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GPH 213 EXAM 3 Questions and Answers
(Expert Solutions)
Q: External factors (e.g., solar constant) are known as _______:
ANS 🗹🗹: Forcing agents
Q: Feedback processes within the climate system are the result of ______:
ANS 🗹🗹: Intrinsic variability of the system
Q: A system that regulates itself depends on:
ANS 🗹🗹: negative feedback
Q: The time scale of climate change:
ANS 🗹🗹: is difficult to pin down for a wide variety of reasons
Q: In the US, how far south did the last major glaciation reach to?
ANS 🗹🗹: St. Louis & Seattle
Q: What do Millennial-scale oscillations (i.e., Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles) do?
ANS 🗹🗹: indicate the Earth flips back and forth between warmer states and colder
states.
Q: Of the past 2.5 billion years, what % have been ice ages?
ANS 🗹🗹: 10-20%
Q: Milankovitch cycles doesn't include:
ANS 🗹🗹: changes in the distance between the Earth and the moon.
Q: A period of minimal sunspot activity between about 1645 & 1715 is known as:
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ANS 🗹🗹: the Maunder Minimum
Q: What are factors involved in climate change?
ANS 🗹🗹: variations in Solar Output, movement of continental plates, & changes in
the Earth's Orbit
Q: [T or F] If boundary conditions do not change, then climate statistics will not change.
ANS 🗹🗹: False
Q: [T or F] The width of a tree ring depends upon the temp. and precipitation
characteristics prevalent during the year the ring was produced.
ANS 🗹🗹: True
Q: [T or F] An increase in surface covered with ice is expected to lead to a decrease in
albedo.
ANS 🗹🗹: False
Q: The primary reason of our (i.e., climat science community) non-use of tropical trees
for determination of past climates is:
ANS 🗹🗹: the climates associated with tropical trees undergo minimal variability
Q: [T or F] A key difference between the usage of tree rings and coral reefs as proxy
indicators of climate is that tree rings utilize the width of concentric circles and corals
require chemical analysis.
ANS 🗹🗹: True
Q: For most of Earth's history, our planet has been largely __________.
ANS 🗹🗹: Free of permanent ice
Q: [T or F] Let's assume a major Nor'Easter devastates the eastern seaboard with high
winds, beach erosion, and high snowfall amounts. This event was the result of
anthropogenic climate change.
ANS 🗹🗹: False
GPH 213 EXAM 3 Questions and Answers
(Expert Solutions)
Q: External factors (e.g., solar constant) are known as _______:
ANS 🗹🗹: Forcing agents
Q: Feedback processes within the climate system are the result of ______:
ANS 🗹🗹: Intrinsic variability of the system
Q: A system that regulates itself depends on:
ANS 🗹🗹: negative feedback
Q: The time scale of climate change:
ANS 🗹🗹: is difficult to pin down for a wide variety of reasons
Q: In the US, how far south did the last major glaciation reach to?
ANS 🗹🗹: St. Louis & Seattle
Q: What do Millennial-scale oscillations (i.e., Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles) do?
ANS 🗹🗹: indicate the Earth flips back and forth between warmer states and colder
states.
Q: Of the past 2.5 billion years, what % have been ice ages?
ANS 🗹🗹: 10-20%
Q: Milankovitch cycles doesn't include:
ANS 🗹🗹: changes in the distance between the Earth and the moon.
Q: A period of minimal sunspot activity between about 1645 & 1715 is known as:
, Page | 2
ANS 🗹🗹: the Maunder Minimum
Q: What are factors involved in climate change?
ANS 🗹🗹: variations in Solar Output, movement of continental plates, & changes in
the Earth's Orbit
Q: [T or F] If boundary conditions do not change, then climate statistics will not change.
ANS 🗹🗹: False
Q: [T or F] The width of a tree ring depends upon the temp. and precipitation
characteristics prevalent during the year the ring was produced.
ANS 🗹🗹: True
Q: [T or F] An increase in surface covered with ice is expected to lead to a decrease in
albedo.
ANS 🗹🗹: False
Q: The primary reason of our (i.e., climat science community) non-use of tropical trees
for determination of past climates is:
ANS 🗹🗹: the climates associated with tropical trees undergo minimal variability
Q: [T or F] A key difference between the usage of tree rings and coral reefs as proxy
indicators of climate is that tree rings utilize the width of concentric circles and corals
require chemical analysis.
ANS 🗹🗹: True
Q: For most of Earth's history, our planet has been largely __________.
ANS 🗹🗹: Free of permanent ice
Q: [T or F] Let's assume a major Nor'Easter devastates the eastern seaboard with high
winds, beach erosion, and high snowfall amounts. This event was the result of
anthropogenic climate change.
ANS 🗹🗹: False
