Basics
Causes
Warming
Changes
Mixed Bag
100

What is global warming?

  • Earth’s average temperature increases (warming climate), however some locations or periods of time may be colder.
100
  • True or false; Melting sea ice will cause sea levels to rise.
  • False – sea ice is already in the ocean, to raise the sea level we must add glacier water currently located on land.
100
  • Thus far, Earth has warmed about 1 degree.  Is the degree Celsius or Fahrenheit?
  • Celsius (1 Celsius degree = 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit)
100

Which country emits the most carbon dioxide per person?

USA

100

Which planet has an atmosphere with an extreme greenhouse effect?

Venus

200
  • List three sources of information about Earth’s past climate
  • Possible answers: direct measurement, ice cores, tree rings, lithosphere (pollen, foraminifera, etc.), astronomy
200
  • What is it called when a warming event causes further warming?
  • Positive feedback
200
  • This greenhouse gas fluctuates from day to day, but will generally increase as temperature increases.
  • Water vapor
200

What were carbon dioxide levels like during the last Ice Age?

much lower than they are today

200

What is coal the remains of?

Swamp plants

300
  • Which greenhouse gas (1) remains in the atmosphere for thousands of years  (2) may be released by melting permafrost and warming ocean water?
  1. carbon dioxide
  2. methane
300
  • What do climate models tell us about today’s climate change being natural or human-caused?
  • Although natural factors have an effect, today’s climate change is largely human caused.
300
  • Describe two dangers associated with warming ocean water.

-Sea-level rise 

-Species/Habitat loss

300

Which greenhouse gas is able to move from the air to the ocean by dissolving in water.

Carbon dioxide

300

What do plants release during the process of photosynthesis?

Oxygen

400


  • Aside from temperature, list 3 things that are changing in climate change.Answer
  • sea level/glaciers, precipitation, sea ice, permafrost, jet stream, shifting subtropics, habitats, etc.
400
  • Why does CO2 cycle up and down annually on the Keeling Curve graph?
  • Plants in the northern hemisphere uptake CO2 in the spring and release it in fall
400
  • This gas has changed from 280 ppm to about 420 ppm.

Carbon dioxide

400

Leaving electronic devices plugged in or on standby when you are not using them increases your carbon footprint.  What is this called?


Vampire energy

400

Name 3 types of renewable energy

wind

solar

hydropower

geothermal

500
  • Explain why the greenhouse effect blocks heat from leaving Earth’s atmosphere but does not block sunlight from entering Earth’s atmosphere.
  • Visible light from the sun passes through our atmosphere with little interference.  In other words, the gases in our atmosphere (including greenhouse gases) are transparent to visible light.  When visible light hits the surface it is absorbed and converted to heat.  The Earth’s surface then radiates the heat away as infrared light.  The atmosphere traps this infrared energy because infrared light cannot pass through greenhouse gases.
500

True or False: Wood is a fossil fuel

False

500

Why are the poles warming fastest?  Hint think albedo

  • As reflective snow cover is reduced, the polar regions absorb more visible light than they used to.  This snow loss effect is absent from equatorial regions which were already absorbing maximum visible light.
500

What have cyclical changes in the tilt and shape of the Earth's orbit around the Sun cause?

Ice Ages

500

Name three ways that climate change is affecting the oceans?

-Arctic sea ice is melting 

-Coral reefs are dying 

-ocean water is becoming more acidic

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