Exam 18: Global Climate

The fact that we find glacial features near sea level in Africa today is explained by the ____.

Particles that reduce the amount of sunlight reaching Earth's surface tend to cause ____ of the surface air during the ____.

The slow shifting of the continents and the ocean floors is explained in the widely accepted theory of ____________________.

Some of the oxygen in seawater is composed of 8 protons and ____________________ neutrons, giving it an atomic weight of 18.

The greater the ____ of Earth's orbit, the greater the variation in solar energy it receives between its closest and farthest approach to the Sun.

Thick sheets of ice advanced over North America as far south as New York as recently as ____.

The use of global-scale technological fixes to counter climate change by either removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere or by changing the amount of sunlight that reaches Earth is called ____.

Even a rise in global temperature of several degrees Celsius might be enough to raise sea level by ____ or more.

How does the Theory of Plate Tectonics explain climate change over periods of millions of years?

The water vapor-greenhouse feedback represents a positive feedback mechanism.

What are some natural ways in which particles can enter the atmosphere? What is the effect of these particles on the climate?

Glaciers form over land where temperatures are sufficiently low so that, during the course of a year, ____.

More than 90 percent of the energy trapped by increased greenhouse gases in recent decades has gone not into the atmosphere but into the ____.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), "extremely likely" means a probability of at least ____ percent.

Throughout much of Earth's history, the global climate was probably much warmer than it is today.

A warm spell called the Bölling-Alleröd period occurred about 6,000 years ago.

The most recent glacial period, called the ____________________, began about 2.5 million years ago.

Explain why the chemical weathering-CO₂ feedback is a negative feedback on Earth's climate system.

When an oceanic plate encounters a lighter continental plate, it responds by diving under it in a process called ____________________.

How could the modification of the Amazon rainforest by humans influence climate change?