GARP Sustainability and Climate
Risk Exam latest edition
weather -ANSWER .....- exact state of the
atmosphere at a particular location and time
climate -ANSWER .....- long-term patterns or
trends of meteorological conditions (usually periods
>30 years)
climate change -ANSWER .....- change in the
statistical properties of the climate system when
considered over periods of decades
aka global warming
for how many years do we have observational
history of temperature change? -ANSWER .....-
150 years
how much has the earth warmed since 1860,
according to satellite thermometers? -ANSWER
.....- 1.1 C
how has the warming that has occurred in the last
150 years been distributed across the planet? -
,ANSWER .....- land has warmed more than
ocean; northern hemisphere warmed more than
tropics or southern hemisphere
% of population that lives in the northern hemisphere
-ANSWER .....- 85%
what are two pieces of indirect evidence that our
planet is warming? -ANSWER .....- 1 = ice on the
planet is disappearing
2 = the oceans are warming
% of heat trapped by GHG that goes into heating the
oceans -ANSWER .....- 93%
what are the two causes of rising sea levels? -
ANSWER .....- 1 = melting of grounded ice
2 = water expands when it warms
five ways to extract climate information pre-modern
measurements -ANSWER .....- 1 = tree rings
2 = corals
3 = speleothems
4 = ice cores
5 = ocean sediment cores
,tree rings -ANSWER .....- reveal climate
variations in regions where trees grow and
experience seasons for the last millennium
corals -ANSWER .....- analysis of skeletons can
yield climate conditions in ocean over millions of
years
speleothems -ANSWER .....- cave structures can
yield estimates of climate in nearby region over past
few 100,000 years
ice cores -ANSWER .....- measuring chemical
composition of ice (mainly in Greenland and
Antarctica) yields estimates of the climate over the
past 1M years
ocean sediment cores -ANSWER .....- analyzing
composition of mud at the bottom of the ocean
provides information about the climate covering
10M+ years
what evidence do we have that for millions of years
the climate has been generally cooling? -ANSWER
.....- 50M years ago, there was no permanent ice on
the planet
, what are the periods of cold and warmer called that
the planet cycles through? -ANSWER .....- ice
ages and interglacials
when did the last ice age end? -ANSWER .....-
10,000 years ago
holocene -ANSWER .....- current interglaciation
period, extending from 10,000 years ago to the
present on the geologic time scale
when did the temperature of the holocene peak? -
ANSWER .....- 7,000 years ago
what is the global average temperature difference
between an ice age and an interglacial? -ANSWER
.....- 6 C
how much faster is the average rate of warming over
the last century, as compared to coming out of the
last ice age? -ANSWER .....- 16 times
what is the source of the earth's climate? -ANSWER
.....- sun / visible radiation
how much energy does the sun provide and what %
of it is reflected back into space by clouds? -
ANSWER .....- 340 W/m^2
Risk Exam latest edition
weather -ANSWER .....- exact state of the
atmosphere at a particular location and time
climate -ANSWER .....- long-term patterns or
trends of meteorological conditions (usually periods
>30 years)
climate change -ANSWER .....- change in the
statistical properties of the climate system when
considered over periods of decades
aka global warming
for how many years do we have observational
history of temperature change? -ANSWER .....-
150 years
how much has the earth warmed since 1860,
according to satellite thermometers? -ANSWER
.....- 1.1 C
how has the warming that has occurred in the last
150 years been distributed across the planet? -
,ANSWER .....- land has warmed more than
ocean; northern hemisphere warmed more than
tropics or southern hemisphere
% of population that lives in the northern hemisphere
-ANSWER .....- 85%
what are two pieces of indirect evidence that our
planet is warming? -ANSWER .....- 1 = ice on the
planet is disappearing
2 = the oceans are warming
% of heat trapped by GHG that goes into heating the
oceans -ANSWER .....- 93%
what are the two causes of rising sea levels? -
ANSWER .....- 1 = melting of grounded ice
2 = water expands when it warms
five ways to extract climate information pre-modern
measurements -ANSWER .....- 1 = tree rings
2 = corals
3 = speleothems
4 = ice cores
5 = ocean sediment cores
,tree rings -ANSWER .....- reveal climate
variations in regions where trees grow and
experience seasons for the last millennium
corals -ANSWER .....- analysis of skeletons can
yield climate conditions in ocean over millions of
years
speleothems -ANSWER .....- cave structures can
yield estimates of climate in nearby region over past
few 100,000 years
ice cores -ANSWER .....- measuring chemical
composition of ice (mainly in Greenland and
Antarctica) yields estimates of the climate over the
past 1M years
ocean sediment cores -ANSWER .....- analyzing
composition of mud at the bottom of the ocean
provides information about the climate covering
10M+ years
what evidence do we have that for millions of years
the climate has been generally cooling? -ANSWER
.....- 50M years ago, there was no permanent ice on
the planet
, what are the periods of cold and warmer called that
the planet cycles through? -ANSWER .....- ice
ages and interglacials
when did the last ice age end? -ANSWER .....-
10,000 years ago
holocene -ANSWER .....- current interglaciation
period, extending from 10,000 years ago to the
present on the geologic time scale
when did the temperature of the holocene peak? -
ANSWER .....- 7,000 years ago
what is the global average temperature difference
between an ice age and an interglacial? -ANSWER
.....- 6 C
how much faster is the average rate of warming over
the last century, as compared to coming out of the
last ice age? -ANSWER .....- 16 times
what is the source of the earth's climate? -ANSWER
.....- sun / visible radiation
how much energy does the sun provide and what %
of it is reflected back into space by clouds? -
ANSWER .....- 340 W/m^2
