Term
| What are some observed climate changes since the turn of the century? |
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Definition
| warming, small sea level rise, areas affected by drought have increased, heave waves more freq. and longer. |
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Term
| What are two reasons that the sea level has risen? |
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Definition
| thermal expansion of seawater, melting of land ice |
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Term
| Where does the warming diurnally mostly occur? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are the affects of warming in winter and where does it occur? |
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Definition
| high cont N. lat, stable air masses more easily influenced by land. previously snowed over land, changes in albedo. |
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Term
| How have sulfate aerosols changed over time? |
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Definition
| major increase in them from 1930-1970. Forcing caused cooling globally. has gone away after regulations |
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Term
| How will global precipitation change with global warming? |
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Definition
| the subtropics will get drier, high latitude wet areas will get wetter |
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Term
| How are the glaciers and frozen ground affected by global warming? |
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Definition
they are retreating. more anomalies of snow cover annually.
more melting precip |
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Term
| How do diurnal decreases in cold nights negatively affect things? |
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Definition
| when there is a heat wave, people can't recover because the night is not cool |
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Term
| What are factors to consider in Climate Modeling/ |
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Definition
| radiation, dynamics, surface processes, resolution [space and time] |
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Term
| What are the different types of Climate Models? |
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Definition
| energy balance, radiative-convective, statistical-dynamic, general circulation models |
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Term
| What are the two perspectives climate can be approached from? |
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Definition
| statistical/empirical, dynamic |
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Term
| What is the Global Circulation Model? |
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Definition
| divide earth surface into cells, cell divided into vert. layers. calculate temp and radiation at surface, up and down gridlines, energy exchange poleward and N-E |
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Term
| What are some anthropogenic impacts on atm composition/ |
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Definition
| greenhouse gases, aerosols |
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Term
| What are some anthropogenic impacts from land cover change. |
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Definition
| albedo, carbon cycle, hydrologic cycle, urban heat island |
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Term
| What is the global warming potential of a gas? |
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Definition
| the effectiveness to absorb energy |
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Term
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Definition
| CO2, Nitrous, Methane, Sulfate Aerosols, H2O vapor, Ozone |
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Term
| Name the natural sources and anthropogenic sources of aerosols |
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Definition
natural - volcanoes
humans - combustion of fuels and biomass. Black C soot. |
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Term
| What is an Urban Heat Island? |
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Definition
| area of elevated temperature above a city, where there is less of a cool down at night. |
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Term
| How does changing the land surface to build a city impact the temperature? |
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Definition
| there is less water free, so the energy turns into sensible heat instead of latent heat. |
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Term
| What is common about the 6 different modeling scenarios for climate change? |
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Definition
| all of them project warming for the next century. diverge at the end of scenarios |
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