Download Climate and Climate Change

Natural Hazards, 3e (Keller)
Chapter 12 Climate and Climate Change
1) Which of the following is a statement of climate as compared to weather?
A) Today it is cloudy and raining
B) Rainfall amounts were above average this month
C) The winters here are dry and warm
D) The temperature will rise during the next week
E) It is 56 degrees F and sunny
Answer: C
Section: 12.2
Bloom's Taxonomy: Application
2) What does the Koeppen system use to describe climate in a region?
A) Average monthly temperature and precipitation
B) Average monthly temperature and Latitude
C) Average rainfall and Atmospheric Pressure
D) Atmospheric Pressure and Average monthly temperature
E) Average cloud cover and proximity to ocean
Answer: A
Section: 12.2
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
3) Which of the following is not a way in which hazards are related to climate?
A) Flooding is related to amount and timing of rainfall
B) Volcanoes are related to warmer climates
C) Wildfires are linked to drier climates
D) Landslides are linked to wet climates
E) Land subsidence is linked to climates with permafrost
Answer: B
Section: 12.2
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
4) Which gas composes most of the atmosphere by weight?
A) Oxygen
B) Carbon Dioxide
C) Methane
D) Nitrogen
E) Argon
Answer: D
Section: 12.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
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5) Which of the following is considered a variable gas?
A) Nitrogen
B) Oxygen
C) Argon
D) Carbon Dioxide
E) None of the above are considered variable gasses.
Answer: D
Section: 12.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
6) Where does the Carbon Dioxide in our atmosphere come from?
A) Volcanoes
B) Decay of organic materials
C) Burning of fossil fuels
D) Plant respiration
E) All of the above are sources of Carbon Dioxide
Answer: E
Section: 12.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
7) What is the difference between a variable and permanent gas?
A) Variable gases have less effect on weather and climate than permanent gases do
B) Amounts of variable gases in the atmosphere change and permanent gases do not
C) Variable gases compose more of the atmosphere than permanent gases
D) Variable gases are heavier than permanent gases are
E) Permanent gases are at higher temperatures than variable gases
Answer: B
Section: 12.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
8) What are aerosols and why are they important?
A) Aerosols are gases from cans and they deplete the ozone layer
B) Aerosols are gases from cans and they warm the Earth
C) Aerosols are particles that are flammable in the atmosphere
D) Aerosols are particles that reflect sunlight
E) Aerosols are gases that interact with Greenhouse gases
Answer: D
Section: 12.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
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9) What characterizes the Cryosphere?
A) The Earth's water
B) The Earth's ice and snow
C) The Earth's species
D) The Earth's crust
E) The Earth's blanket of gasses
Answer: B
Section: 12.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
10) How do glaciers move?
A) They flow downhill
B) They move because of an accumulation of ice at the top
C) They retreat because of ice melting at the bottom
D) They move because of an imbalance between inputs and outputs
E) All of the above are true of how glaciers move
Answer: E
Section: 12.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
11) What causes glaciation?
A) Changing position of the continents
B) Change in the Earth's precession
C) Change in the Earth's orbit
D) Change in the Earth's tilt
E) All of the above play some role, but none are the cause.
Answer: E
Section: 12.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
12) What is the difference between a glacial and interglacial period?
A) Glacial periods are longer than interglacial periods
B) Glacial periods are colder than interglacial periods
C) Glacial periods are shorter than interglacial periods
D) Glacial periods are warmer than interglacial periods
E) Glacial periods are more frequent than interglacial periods
Answer: B
Section: 12.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
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13) Which of the following are hazards involved with glaciers?
A) People can fall into the crevasses in the glaciers
B) Glaciers can block rivers causing floods
C) Glacier ice cause avalanches
D) Glaciers can break in ocean causes icebergs that disrupt shipping
E) All of the above are hazards associated with glaciers
Answer: E
Section: 12.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
14) Which of the following is not a source of data used to understand climate?
A) Direct measurements of temperature in ocean
B) Magma temperatures
C) Entries from personal journals
D) Shipping logs
E) Tree ring data
F) Ice core samples
Answer: B
Section: 12.4
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
15) For how long do we have direct measures of temperature in the world?
A) For the past 1,00,000 years
B) For the past 100,000 years
C) For the past 10,000 years
D) For the past 1,000 years
E) For less than 1,000 years
Answer: E
Section: 12.4
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
16) Which of the following is true about the paleo-proxy record?
A) It is not a direct measurement of temperature
B) It is used to infer temperatures before written records were kept
C) It uses other natural phenomena that are correlated with temperature
D) It is a good measure of temperature, but not without its flaws
E) All of the above are true about the paleo-proxy record
Answer: E
Section: 12.4
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
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17) Your great-great grandmother may have written on her wedding photos about the weather on
the day of her wedding. What type of data would this be?
A) Instrumental record
B) Historical record
C) Paleo-proxy record
D) Paleo-historical record
E) None of the above, it would not be considered data
Answer: B
Section: 12.4
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
18) If we cut down the tree in your great-great grandmother's backyard and analyzed the tree
rings, what type of data would this be?
A) Instrumental record
B) Historical record
C) Paleo-proxy record
D) Paleo-historical record
E) None of the above, it would not be considered data
Answer: C
Section: 12.4
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
19) Which of the following is not a Paleo-proxy data source?
A) Tree rings
B) Ice core samples
C) Magma samples
D) Pollen samples
E) Carbon-14 data
Answer: C
Section: 12.4
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
20) How do scientists measure the amount of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere for dates prior
to the 1955?
A) Direct measurements at Mauna Loa
B) Written records
C) From air bubbles in Antarctic Ice Sheet
D) From air bubbles in volcanic rocks
E) From water samples from the ocean floor
Answer: C
Section: 12.4
Bloom's Taxonomy: Application
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21) How does the Antarctic Ice give us information about climate?
A) Bubbles trapped in the ice contains prehistoric atmosphere
B) Ice, when melted, can be chemically analyzed to determine composition
C) The ice is composed of layers of ice that was deposited at different times giving a chronology
D) Amount of ice can give indications about amounts of snow at different time periods
E) All of the above are ways that the Antarctic Ice give us information about climate
Answer: E
Section: 12.4
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
22) What is important about amounts of Carbon-14 in living samples?
A) It is a greenhouse gas
B) It is a direct indicator of amounts of Carbon-12
C) It can indicate sunspot activity
D) It can directly indicate changes in temperature
E) It is an indicator of sea level rise
Answer: C
Section: 12.4
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
23) How is the Earth's climate changing?
A) It is warming probably due to human interaction
B) It is warming probably due to increased volcanic activity
C) It is cooling probably due to human interaction
D) It is cooling probably due to increased volcanic activity
E) Scientists have not come to a consensus on what the Earth's climate is doing
Answer: A
Section: 12.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
24) Which of the following is not a piece of evidence that the earth is warming?
A) Ocean temperatures are increasing
B) Glaciers are melting
C) Earthquake activity is increasing
D) Sea levels are rising
E) Permafrost is melting
Answer: C
Section: 12.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
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25) What does the Greenhouse Effect refer to?
A) The transmission of ultraviolet radiation from sun
B) The reflection of ultraviolet radiation from sun
C) The absorption of ultraviolet radiation from the sun
D) The absorption of Infrared radiation by the atmosphere
E) The reflection of ultraviolet radiation by the ozone layer
Answer: D
Section: 12.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
26) Which of the following describes a way in which the atmosphere is warmed?
A) Shortwave radiation from the sun
B) Infrared radiation from the earth
C) Radiation absorbed by Carbon Dioxide
D) Radiation absorbed by water vapor
E) All of the above are ways in which the atmosphere is warmed
Answer: E
Section: 12.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
27) Which of the following is the best analogy of how the Greenhouse Effect works?
A) A greenhouse — heat gets in through the windows and plants generate heat that is all trapped
inside
B) A microwave oven — heat is produced in the oven and can't get out
C) A person in a blanket — the person can radiate heat, some of it gets trapped in the blanket,
some of it goes out in the surrounding air
D) A teakettle— water is heated and it bursts out of the holes
E) A cold-blooded animal — It receives heat from the sun during the day and slowly radiates the
heat away during the evening
Answer: C
Section: 12.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Application
28) Which gas accounts for the majority of the anthropogenic Greenhouse Effect?
A) Carbon Dioxide
B) Oxygen
C) Methane
D) Water Vapor
E) Halocarbons
Answer: A
Section: 12.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
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29) What best describes how Carbon Dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have changed in
the last 500 years?
A) Concentrations were steady until 1900 when they began to increase
B) Concentrations increased until 1900 when they began to decrease
C) Concentrations decreased until 1900 when they began to increase
D) Concentrations varied wildly until 1900 when they became more steady
E) Concentrations have remained constant throughout history
Answer: A
Section: 12.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
30) How have global temperatures changed over the last 800,000 years?
A) They have been steady
B) They have been increasing
C) They have been decreasing
D) They have increased and decreased many times
E) There is no way to know with our current knowledge
Answer: D
Section: 12.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
31) Why do scientists believe that the current global warming situation is not caused by natural
forces?
A) Models of the sun show that radiation hasn't varied throughout history
B) Volcanoes have not been known to cause global climate change, only local changes
C) Mathematical models show anthropogenic sources to be the cause
D) Humans are the only sources capable of changing the climate
E) They don't know. They just assume that humans are the cause
Answer: C
Section: 12.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
32) Which of the following are climate changes that have occurred throughout history that were
not caused by human interaction?
A) Medieval warming period from 1000-1300 caused by increased solar radiation
B) Little Ice Age caused by decreased solar radiation
C) Mount Tambora eruption caused cooling in North America and Europe in 1815
D) Mount Pinatubo eruption caused global cooling
E) All of the above were climate changes caused by non-anthropogenic sources
Answer: E
Section: 12.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
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33) Which of the following can contribute to climate change?
A) Human activities
B) Volcanic eruptions
C) Changes in solar energy
D) Asteroid impact
E) All of the above can contribute to climate change
Answer: E
Section: 12.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
34) What is the significance of the Ocean Conveyor Belt?
A) It is capable of causing rapid changes in climate
B) In the Atlantic, it is responsible for keeping Europe warming than it would be
C) In the Atlantic, it is driven by cooling of the water near Greenland
D) Climate change could cause the belt near Greenland to slow, cooling areas in Europe
E) All of the above are reasons for the importance of the Ocean Conveyor Belt
Answer: E
Section: 12.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
35) When the Earth warms, won't the areas that we lose to agriculture (like the U.S. Midwest)
just be replaced by new areas that are now too cold for farming (like Northern Canada)?
A) No. The areas that will warm will still be too cold to farm.
B) Yes. There really won't be any problems for agriculture once the Earth warms.
C) Maybe. There is more to farming than just climate and more needs to be known about the soil
characteristics in those areas.
D) No. There aren't enough people in those areas to farm the land.
E) Yes. The amount of land that we gain will exactly replace the amount that we lose
Answer: C
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Application
36) Which of the following are not expected to be caused by global warming?
A) Rising sea level
B) Increased earthquake activity
C) Shrinking permafrost
D) Shifts in the range of plants and animals
E) Desertification
Answer: B
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
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37) Why will the sea level rise as a response to global warming?
A) Increased temperatures will cause earth's plates to swell, pushing the ocean floor upwards
B) Increased temperatures will cause ocean life to die and the ocean will subside
C) Increased temperatures will cause an increase in ocean life and the ocean will swell
D) Increased temperatures will cause the ocean water to expand
E) Global warming is not expected to cause the sea level to rise
Answer: D
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
38) Why is sea level rise a problem for humans?
A) It increases shoreline erosion
B) It makes structures on the shoreline more vulnerable to storms
C) It causes estuaries to move landward towards human structures
D) It will cause the disappearance of some islands
E) All of the above are why sea level rise is a problem for humans
Answer: E
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
39) Which of the following is a problem associated with ice sheets melting?
A) Melting ice sheets adds water to the ocean, raising the sea level
B) Melting ice sheets adds fresh water to the ocean, changing global ocean currents
C) Some places rely on water from the ice sheets to replenish their water supply
D) Melting ice sheets changes the habitat for polar bears, walruses and some sea birds
E) All are problems associated with the ice sheets are melting
Answer: E
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
40) Which of the following statements about the prediction of climate change is not true?
A) Climatologists now have complete temperature data for the past 100,000 years of the earth's
history
B) Emerging temperature data indicates that warming in the past few decades exceeds that of the
past 400 years
C) Certain sites during the Medieval Warming Period may have been as warm as it is currently
D) Most locations during the Medieval Warming Period were not as warm as today
E) Climatologists are not as confident about temperature data from before the mid-19th century
Answer: A
Section: 12.7
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
10
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41) Can humans just adapt to climate change?
A) No. The effects will be too great for us to handle
B) No. Humans are not adaptable creatures
C) Maybe. It depends on how great the temperature change is
D) Yes. The climate isn't expected to change enough to affect humans
E) Yes. Depending on the temperature rise, the effects may be severe
Answer: E
Section: 12.8
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
42) Which of the following is not a way to reduce emissions from Greenhouse Gases?
A) Improve efficiency of power plants
B) Change over to energy sources that emit less Greenhouse gases
C) Reduce our use of fossil fuels
D) Capture Greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and release them in the upper
atmosphere
E) Capture Greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and store them in the rocks below the
Earth's surface
Answer: D
Section: 12.8
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
43) Climate refers to the average weather in a given location over a long period of time.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 12.2
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
44) Climate and weather are essentially the same things, just different names.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 12.2
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
45) Climates classified as "A" on the Koeppen System tend to be close to the equator.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 12.2
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
46) Most of the Earth's atmosphere is composed of Oxygen.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 12.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
47) The gasses that compose most of the atmosphere have little impact on the weather.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 12.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
11
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48) In general, gasses such as Carbon Dioxide make up such a small amount of the atmosphere
that they aren't really important to climate and weather.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 12.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
49) The Ozone layer is more or less the cause of Global Warming.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 12.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
50) Aerosols are gasses that are emitted from canisters.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 12.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
51) Glaciers have always covered the continents and it is only in our current time that the
glaciers have been confined to polar climates.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 12.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
52) Once glaciers retreat they never come back.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 12.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
53) Glaciers move very slowly and are not usually much of a threat.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 12.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
54) Currently, the climate is cooling.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
55) There is much debate among scientists about whether the earth is warming or not.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
56) Global warming is probably due to human interaction.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
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57) It is the infrared radiation emitted from the earth that is trapped by Greenhouse gasses.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
58) The Greenhouse Effect is completely natural and necessary for human life to exist on Earth.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
59) The Greenhouse Effect is the cause of Global Warming and must be stopped completely.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
60) No one really knows how the concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide have changed in
the distant past, because we have only been directly measuring it since 1955.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
61) Global temperatures have fluctuated many times in the last 800,000 years showing glacial
and interglacial periods.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
62) Because of the burning of fossil fuels, the earth is warmer today than in any other period in
the last 800,000 years.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
63) Most of the increase in global temperatures can be attributed to natural changes in the earth's
tilt, orbit and wobble.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
64) Scientific consensus states now that the Earth is warming and this effect can be attributed in
part to human influences.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
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65) Volcanoes are capable of causing short-term global climate change.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
66) Most of the warming we see now and have seen in the past is could be entirely explained by
changes in solar energy.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
67) As the climate warms, it is likely that agriculture patterns will also change.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
68) Global warming is expected to increase the amount of precipitation in some areas and
decrease it in others.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
69) Shrinking of the ice caps is not really a problem for people, just for arctic animals.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 12.6
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
70) Most scientists believe that it is too late to stop Global Warming and that we should just deal
with the effects as they come.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 12.8
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
71) In addition to reducing emissions of Greenhouse gases, scientists are working on plans to
store the gases instead of releasing them into the atmosphere.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 12.8
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
72) Give an example of statements describing weather and statements describing climate.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
73) Explain how climate is related to the incidence of landslides.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Application
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74) Explain the role of aerosols, permanent gases and variable gases in climate.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
75) Give examples of data sources that are in the Instrumental Record, Historic Record and
Paleo-proxy record.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
76) Explain the limitations of the Paleo-proxy record. Explain why they are used as climate data.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Application
77) Choose one Paleo-proxy data source and explain how it correlates with temperature or
carbon dioxide levels.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
78) Choose an analogy to explain how the Greenhouse Effect works in warming the Earth.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Application
79) Is the Greenhouse effect itself a bad thing? Explain why or why not.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Application
80) Give a brief description of how the Earth's temperature has changed throughout the last
800,000 years.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
81) Explain other causes of climate change besides human interaction.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
82) Choose one of the effects of Global Warming and explain how it might impact your life.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Application
83) Of all of the possible effects of Global Warming, choose the one that you think will have the
greatest impact on life on the Earth. Explain why you think that this is the most severe.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Application
84) There are some people who still have misconceptions about Global Warming and climate
change. What do you think are the most important things that people need to know about WHY
climate change happens? Describe how you would explain this to an average person.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Evaluation
85) Describe the basic sources of data for climate. From which data sources do scientists rely the
most in understanding past climate? What are the limitations of this data? Do you think that it is
reliable or not? Why? Why not?
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension, Evaluation
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86) There are many possible effects of Global Warming. For the area that you live in, which do
you feel are the most important for people to understand? Explain what effects those would have
on life in your area and then describe how you might inform people of potential hazards.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Evaluation
87) After reviewing the possible hazards from Global Warming and the possible solutions, what
do you think is the best course of action? Choose which strategies for combating climate change
that you think will work the best, explain how they might be implemented and why you think
that they are important.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Evaluation
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