GARP SCR EXAM LATEST 2024 ACTUAL EXAM
300 REAL EXAM QUESTIONS AND CORRECT
DETAILED ANSWERS (VERIFIED ANSWERS)
|ALREADY GRADED A+
About what percentage of heat trapped by greenhouse gasses goes into heating the oceans?
About 93%
What are the 2 key contributing factors to the rise in sea level?
The melting of ground ice & water expanding as it heats
T/F: The warming over the past century is around 16 times faster than the average rate of warming
coming out of the last ice age.
True
How can scientists use tree rings to extract climate information?
Because tree growth follows an annual cycle that is imprinted in the rings in their trunks, scientists can
measure the size of rings & estimate the local climate around the tree for each year it was alive.
What is the most important rule of the Earth's climate?
Energy Balance—The Energy reaching earth from the sun must be equal to the energy the earth radiates
back to space.
What is meant by greenhouse effect?
Greenhouse gases are a part of the atmosphere that absorb infrared radiation. These gases reduce the
amount of power the Earth radiates to space, therefore a planet with more greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere must be warmer than one without.
What Swedish scientist first recognized the possibility that as the mass of greenhouse gases in our
atmosphere increases, the atmosphere traps more heat, leading to higher temperatures?
Svante Arrhenius in 1896. British engineer Guy Callendar provided more supporting evidence for this
possibility in 1938.
,What are the 3 simple molecules contained in Earths atmosphere that do not interact with infrared
radiation & therefore generate no greenhouse effect?
Nitrogen (N2), Oxygen (O2) and Argon (Ar)
What is the most important greenhouse gas? (Meaning it traps the most heat)
Water vapor, with carbon dioxide as the next largest contributor.
What is a Keeling Curve?
The Keeling Curve, named after Charles D. Keeling, is a graph which plots the ongoing change in
concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere since 1957.
Scientists have observed that, for the last 50 years, the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
averages 44% of what humans released that year. What happens to the other 56% of carbon dioxide
released by humans?
About half is absorbed into the ocean, leading to ocean acidification & the other half is absorbed by the
land biosphere by enhanced growth.
Methane is an important greenhouse gas. While it's PPM increase in the atmosphere is much smaller
compared to carbon dioxide, it's a significantly more powerful greenhouse gas on a per-molecule basis.
What is the per molecule ratio measured in kilograms of heat trapped between methane & carbon
monoxide?
1 kg of Methane = 28 kg of carbon dioxide
What is Global Warming Potential (GWP)?
The heat trapping power of GHGs relative to carbon dioxide.
What are the atmospheric lifetime & GWP of Nitrous Oxide?
121 years & 265 GWP
What are the atmospheric lifetime & GWP of halocarbons?
,Years to Millenia & 100s to 1000s GWP
T/F: Aerosols have a net effect to cool the climate.
True! Aerosols can remain suspended in the atmosphere for days or weeks & can reflect incoming solar
radiation back to space, making their net effect to cool the climate. They can also affect cloud
formations, making clouds more reflective which is an additional cooling mechanism.
What are some examples of how humans generate aerosols?
-Sulfate Aerosols, which occur when fossil fuels containing sulfur impurities are burned & the sulfur is
released into the atmosphere where it it reacts with other atmospheric constituents to form small liquid
droplets.
-Black carbon aerosols such as soot.
-Mineral dust produced by agricultural activities, changes in surface water features & industrial
practices.
T/F: Emissions of water vapor into the atmosphere are largely driven by human factors.
False.
The main source of water vapor in the atmosphere is evaporation from the oceans, which is primarily
removed from the atmosphere when it falls as rain or snow. Because the amount of water in the
atmosphere is regulated by evaporation & condensation, it's fundamentally set by the earths
temperature.
T/F: Water vapors main role in climate change is to amplify changes caused by things like increasing
carbon dioxide.
True. This process is referred to as water vapor feedback.
Name 5 natural processes that can affect the climate.
Tectonic processes, output of the sun, orbital variations, unforced variability & greenhouse gases.
What was the conclusion of The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change in 2021?
It's unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean & land. Widespread rapid
changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere & biosphere have occurred.
, What is the likely range of human-caused global surface temperature increases for. 1850-1900 to 2010-
2019 per AR6?
0.8°C to 1.3°C, with a best estimate of 1.07°C
What is the name of the group that developed a set of 5 alternative pathways that it believes span the
range of different futures the world may experience over the next century or two, called the shared
socioeconomic pathways (SSPs)?
The Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium
What future possible world is described in SSP1?
A sustainable world where the world's economies gradually shift toward a more environmentally
friendly path. Through strenuous efforts to adopt renewable energy, emissions are currently peaking
and expect to decline throughout the rest of the century. Emissions are expected to go negative around
2075. Temperature increases for this scenario are 2°C/3.6°F above the preindustrial climate.
What future possible world is described in SSP2?
A world that follows the trends of our world today, with generally declining emissions over the 21st
century due to adoption of renewable energy—although the decline is at a slower pace than SSP1-and
the economic growth is similar to SSP1.
Temp increases are 3°C/5.4°F
What future possible world is described in SSP3?
A world where economic inequality gets worse, leading to increased conflict, slower economic growth &
adoption of new energy technologies, leaving the world almost entirely dependent on fossil fuels. This
leads to carbon dioxide emissions increasing through the century, reaching double todays values by
2100.
Temp increases are 4.5°C/8°F
What future possible world is described in SSP5?
A world somewhat similar to SSP1, however economic growth is emphasized over sustainability. As a
result, economic growth is high & fossil fuels power a significant portion of it, leading to emissions
increasing throughout the century, reaching more than triple todays values in the late 21st century.
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