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1 - ESS 111 || Human Caused Climate Change
1 - ESS 111 || Human Caused Climate Change
46
Environmental Studies
Undergraduate 1
11/20/2018

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Cards

Term
How long is the Sun Spot Cycle?
Definition
11 years
Term
What are the following?:

Changes in solar radiation output

Sun-Earth orbital changes

Change in land configuration

Changes in natural aerosols

Natural changes in greenhouse gases
Definition
Potential Sources Of Natural Caused Climate Change
Term
What are the following?:

Modification of Earth's Surface by Human Activity

Human sources of aerosols

Human sources of greenhouse gases
Definition
Potential sources of human-caused climate change
Term
What removes greenhouse gases from the atmosphere?
Definition
Sinks
Term
What adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere?
Definition
Sources
Term
What are large tracts of land cleared of trees?
Definition
Deforestation
Term
What are deforestation and desertification?
Definition
Land use changes
Term
What is the alteration of arid land surfaces that reduces natural vegetation?
Definition
Desertification
Term
What is the amount of aerosols in the air?
Definition
Turbidity
Term
What is the scattering and absorption of solar and infrared radiation?
Definition
Direct Effect of Aerosols On Climate
Term
What serves as cloud condensation nuclei affecting cloud development?
Definition
Indirect Effect of Aerosols On Climate
Term
What is the residence time of tropospheric aerosols?
Definition
A few decades
Term
What is the reduction of solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface due to absorption and backscattering of sunlight by human induced tropospheric aerosols?
Definition
Global Dimming
Term
What can increase stratospheric aerosols?
Definition
Volcanic Eruptions
Term
What can increase atmospheric albedo directly by increased aerosol backscatter and indirectly by increase in reflectivity of clouds?
Definition
Net Cooling
Term
What lead to Frankenstein?
Definition
The Eruption of Mt. Tambora and the year without a summer.
Term
When was the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo?
Definition
June 12 1991
Term
What is an increase in Earth's global temperatures?
Definition
Global Warming
Term
What keeps Earth's surface habitable?
Definition
Greenhouse Effect
Term
What causes net warming effects?
Definition
Longer wavelengths of heat energy, some trapped and some escaping.
Term
Which of the following is incoming heat energy?
Definition
Shorter Wavelength
Term
Which of the following is outgoing heat energy?
Definition
Longer Wavelength
Term
What is the reduction of solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface due to absorption and backscattering of sunlight by human-induced troposheric aerosols?
Definition
Global Dimming
Term
What is the most abundant/variable green house gas in the atmosphere, and accounts for 60% of the greenhouse effect?
Definition
Water Vapor
Term
What is a natural part of the atmosphere that has been greatly increased by humans burning fossil fuels?
Definition
CO2
Term
What is the second must abundant human-caused green-house gas, with greater warming power per molecule?
Definition
Methane
Term
What are some of the biggest contributors to the increase in methane in Earth's atmosphere?
Definition
Landfill decomposition and cattle.
Term
What is the primary way for looking back at the Pateoclimate record?
Definition
Ice Cores
Term
What are systems in which changes in one variable lead to changes in another?
Definition
Feedback Mechanisms
Term
What is a feedback that inhibits further change in a variable?
Definition
Negative Feedback
Term
What is feedback that helps further change in a variable occur?
Definition
Positive Feedback
Term
Describe why Ice Albedo Feedback is Positive Feedback
Definition
Expansion of ice > Increased Albedo Reduced Insolation > Cooling > Loop
Term
Are clouds a negative or positive feedback?
Definition
Unclear, because they reflect solar radiation to promote cooling and absorb upwelling longwave which promotes warming.
Term
Describe how Greenhouse Gas is a positive feedback loop:
Definition
Warmer Atmosphere > More Water Vapor > Green House Warming > Loop
Term
What is a natural sink for CO2?
Definition
Plants
Term
Describe how the fertilization effect is a negative feedback loop:
Definition
More CO2 and warmer temperatures > Enhanced Photosynthesis > Reduced CO2
Term
What is increased greening in northern latitudes?
Definition
Global Greening that occurs due to global warming and the fertilization effect.
Term
How do increases in global temperatures raise mean sea level?
Definition
Expansion of warmer ocean waters and the melting of glaciers and release of water to oceans.
Term
What are ocean circulations driven by temperature and salinity variations?
Definition
Thermohaline Circulations.
Term
What adds freshwater to the ocean?
Definition
Glacier Melting
Term
Small changes and errors in your initial conditions in computer simulations lead to what?
Definition
Big errors and changes in the future.
Term
Many climate models have been designed to be very sensitive to what?
Definition
CO2
Term
The more complex you make a model, the longer what?
Definition
It takes to run a model.
Term
What Does IPCC Stand For?
Definition
Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change
Term
What does the IPCC report do?
Definition
It expresses confidence in weather based predictions.
Term
What was a time period with a fewer number of sun spots, less solar output and greater global cooling?
Definition
Little Ice Age
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