1. Over the last ~150 years, since the widespread burning of fossil fuels,
a. global mean temperatures have risen by almost 1ºC, but Arctic temperatures have increased far more.
b. Sea-level has risen by ~20cm.
c. global population has increased from 1.5 to 6.5 billion people.
d. atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) has increased from ~280 to ~405 ppmv
e. all of the above.
2. A long-term ‘paleoclimate’ perspective on climate change
a. suggests, the likelihood of long-term droughts occurring in the American Southwest and California, is almost
zero and these parts of the country are good places to grow cities.
b. Clearly shows that the recent warming over the last ~150 years is completely normal, relative to the similar,
sudden and extreme temperature changes seen over the last 1000-years in the famous ‘hockey stick’ graph.
c. are invalid for testing climate models or placing recent climate change in perspective, because paleoclimate
methods always fail to reproduce the recent climate change over the last century seen in instrumental records.
d. None of these statements are true.
3. Which of the following statements is incorrect?
Numerical Global Climate Models (GCMs) used to make future climate predictions…
a. are similar to regional weather-prediction models except that they cover the entire world and simulate decades-
centuries of weather (climate), rather than just a few days.
b. are the primary tool for making future climate predictions.
c. are formulated by breaking the world down into a three-dimensional grid of adjacent horizontal columns
extending up into the atmosphere and down into the ocean.
d. are typically much better at simulating clouds and regional precipitation patterns than they are at simulating
temperature.
e. are best tested by their ability to simulate past climates very different from present conditions.
4. Each of the years from 2014, 2015, and 2016
a. were the coldest on record, bringing serious doubt to the concept of ‘global warming’.
b. successively broke the record for being the warmest year (global average) ever seen in the instrumental record.
5. The ‘Anthropocene’ concept
a. suggests humans were only able to begin impacting global climate, after they had invented the internal
combustion (gasoline-driven) engine in the late 1800’s.
b. suggests humans have been impacting greenhouse gas concentrations and climate for thousands of years
through deforestation and agricultural practices, and have actually delayed our transition into the next ice age.
6. The burning of fossil fuel by humans
a. is quickly liberating carbon that has been stored (sequestered) by the Earth over millions of years as part of
natural organic carbon subcycle.
b. If unabated, will increase over the next century, to levels similar to those that existed during the ice-free warmth
of the Eocene, before the Antarctic ice sheet existed.
c. must be strongly controlled (starting now) by climate change policy (mitigation), as discussed at the COP21
Paris Climate Summit, if global temperature rise is to be limited to less than 2ºC.
d. all of the above.
7. The current input of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere:
a. is mostly caused by clear cutting of forests and agricultural practices.
b. is dominated by electricity generation by oil and coal fired power plants, but transportation is nearly as big a
contributor.
c. is mostly caused by the airline industry, due to the direct injection of CO2 into the atmosphere by airplanes.
8. China, with a population of ~1.3 billion people, is obviously far more populous than the U.S. with a population of ~300
million people.
a. However, the US emissions per capita (per person) are so great that the total emissions of each country is
nearly the same (with a just a slight edge in total emissions now going to China).
b. China is therefore responsible for most of the world’s cumulative carbon emissions over the last ~150 years,
and is therefore responsible for most of the 120 ppm rise CO2 since he beginning of the industrial revolution.
9. The global (average) warming, measured over the last 150 years…
a. has been concentrated over the tropical ocean regions.
b. has been concentrated over the polar regions, especially in the Northern Hemisphere.
c. Is comparable to many previous warming trends over the last thousand years, as shown by the iconic “hockey
stick” graph.
10. Warming in New England (remember the guest lecture by Prof. Rawlins) in recent decades has been less than in other
parts of the US, and is likely to continue to be less than the national average.
a. True
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a. global mean temperatures have risen by almost 1ºC, but Arctic temperatures have increased far more.
b. Sea-level has risen by ~20cm.
c. global population has increased from 1.5 to 6.5 billion people.
d. atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) has increased from ~280 to ~405 ppmv
e. all of the above.
2. A long-term ‘paleoclimate’ perspective on climate change
a. suggests, the likelihood of long-term droughts occurring in the American Southwest and California, is almost
zero and these parts of the country are good places to grow cities.
b. Clearly shows that the recent warming over the last ~150 years is completely normal, relative to the similar,
sudden and extreme temperature changes seen over the last 1000-years in the famous ‘hockey stick’ graph.
c. are invalid for testing climate models or placing recent climate change in perspective, because paleoclimate
methods always fail to reproduce the recent climate change over the last century seen in instrumental records.
d. None of these statements are true.
3. Which of the following statements is incorrect?
Numerical Global Climate Models (GCMs) used to make future climate predictions…
a. are similar to regional weather-prediction models except that they cover the entire world and simulate decades-
centuries of weather (climate), rather than just a few days.
b. are the primary tool for making future climate predictions.
c. are formulated by breaking the world down into a three-dimensional grid of adjacent horizontal columns
extending up into the atmosphere and down into the ocean.
d. are typically much better at simulating clouds and regional precipitation patterns than they are at simulating
temperature.
e. are best tested by their ability to simulate past climates very different from present conditions.
4. Each of the years from 2014, 2015, and 2016
a. were the coldest on record, bringing serious doubt to the concept of ‘global warming’.
b. successively broke the record for being the warmest year (global average) ever seen in the instrumental record.
5. The ‘Anthropocene’ concept
a. suggests humans were only able to begin impacting global climate, after they had invented the internal
combustion (gasoline-driven) engine in the late 1800’s.
b. suggests humans have been impacting greenhouse gas concentrations and climate for thousands of years
through deforestation and agricultural practices, and have actually delayed our transition into the next ice age.
6. The burning of fossil fuel by humans
a. is quickly liberating carbon that has been stored (sequestered) by the Earth over millions of years as part of
natural organic carbon subcycle.
b. If unabated, will increase over the next century, to levels similar to those that existed during the ice-free warmth
of the Eocene, before the Antarctic ice sheet existed.
c. must be strongly controlled (starting now) by climate change policy (mitigation), as discussed at the COP21
Paris Climate Summit, if global temperature rise is to be limited to less than 2ºC.
d. all of the above.
7. The current input of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere:
a. is mostly caused by clear cutting of forests and agricultural practices.
b. is dominated by electricity generation by oil and coal fired power plants, but transportation is nearly as big a
contributor.
c. is mostly caused by the airline industry, due to the direct injection of CO2 into the atmosphere by airplanes.
8. China, with a population of ~1.3 billion people, is obviously far more populous than the U.S. with a population of ~300
million people.
a. However, the US emissions per capita (per person) are so great that the total emissions of each country is
nearly the same (with a just a slight edge in total emissions now going to China).
b. China is therefore responsible for most of the world’s cumulative carbon emissions over the last ~150 years,
and is therefore responsible for most of the 120 ppm rise CO2 since he beginning of the industrial revolution.
9. The global (average) warming, measured over the last 150 years…
a. has been concentrated over the tropical ocean regions.
b. has been concentrated over the polar regions, especially in the Northern Hemisphere.
c. Is comparable to many previous warming trends over the last thousand years, as shown by the iconic “hockey
stick” graph.
10. Warming in New England (remember the guest lecture by Prof. Rawlins) in recent decades has been less than in other
parts of the US, and is likely to continue to be less than the national average.
a. True
This study source was downloaded by 100000889810302 from CourseHero.com on 10-04-2025 15:17:55 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/31986973/Exam3pdf/
