Data and Measurements
Located in space above the Earth’s atmosphere, these man-made instruments are able to observe the Earth and measure its temperature, ice cover, and sea level:
What are satellites?
This is another word for “reflection of sunlight”
The current U.S. president mistakenly suggested “hitting the [human] body” with a “tremendous” amount of this type of radiation in order to cure COVID-19
What is ultraviolet? (visible light also acceptable)
The North Pole is covered by this type of ice (land or sea)
What is sea ice?
Global average temperatures have risen faster during this part of the 24-hour day, indicating that the warming is due to the enhanced greenhouse effect and not the Sun
What is night?
This commonly used measurement indicates the average kinetic energy of the particles in a gas, liquid, or solid object
What is temperature?
Plants absorb carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere in this physical process
What is photosynthesis?
Contrary to the misconception, greenhouse gases actually do not absorb this type of radiation
What is sunlight? (shortwave or solar also acceptable)
This phenomenon is known as “climate change’s evil twin” because it is also a result of human-induced carbon dioxide emissions
What is ocean acidification?
These features involving the Sun increase and decrease in frequency over 11-year cycles, but do not show any long-term trend
What are sunspots?
This region is the fastest warming place on the planet due to the ice-albedo feedback process
What is the Arctic?
“Climate” is defined as the characteristics of the weather averaged over _____ years:
What is 30?
Based on analyses of peer-reviewed studies, about ___ % of climate scientists agree that human activities are primarily responsible for global warming
What is 97%?
This special quality of water is the primary reason why the oceans absorb so much heat that has been trapped by increased greenhouse gases
What is high heat capacity?
Changes in both the eccentricity of Earth’s orbit and the tilt of the Earth’s rotational axis control the timing of the ice ages in what are known as these cycles
What are Milankovitch cycles?
Climate scientists extract these from places like Greenland and Antarctica to estimate what the Earth’s climate was like thousands of years ago
What are ice cores?
This mode of heat transfer requires direct contact between two objects
What is conduction?
In a 2019 interview, Senator Ted Cruz from Texas committed this logical fallacy when he attempted to refute climate change by stating "in the last two years the Earth's average temperature dropped 0.5 degrees according to NASA"
What is cherry-picking?
This physical process is currently the biggest contributor to sea level rise
What is melting of land ice?
Human activities currently emit ____ times as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as volcanoes do
What is 100 times? (1000 also acceptable)
You can use ordinary equipment in a lab to confirm that greenhouse gases absorb and re-radiate this type of radiation
What is infrared (or longwave) radiation?
These particles, emitted from things such as volcanoes and coal-fired power plants, reduce the amount of sunlight that the Earth’s surface receives
What are aerosols?
Out of the countries that did not ratify the Paris Climate agreement, this country emits the largest amount of greenhouse gases
What is Iran? (Turkey also acceptable)
These single-celled organisms are expelled from the coral tissue during the coral bleaching process, which results from warming ocean temperatures
What are zooxanthellae?
Satellite observations of cooling temperatures in this layer of the atmosphere indicate that it is the enhancement of the greenhouse effect (not the Sun) that is responsible for global warming
What is the stratosphere?