Question

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EARTH 10

Please chose the correct answer:

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1. What does the water vapor feedback mechanism do in response to warming?

a. It shuts down and waits until the planet cools off

b. Atmospheric water vapor will decrease, leading to more warming, so this is a positive feedback

c. Atmsopheric water vapor will increase, leading to cooling, which causes the ice sheets to grow, further cooling the planet

d. Water vapor will increase in the air which leads to more warming, and snow and ice will therefore shrink, amplifying the warming

e. It leads to a catstrophic runaway condition that results in the worlds oceans evaporating completley, turning the Earth into something like Venus

2.2. If the atmospheric concentration of CO2 is doubled, and the Earth system is allowed to come into equilibrium with this

a. The total warming is expected to be about 1 degree C (1.8 degrees F), and this is called the climate sensitivity

b. The total warming is expected to be about 1 degree F (about 0.6 degree C), and this is called the climate sensitivity

c. The CO2 by itself will cause a warming of about 3 degrees C (5.4 degrees F),

d. The CO2 by itself will cause a warming of just over 1 degree C (1.8 degrees F), which is called the climate sensitivity, but feedbacks will then amplify this to about 1.8 degrees C (about 3.2 degrees F)

e. The CO2 will cool the Earth by 3 degrees C (5.4 degrees F)

3. Climate scientists claim that CO2 has risen recently to levels that have not been seen in the history of humankind. How do they know this?

a. They run computer models backwards from the present into the past; no direct measurments are made

b. They are extrapolating backwards from measurements made in the last few years

c. From the dawn of humankind, people have made measurements of atmospheric CO2, and archeologists have recently discovered these records

d. They are basing this on direct measurements of the atmosphere over the last 60 years or so, and overlapping ice-core data that extend back about 800,000 years

e. It comes from tree ring studies, using a theoretical relationship between temperature and CO2 concentration

4. Atmospheric CO2 has changed recently. Why?

a. Either because of human burning of fossil fuel, or increased volcanic action, or outgassing of the ocean; there is really no way to tell these apart

b. Because of increased volcanic activity, as shown by the large number of volcanoes in the news in recent years

c. Because of the combination of increased volcanic activity and oceanic outgassing, as shown by the news about volcanoes and the loss of CO2 from the ocean

d. Primarily because of human fossil-fuel burning, as shown by the match between the amount burned and the rising atmospheric and oceanic concentration, the lack of notable change in volcanism, and by atmospheric tracers that identify fossil-fuel CO2

e. Primarily because of hot air from politicians giving talks about global warming

Answer 1

d. Water vapor will increase in the air which leads to more warming, and snow and ice will therefore shrink, amplifying the warming.

d. The CO2 by itself will cause a warming of just over 1 degree C (1.8 degrees F), which is called the climate sensitivity, but feedbacks will then amplify this to about 1.8 degrees C (about 3.2 degrees F).

d. They are basing this on direct measurements of the atmosphere over the last 60 years or so, and overlapping ice-core data that extend back about 800,000 years.

d. Primarily because of human fossil-fuel burning, as shown by the match between the amount burned and the rising atmospheric and oceanic concentration, the lack of notable change in volcanism, and by atmospheric tracers that identify fossil-fuel CO2.