-level rise of 3–7 mm per year?

Land erosion

What does Tangier Island exemplify?

Danger of sea level rise

What is in the Northern latitudes causing the increase of warming there?

Sea ice

Most of frozen water (volume) is trapped in Greenland & Antarctica ice sheets, but it’s the __ __ __ that are melting more today

small mountain glaciers

In the ___ US: the land is rising faster then sea level so they do not struggle with sea level rise

Western

Global sea level rise: rate of change is ___ over time

increasing