Greenhouse Basics
What is a greenhouse gas?
gas that traps heat in the atmosphere
What region of Earth is warming the fastest?
(Answer: What are the high northern latitudes?)
Does melting sea ice raise sea levels?
No
What is geoengineering?
Manipulating Earth’s systems to counter climate change)
What kind of feedback loop balances changes (like a thermostat)?
What is negative feedback?
Carbon-14
Why do the tropics warm less than the Arctic?
They’re already warm, so extra heat has less effect
What does raise sea level significantly?
Melting land-based ice like glaciers and ice sheets
What are two main goals of geoengineering?
Reflect sunlight, remove greenhouse gases
What happens when melting sea ice makes the ocean warmer, making ice harder to reform?
Positive feedback loop
What natural cycle causes long-term climate changes without human influence?
Milankovitch cycles?
The 10 warmest years on record have mostly occurred since which year?
What is 2000?)
What’s happening to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet?
It may be irreversibly collapsing)
What are two risks of sulfur particle injection into the stratosphere?
Acid rain and ozone depletion
Why does thinner ice make climate warming worse?
Answer: It melts faster, exposing more dark water, which absorbs heat
Why is fossil fuel CO₂ easy to identify in the atmosphere?
It has little to no C-14
What role does the ocean play in slowing global warming
It absorbs most of the excess heat
Name 3 impacts of melting sea ice on the Arctic.
More ocean heat, thinner ice, shorter freezing seasons)
Why is deep-sea CO₂ storage controversial?
It acidifies the deep ocean and may not last)
What is thermal expansion?
Water expands as it warms, contributing to sea level rise
Explain why C-14 is declining in the atmosphere.
More fossil fuel use adds "old" carbon with no C-14
How does global warming affect hurricanes?
It increases their intensity due to warmer ocean water
How does ice melt affect ocean currents in the North Atlantic?
Freshwater reduces salinity, slows down circulation
Why isn't direct air capture used more widely?
It’s very expensive and not a complete solution)
Why is climate change in the Arctic called a "runaway" feedback?
Warming causes melting, which causes more warming, and so on