SUSTAINABILITY AND CLIMATE RISK GARP SCR EXAM
LATEST ACTUAL EXAM 300 REAL EXAM QUESTIONS
AND CORRECT DETAILED ANSWERS (VERIFIED
ANSWERS) |ALREADY GRADED A+
Weather - ANSWER: Refers to the exact state of the atmosphere at a particular
location and time
Climate - ANSWER: Refers to the long-term patterns or statistics of the weather
Climate Change - ANSWER: Describes the long-term difference in the statistics of
weather measured over multi-decadal periods. (Used interchangeably w/ global
warming)
IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) - ANSWER: 1. Body of the United
Nations
2. Job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change cause by human
activities
Tree Rings - ANSWER: Reveals climate variations in regions where trees grow and
experience seasons for the past millennium
Corals - ANSWER: Analysis of the skeletons of these sea creatures can yield climate
conditions in the ocean over millions of years
Ice Cores - ANSWER: Measuring the chemical composition of ice (mainly in
Greenland and Antarctica) yields estimates of the climate over the past million years
Speleothems - ANSWER: cave structures like stalagmites or stalactites can yield
estimates of the climate in the region over the past hundred thousand years
Ocean Sediment Cores - ANSWER: Analyzing the composition of the mud at the
bottom of the ocean yields estimates of the climate over the past tens of millions of
years
Current Warming - ANSWER: Warming over the past century (~1 degree C) is around
16x faster than the average rate of warming coming out of the last ice age (roughly 6
degress C in 10,000 years -- 0.06 degree C/century)
Energy Balance - ANSWER: 1. Source of energy for Earth's climate is sunlight
2. 30% of sunlight is reflected to space by clouds
3. Energy reaching the Earth from the Sun must be equal to the energy the Earth
radiates back to space which equals the temperature of the climate system
Methane - ANSWER: More powerful than CO2 on per-molecule basis (28 GWP)
,-Atmospheric Lifetime: 12.4 years
GWP - ANSWER: Global Warming Potential
Nitrous Oxide (N20) - ANSWER: A greenhouse gas that comes from using nitrogen
fertilizers and from burning fossil fuels
-Atmospheric Lifetime: 121 years
Ozone (O3) - ANSWER: A secondary pollutant made up of three oxygen atoms bound
together.
-Atmospheric Lifetime: Weeks to Months
Greenhouse Effect Constituents - ANSWER: 1. Water Vapor (H20)
2. Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
3. Ohers like Methane
Earth's Atmosphere - ANSWER: Consists mostly of:
1. Molecular Nitrogen (N2)
2. Oxygen (O2)
3. Inert Gas Argon (Ar)
Aerosols - ANSWER: tiny solid particles or liquid droplets that remain suspended in
the atmosphere for a long time
-can affect planetary energy balance because they reflect incoming solar radiation
back to space
-net effect: cooling the climate*
Water Vapor (H2O) - ANSWER: Most important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere --
> meaning it traps the most heat
1. abundance is set by the temperature
2. contributes essentially nothing to atmospheric abundance
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) - ANSWER: Second largest contributor to greenhouse gas in
the atmosphere
1. Increase is primarily due to the combustion of fossil fuels
2. Air bubbles trapped in glacial ice --> measure chemical composition of CO2
through time
-Atmospheric Lifetime: 500 years
Natural Climate Processes (Greenhouse Gases) - ANSWER: Major cause of modern
global warming (over past 2 centuries)
Natural Climate Processes (Unforced Variability) - ANSWER: Example: El
Nino/Southern Oscillation - (an irregularly occurring and complex series of climatic
changes affecting the equatorial Pacific region and beyond every few years,
characterized by the appearance of unusually warm, nutrient-poor water off
northern Peru and Ecuador, typically in late December)
, -Minor role in modern global warming
Natural Climate Processes (Orbital Variations) - ANSWER: Changes in 3 ways:
1. Shape of the orbit (less/more elliptical) - over 100,000 years
2. Tilt of the Earth - over 41,000 years
3. Date of the closest approach of Earth to Sun - over 23,000 years
-NOT a cause for modern global warming
Natural Climate Processes (Output of the Sun) - ANSWER: Ultimate energy source for
the climate system (Sun)
1. Has changed little over the last few hundred years
-NOT a cause for modern global warming
Natural Climate Processes (Tectonic Processes) - ANSWER: Very slow process
-NOT a cause for modern global warming
SSP - ANSWER: shared socioeconomic pathways describe potential future
socioeconomic dynamics in the absence of climate policy (e.g., population,
education, urbanization, etc. )
SSP1 - ANSWER: a sustainable world where the world's economies gradually shift
toward a more environmentally friendly path
SSP2 - ANSWER: a world that follows the trends of our world today, leading to
generally declining emissions over the twenty-first century due to widespread
adoption of renewable energy (although slower than in SSP1)
-it seems that the SSP2 emissions scenario is the one we are on track to follow most
closely
SSP3 - ANSWER: a world where economic inequality gets worse, leading to increasing
conflict between regions. Because of this, economic growth is slow and adoption of
new energy technology is also slow, leaving the world almost entirely dependent on
fossil fuels
SSP5 - ANSWER: a world similar in many ways to SSP1, but it is one that emphasizes
economic growth rather than sus-tainability. As a result, economic growth in this
world is very high and fossil fuels power a significant fraction of this growth
Precipitation - ANSWER: As the sur-face temperature increases, there is an increase
in the rate of evaporation at the surface. Because precipitation must balance
evaporation, precipitation must therefore also increase. More quantitatively, total
global precipitation is projected to increase by about 3% for every degree Celsius of
global average warming.
-"wet gets wetter, dry gets drier"
-Changes in precipitation will hurt society. As with all other aspects of the climate,
societies adapt in important ways to the amount and timing of rainfall. Changes will
require construction of costly new infrastructure to protect against flood events in
LATEST ACTUAL EXAM 300 REAL EXAM QUESTIONS
AND CORRECT DETAILED ANSWERS (VERIFIED
ANSWERS) |ALREADY GRADED A+
Weather - ANSWER: Refers to the exact state of the atmosphere at a particular
location and time
Climate - ANSWER: Refers to the long-term patterns or statistics of the weather
Climate Change - ANSWER: Describes the long-term difference in the statistics of
weather measured over multi-decadal periods. (Used interchangeably w/ global
warming)
IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) - ANSWER: 1. Body of the United
Nations
2. Job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change cause by human
activities
Tree Rings - ANSWER: Reveals climate variations in regions where trees grow and
experience seasons for the past millennium
Corals - ANSWER: Analysis of the skeletons of these sea creatures can yield climate
conditions in the ocean over millions of years
Ice Cores - ANSWER: Measuring the chemical composition of ice (mainly in
Greenland and Antarctica) yields estimates of the climate over the past million years
Speleothems - ANSWER: cave structures like stalagmites or stalactites can yield
estimates of the climate in the region over the past hundred thousand years
Ocean Sediment Cores - ANSWER: Analyzing the composition of the mud at the
bottom of the ocean yields estimates of the climate over the past tens of millions of
years
Current Warming - ANSWER: Warming over the past century (~1 degree C) is around
16x faster than the average rate of warming coming out of the last ice age (roughly 6
degress C in 10,000 years -- 0.06 degree C/century)
Energy Balance - ANSWER: 1. Source of energy for Earth's climate is sunlight
2. 30% of sunlight is reflected to space by clouds
3. Energy reaching the Earth from the Sun must be equal to the energy the Earth
radiates back to space which equals the temperature of the climate system
Methane - ANSWER: More powerful than CO2 on per-molecule basis (28 GWP)
,-Atmospheric Lifetime: 12.4 years
GWP - ANSWER: Global Warming Potential
Nitrous Oxide (N20) - ANSWER: A greenhouse gas that comes from using nitrogen
fertilizers and from burning fossil fuels
-Atmospheric Lifetime: 121 years
Ozone (O3) - ANSWER: A secondary pollutant made up of three oxygen atoms bound
together.
-Atmospheric Lifetime: Weeks to Months
Greenhouse Effect Constituents - ANSWER: 1. Water Vapor (H20)
2. Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
3. Ohers like Methane
Earth's Atmosphere - ANSWER: Consists mostly of:
1. Molecular Nitrogen (N2)
2. Oxygen (O2)
3. Inert Gas Argon (Ar)
Aerosols - ANSWER: tiny solid particles or liquid droplets that remain suspended in
the atmosphere for a long time
-can affect planetary energy balance because they reflect incoming solar radiation
back to space
-net effect: cooling the climate*
Water Vapor (H2O) - ANSWER: Most important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere --
> meaning it traps the most heat
1. abundance is set by the temperature
2. contributes essentially nothing to atmospheric abundance
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) - ANSWER: Second largest contributor to greenhouse gas in
the atmosphere
1. Increase is primarily due to the combustion of fossil fuels
2. Air bubbles trapped in glacial ice --> measure chemical composition of CO2
through time
-Atmospheric Lifetime: 500 years
Natural Climate Processes (Greenhouse Gases) - ANSWER: Major cause of modern
global warming (over past 2 centuries)
Natural Climate Processes (Unforced Variability) - ANSWER: Example: El
Nino/Southern Oscillation - (an irregularly occurring and complex series of climatic
changes affecting the equatorial Pacific region and beyond every few years,
characterized by the appearance of unusually warm, nutrient-poor water off
northern Peru and Ecuador, typically in late December)
, -Minor role in modern global warming
Natural Climate Processes (Orbital Variations) - ANSWER: Changes in 3 ways:
1. Shape of the orbit (less/more elliptical) - over 100,000 years
2. Tilt of the Earth - over 41,000 years
3. Date of the closest approach of Earth to Sun - over 23,000 years
-NOT a cause for modern global warming
Natural Climate Processes (Output of the Sun) - ANSWER: Ultimate energy source for
the climate system (Sun)
1. Has changed little over the last few hundred years
-NOT a cause for modern global warming
Natural Climate Processes (Tectonic Processes) - ANSWER: Very slow process
-NOT a cause for modern global warming
SSP - ANSWER: shared socioeconomic pathways describe potential future
socioeconomic dynamics in the absence of climate policy (e.g., population,
education, urbanization, etc. )
SSP1 - ANSWER: a sustainable world where the world's economies gradually shift
toward a more environmentally friendly path
SSP2 - ANSWER: a world that follows the trends of our world today, leading to
generally declining emissions over the twenty-first century due to widespread
adoption of renewable energy (although slower than in SSP1)
-it seems that the SSP2 emissions scenario is the one we are on track to follow most
closely
SSP3 - ANSWER: a world where economic inequality gets worse, leading to increasing
conflict between regions. Because of this, economic growth is slow and adoption of
new energy technology is also slow, leaving the world almost entirely dependent on
fossil fuels
SSP5 - ANSWER: a world similar in many ways to SSP1, but it is one that emphasizes
economic growth rather than sus-tainability. As a result, economic growth in this
world is very high and fossil fuels power a significant fraction of this growth
Precipitation - ANSWER: As the sur-face temperature increases, there is an increase
in the rate of evaporation at the surface. Because precipitation must balance
evaporation, precipitation must therefore also increase. More quantitatively, total
global precipitation is projected to increase by about 3% for every degree Celsius of
global average warming.
-"wet gets wetter, dry gets drier"
-Changes in precipitation will hurt society. As with all other aspects of the climate,
societies adapt in important ways to the amount and timing of rainfall. Changes will
require construction of costly new infrastructure to protect against flood events in
