Term
| The process reponsible for the production of energy in the sun is.... It will probably continue for another ..... billion years |
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Definition
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Term
| If a star has an emissivity of 1, a surface area of 8.0x10^18 m^2 and a temperature of 7000K. What is the radiant flux, phi, from that star? |
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Definition
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Term
| Why are Earth's poles cooler than the equator? |
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Definition
| The Earth's poles are cooler than the equator because of the Earth's tilt (~23.5 degrees) and the shape of the Earth. Energy that reaches the poles is spread out over a larger area than near the equator. |
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Term
| The energy that reaches the Earth from the sun has a maximum intensity in the.....region of the electromagnetic spectrum. While the energy emitted from the surface of the earth has an intensity peak in the.....region of the spectrum |
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Definition
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Term
| In the greenhouse effect radiation emitted from the surface and atmosphere interacts primarily with.....in the atmosphere. This interaction occurs at specific.....in the spectrum. |
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Definition
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Term
| Four of the most prominent greenhouse gases are: |
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Definition
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Term
| Carbon dioxide has shown a steady increase in concentration in the atmosphere since about 1958, what causes the annual cycle in the CO2 record from Mauna Loa in Hawaii? |
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Definition
| Seasonal growth and decay of vegetation |
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Term
| The following process is an example of feedback. What kind of feedback? |
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Definition
Surface reflectivity, Water Temperature, Sea Ice cover.
Positive |
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Term
| If the eruption of a large volcano inject dust into the atomsphere that increased the albedo, what effect would that have on solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface? |
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Definition
| Less solar radiation would reach the Earth's surface |
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Term
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Definition
| Intergovernmental panel on climate change |
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Term
| The atmosphere is composed of approximately....% nitrogen, and approximately....% Oxygen |
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Definition
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Term
| The tropopause, the top boundary of the troposphere, is at an altitude of about....km near the equator. __% of the atmosphere is contained in the troposphere. |
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Definition
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Term
| Why is there no water on Venus? |
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Definition
There is no water on Venus do to its proximity to the sun. The sun's energy is to powerful to allow water to condense and form bodies of water. There is also no CO2 in Venus' atmosphere
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Term
The early atmosphere of the Earth came from:
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Definition
| outgassing of volcanic eruptions |
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Term
| Earth's relatively mild temperature allowed the accumulation of___ on the surface. This then took gaseous components___and____leaving N2. |
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Definition
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Term
| Life could only thrive on the land after the appearance of ____,to shield the surface from harmful_____radiation. |
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Definition
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Term
| Gradients of ____and____ drive the wind currents that transfer energy from the equator to the poles. |
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Definition
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Term
| The coriolis force deflects moving air and water to the____ in the northern hemisphere and to the____ in the souther hemisphere. |
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Definition
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Term
| It is believed that the regular cycles of ice ages far into Earth's past were due to: |
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Definition
| The changes in the Earth's eccentricity and the obliquity (tilt) of the earth. This theory is known as the Milankovitch theory. |
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Term
The circulation of the upper ocean is driven by____.
Circulation of the deep ocean depends strongly on the_____ and____of the water. |
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Definition
Wind
Salinity
Temperature |
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Term
| The subtropical gyres in the ocean rotate in a_____direction in the NH and in a_____direction in SH. These currents cause a convergence of water that can be ___cm above the mean sea level. |
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Definition
Clockwise
Counter clockwise
~80cm |
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Term
| The global warming potential of a greenhouse gas is: |
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Definition
Where a gas absorbs in the spectrum, how long the has will last, how much there is in the atmosphere and how a gas absorbs infrared radiation in comparison to CO2 (1).
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Term
| The atmospheric circulation pattern that moves air from the equator to about 30 degrees latitude is called the_____ cell. |
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Definition
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Term
| How much has CO2 increased in the last 100 years? What is believed to be the cause? |
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Definition
| CO2 has increased by ~30% , the cause is believed to be increase in human activity such as industry, agriculture etc. |
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Term
| The transformation of water from a liquid to a gas is called_____. The emission of water vapor from plants is called______. When water vapor transforms to liquid droplets in air that is called____. A change of state directly from solid water to vapor is called_____. |
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Definition
Evaporation
Transpiration
condensation
sublimation |
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Term
| The oceans contain____% of the water on Earth. |
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Definition
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Term
| Lifetime of water in a reservoir |
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Definition
| reservoir size/Input or output |
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Term
| The direct human influence on the water budget is through combustion. What fraction of natural evaporation is contributed by human activity? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is an isotope? What are some of the natural isotopes of oxygen? |
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Definition
An isotope is a different atom of the same chemical element with a different amount of neutrons, but has the same atomic number. 16O 17O 18O
18O can be used to determine past temp from ice core samples. |
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Term
| What does "latent heat of water" mean? |
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Definition
Latent heat of water is the amount of energy given off when water changes states. This drives the circulation of the atmosphere
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Term
| Draw the feedbacks and determine if it is a net positive or negative feedback. |
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Definition
Arctic temp----Sea ice cover-----heat flux from ocean to atmosphere------>Arctic temp.
Net positive
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Term
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Definition
Photosynthesis is the process in which plants convert sunlight and CO2 into O2, which is then released due to decay or it is released into the atmosphere
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Term
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Definition
| Respiration is the process in which plants use energy and O2 to produce CO2. |
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Term
| Label the Reservoirs with their approximate stock of carbon. |
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Definition
Ocean: 38000, 500
Land: Living- 1500 Dead- 500
atmosphere: 700 gtc
Sedimentary rocks: 50,000,000 gtc |
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Term
| Why are these curves separated in the vertical direction? What causes the annual cycle? |
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Definition
| They are separated in a vertical fashion due to the increase of fossil fuel emissions. The annual cycle is caused by the seasonal growth and decay of vegetation. |
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Term
| How have humans interfered with the normal release of fossil fuels from the rock reservoir? |
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Definition
| Fossil fuels normally take hundreds of thousands of years to be released from the rock reservoir. By drilling for fossil fuels and then burning them humans are greatly expediting the process. |
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Term
| The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere shows a long term____due to fossil fuel emission and the distribution shows a north-south gradient caused by CO2 emission in the_____. |
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Definition
Increase
Northern hemisphere |
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Term
About___% of the fossil fuel carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere, another____% is absorbed by the oceans.
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Definition
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Term
| An important factor in the ability of sea water to take in CO2 is the___of the sea water. Alkalinity of the oceans is maintained by the weathering of_____. |
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Definition
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Term
| What is net primary productivity(NPP)? |
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Definition
| NPP equals total rate of photosynthesis minus the rate of respiration by all plants. |
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Term
| What percentage of the air is nitrogen?Why is it so abundant? |
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Definition
| N2 is so abundant because it does not bind with other elements and can not be consumed or destroyed by other gases. |
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Term
| Name four of the five processes that cycle nitrogen through the Earth system: |
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Definition
| Nitrification, denitrification, N2 uptake, N2 mineralization. |
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Term
The process that puts the greenhouse gas N2O into the atmosphere is _____. This process has been enhanced by human use of____.
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Definition
denitrification
fertilizers |
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Term
which reservoir contains the most nitrogen? atmosphere, land, biota, ocean, lithosphere?
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Definition
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Term
What controls the amount of present day oxygen in the atmosphere?
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Definition
| Surface rocks that become oxidized (weathering) take in O2. The formation of sedimentary rocks creates O2. |
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Term
Ozone is produced by___radiation from the sun. The peak of the ozone concentration is in the layer of the atmosphere called the____. The presence of ozone in that layer causes the_____to increase there.
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Definition
UV
stratosphere
temperature |
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Term
| Ozone holes occur primarily in the____ regions of the globe, where the air is very____. They occur in the____each year because the reactions that destroy ozone need____. |
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Definition
Polar
Cold
Spring
Sunlight |
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Term
| Explain the effect that chlorofluorcarbons have had on ozone amounts: |
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Definition
| CFC's are created by household objects. CFC's are released into the stratosphere where UV rays break them down and they bind with Chlorine molecules and destroy ozone. |
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Term
As a greenhouse gas ozone in the____heats the atmosphere,ozone in the_____tends to____the atmosphere
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Definition
troposphere
stratosphere
cool |
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Term
| Evidence shows that severe hurricanes have been caused by global warming: |
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Definition
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Term
| global avg temp changes of the last 100 years are within the range of natural variability. |
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Definition
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Term
| changes in CO2 have caused the temp changes during the last few ice ages |
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Definition
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Term
| volcanic eruptions emit more CO2 than fossil fuel burning. |
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Definition
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Term
The troposphere and the surface of the Earth have been warming at essentially the same rate
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Definition
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Term
| Why does the CO2 record at the south pole show a smaller annual variation than that at Barrow? |
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Definition
| The south pole is relatively barren in terms of vegetation. Barrow houses large amounts of trees which contribute to large seasonal variations of the uptake and release of CO2 |
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Term
| Is the air trapped in an ice core younger or older than the surrounding ice? |
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Definition
| The air is generally younger than the surrounding ice by about 2500-6000 years. The air becomes trapped in the firn which takes a long time to solidify. |
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Term
| After water vapor the most important greenhouse gas is _____ which is increasing due to______. The next most important gases are_____ and _____, which come mostly from______. |
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Definition
CO2
fossil fuel burning
CH4
N20
Agriculture/fertilizers |
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Term
| How has solar radiance changed in the last 100 years? How does that change affect the radiative forcing of the atmosphere compared to the forcing from greenhouse gases? |
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Definition
| Solar radiance has not changed much over the past 100 years. The radiative forcing due to solar activity is much more extreme than that of greenhouse gases. Solar activity has not varied as much as the recent influx of greenhouse gases; therefore the radiative forcing of greenhouse gases over the past 100 years is more extreme |
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Term
| How might volcanic eruptions affect the atmosphere? |
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Definition
| Volcanic eruptions can emit both aerosols and CO2 into the atmosphere. Aerosols reflect incoming radiation so they have a cooling affect on the atmosphere. CO2 absorbs incoming radiation thereby heating the atmosphere. |
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Term
| Deforestation tends to increase atmospheric CO2 because it removes a____for carbon. What percentage of photosynthesis is controlled by humans?_____% |
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Definition
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Term
| When was the last glacial period? What is Milankovitch's theory for long-term climate change? |
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Definition
| The last glacial period was 21,000 yrs ago Milankovitch's theory is that the Earth's procession, obliquity and eccentricity causes periods of warming and cooling of the earth. |
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Term
| During the last glacial maximum the sea level was ____m lower than the present level. Sea level has risen in the last 100 years by____cm |
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Definition
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Term
| What factors contribute to sea level rise? |
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Definition
| The factors that contribute to sea level rise are thermal expansion and the melting of ice. |
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Term
| Describe two main objections raised in the film The great global warming swindle to the science of global warming. |
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Definition
| The great global warming swindle brought up two main objections. The first objection is that global warming is due to solar activity. The movie argued that changes in temperature coincided with changes in solar activity as opposed to the increase of greenhouse gases. The second objection is that temp and CO2 do not relate. The movie pointed to the fact that CO2 and temp have been rising and falling naturally over the past 100,000 years. The movie claimed there always have been periods of cooling and warming and cannot be attributed to man. |
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Term
| Nearly 10% of the fresh water on Earth is tied up in the antactic ice sheet. If the east antarctic ice sheet were to melt it would raise sea level by___meters. However, the snowpack in the East Antarctica is increasing due to____and_____. |
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Definition
100
increased snowfall
low melting. |
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