GARP SCR
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1. About what percentage of heat trapped by About 93%
greenhouse gasses goes into heating the
oceans?
2. What are the 2 key contributing factors to The melting of ground ice &
the rise in sea level? water expanding as it heats
3. T/F: The warming over the past century is True
around 16 times faster than the average
rate of warming coming out of the last ice
age.
4. How can scientists use tree rings to extract Because tree growth follows
climate information? an annual cycle that is im-
printed in the rings in their
trunks, scientists can mea-
sure the size of rings & esti-
mate the local climate around
the tree for each year it was
alive.
5. What is the most important rule of the Energy Balance—The Ener-
Earth's climate? gy reaching earth from the
sun must be equal to the en-
ergy the earth radiates back
to space.
6. What is meant by greenhouse effect? Greenhouse gases are a part
of the atmosphere that ab-
sorb 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.
7. What Swedish scientist first recognized the Svante Arrhenius in 1896.
possibility that as the mass of greenhouse British engineer Guy Callen-
, GARP SCR
Study online at https://quizlet.com/_d2gnm0
gases in our atmosphere increases, the at- dar provided more supporting
mosphere traps more heat, leading to high- evidence for this possibility in
er temperatures? 1938.
8. What are the 3 simple molecules contained Nitrogen (N2), Oxygen (O2)
in Earths atmosphere that do not interact and Argon (Ar)
with infrared radiation & therefore generate
no greenhouse effect?
9. What is the most important greenhouse Water vapor, with carbon
gas? (Meaning it traps the most heat) dioxide as the next largest
contributor.
10. What is a Keeling Curve? The Keeling Curve, named
after Charles D. Keeling, is a
graph which plots the ongo-
ing change in concentration
of carbon dioxide in Earth's
atmosphere since 1957.
11. Scientists have observed that, for the last About half is absorbed into
50 years, the increase in carbon dioxide the ocean, leading to ocean
in the atmosphere averages 44% of what acidification & the other half
humans released that year. What happens is absorbed by the land bios-
to the other 56% of carbon dioxide released phere by enhanced growth.
by humans?
12. Methane is an important greenhouse gas. 1 kg of Methane = 28 kg of
While it's PPM increase in the atmosphere carbon dioxide
is much smaller compared to carbon diox-
ide, it's a significantly more powerful green-
house gas on a per-molecule basis.
What is the per molecule ratio measured
in kilograms of heat trapped between
methane & carbon monoxide?
13. What is Global Warming Potential (GWP)? The heat trapping power of
GHGs relative to carbon diox-
ide.
, GARP SCR
Study online at https://quizlet.com/_d2gnm0
14. What are the atmospheric lifetime & GWP 121 years & 265 GWP
of Nitrous Oxide?
15. What are the atmospheric lifetime & GWP Years to Millenia & 100s to
of halocarbons? 1000s GWP
16. T/F: Aerosols have a net effect to cool the True! Aerosols can remain
climate. suspended in the atmos-
phere for days or weeks &
can reflect incoming solar ra-
diation back to space, mak-
ing their net effect to cool
the climate. They can also af-
fect cloud formations, making
clouds more reflective which
is an additional cooling mech-
anism.
17. What are some examples of how humans -Sulfate Aerosols, which oc-
generate aerosols? cur when fossil fuels con-
taining sulfur impurities are
burned & the sulfur is re-
leased 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 fea-
tures & industrial practices.
18. T/F: Emissions of water vapor into the at- False.
mosphere are largely driven by human fac-
tors. The main source of water
vapor in the atmosphere is
evaporation from the oceans,
which is primarily removed
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