Term
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Definition
| Climate is weather over time |
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Term
| Principle components of Earth's Climate system |
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Definition
insolation
temperature
air pressure
air masses
precipitation |
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Term
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Definition
polar ice sheet
tundra
taiga (cool summer)
cold desert, cold steppe, humid continental mild summer
mild altitude arid hot desert, midaltitutde semiarid and steppe, humid continental warm hot summer
hot steppe, mediterranean dry summer subtropics, humid subtropics
Tropical arid, tropical semi arid, seasonal wet and dry tropics savana, monsoon tropics, equatorial tropics rain forest |
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Term
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Definition
Rain forest
Monsoon
Savanna |
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Term
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Definition
– Climate is constantly moist and warm
– Rainy all year
– Convectional thunderstorms triggered by local heating and
trade wind convergence |
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Term
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Definition
– Principally along coastal areas
– Rainfall from 6-12 months of the year brought by the ITCZ
– Dry season lasts one or more months |
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Term
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Definition
– ITCZ dominates during summers with wetter conditions
– Dry conditions when ITCZ shifts away and high pressure
dominates |
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Term
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Definition
plants
adapted to seasonally dry
water budgets |
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Term
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Definition
Humid subtropical:
Marine west coast:
Mediterranean: |
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Term
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Definition
– Hot summers, mild winters
– Maritime tropical air masses produce
convectional showers over land during summer
– Frontal activity with polar air masses in winter |
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Term
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Definition
– Warm to cool summers, mild winters
– Affected throughout the year by weather
systems formed along polar front |
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Term
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Definition
– Dry summers, mild winters
– Large-scale agriculture requires irrigation |
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Term
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Definition
Humid continental
Subarctic: |
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Term
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Definition
– Hot to warm summers, cold winters
– Maritime tropical air masses influence both
humid continental moist-all-year and winter-dry
climates
– In North America, conflict between maritime
tropical and continental polar in winter |
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Term
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Definition
– Cool summers to very cold winters
– Boreal forests (fir, spruce, etc.) thin out to the
north to the more open woodlands and tundra
– Soils thin in areas once scoured by glaciers |
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Term
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Definition
Tundra:
Ice caps and ice sheets
Polar marine |
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Term
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Definition
– High latitude or high elevation
– Land under continuous snow cover 8-10 months
– Never warms above 10 oC
– Small plants appear in spring |
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Term
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Definition
– Perpetually frozen
– All months below freezing |
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Term
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Definition
– More moderate than polar continental
– No month averages below -7 oC |
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Term
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Definition
Arid deserts:
Semiarid steppes (flat grassland) |
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Term
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Definition
– Tropical, subtropical hot
– Midlatitude cold |
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Term
| Semiarid steppes (flat grassland) |
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Definition
– Tropical, subtropical hot
– Midlatitude cold occurs poleward of 30o
latitude |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| Causes of recent global warming |
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Definition
– Release of greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere due to burning of fossils fuels?
– Recent temperature rise is just part of the
natural cycle? |
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Term
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) was created in |
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Definition
1988 to
coordinate global climate-change
research, climate forecasts, and
formulation of policies |
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Term
Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4)
and water vapor are essential |
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Definition
warmers of the planet:
– Without them the Earth would be an ice
ball, 35o C colder |
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Term
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Definition
Sun’s energy enters the Earth’s
atmosphere at relatively short
wavelengths (mostly within visible range) |
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Term
| Process of the greenhouse effect |
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Definition
1. much of the incoming short wavelength, solar radiation, penetrates the atmosphere and heats earth's surface.
2. objects on earth's surface emit long wavelength radiation skyward
3. greenhouse gases absorb outgoing, long wavelength radiation and radiate some of this energy earthward, thus trapping heat in the lower atmosphere. |
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Term
| The Recent Past (60 years) |
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Definition
The concentration of carbon dioxide
has increased steadily since 1958
with smaller, annual variations |
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Term
The longer trend shows increasing
carbon dioxide concentrations: |
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Definition
Increasing CO2 from burning of fossil
fuels |
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Term
Temperatures have also increased
over the last 50 years!.... |
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Definition
BUT is the temperature increase related
to the increase in CO2? |
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Term
Large temperature changes have also
occurred in the geologic past, so it is
not clear! |
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Definition
Global temperatures during the Middle
Cretaceous and Early Cenozoic were
higher than today |
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Term
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Definition
Temperature changes over the last
few thousand years must be
obtained indirectly in what are known
as proxy recorders:
– Trapped atmospheric gases in ice cores
– Oxygen isotope changes in ice cores
– Oxygen isotope and other changes in
fossils in oceans and lakes |
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Term
Earth today is
close to equaling
the highest
average
temperature of the |
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Definition
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Term
Climatic Models And Future
Temperatures |
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Definition
Predicting The Extent And
Consequences Of Global
Warming |
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Term
| General Circulation Model |
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Definition
Scientists developed a complex computer
climate model known as a General
Circulation Model (GCM) |
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Term
A GCM contains several sub-model
programs for the following: |
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Definition
Atmosphere
– Ocean
– Land surface
– Cryosphere
– Biosphere |
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Term
| Variables in GCMs include the following: |
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Definition
– Temperature
– Precipitation
– Air Pressure
– Relative Humidity
– Wind
– Sunlight intensity |
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Term
| GCMs calculate scenarios of |
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Definition
future
climate change based on input parameters
and variables |
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Term
A General
Circulation Model
consists of a |
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Definition
grid of
boxes, each
representing a
different location
on Earth; Each box
consists of multiple
layers and interacts
with adjoining
boxes |
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Term
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Definition
Overall Effects Of Climate
Change |
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Term
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Definition
Center is climate change.
a) risks to unique and threatening systems.
b) risks of extreme weather events
c) uneven distribution of climate change impacts
d) aggregate impacts and damages
e) risks of large scale discontinues and disruptoirs |
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Term
| a) risks to unique and threatening systems. |
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Definition
Loss of glaciers
(global
warming), coral
reefs (ocean
acidification),
barrier islands
and small islands
(rising sea level):
ecosystems
migrate and
species become
extinct
Melt-water from
melting glaciers
flow into the
oceans, causing
sea level to rise |
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Term
| e) risks of large scale discontinues and disruptoirs |
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Definition
Dynamic
equilibrium is
disrupted, tipping
point is reached
and the system
spasms to a new
equilibrium state:
disruptions
include melting
of mountain and
continental
glaciers, sea-level
rise, and ocean
acidification
Oceans acidify due to
absorption of
increasing amounts of
atmospheric CO2 |
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Term
| d) aggregate impacts and damages |
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Definition
Climate change
results in
monetary damage
due to crop
failures and
diminishing
water supplies:
lives are changed
or lost; poorer
countries might
not adapt
successfully |
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Term
| b) risks of extreme weather events |
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Definition
Magnitude and
frequency of
extreme weather
events increase:
precipitation and
floods intensify:
hurricane and
tornado
intensities
increase: more
heat waves,
droughts, and
wildfires |
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Term
| c) uneven distribution of climate change impacts |
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Definition
Impacts are
greatest in lowlatitude
and lessdeveloped
countries due to
shifts in crop
patterns and spread
of diseases. At
high latitudes,
indigenous people
of the circumpolar
Arctic will be
affected by rapid
melting of ice
sheets/permafrost. |
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Term
| Which of the following processes LEAST-LIKELY influence Earth's climate system? |
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Definition
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Term
| Which of the following tropical climates receives the LEAST amount of annual rainfall? |
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Definition
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Term
| A continental-arctic (cA) air mass that is very cold and dry would most-likely be characterized by a ___________ climate. |
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Definition
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Term
| Most of the Gulf coastal region, including Houston, is characterized by a ____________ climate |
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Definition
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Term
| The climograph below most likely reflects a ____________ climate |
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Definition
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Term
| The climograph below most likely reflects a _________ climate. |
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Definition
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Term
| Which of the following is NOT associated with El Nino? |
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Definition
| Increased upwelling of deep ocean water along the west coast of South America |
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Term
| Which of the following satellite images depicts La Nina? Note that the white and red colors indicate warmer surface water while purple and blue indicates cooler surface water. |
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Definition
| greens, yellows are everywhere, and the middle is purple and blue. it's to the west of the americas but near the equator. |
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Term
| The following computer models calculate future rates of global warming based on our continued use of _____________. |
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Definition
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Term
| Climatologists attempt to predict future climate changes using __________ |
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Definition
.
Computer models known as General Circulation Models |
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