12th grade weather and climate

Question 1

Is this a positive or negative climate feedback: melting ice exposes darker ocean that absorbs more sunlight?

• A. positive feedback (amplifies warming)
• B. negative feedback (reduces warming)

Question 2

Forest has an albedo of 0.15 (it reflects that fraction of sunlight). If 300 W/m² of sunlight arrives, how much is absorbed, in W/m²?

Answer W/m²

Question 3

What are Milankovitch cycles?

• A. daily changes in weather
• B. yearly ocean tides
• C. the 11-year sunspot cycle
• D. slow changes in Earth's orbit and tilt that pace ice ages over tens of thousands of years

Question 4

Is this a positive or negative climate feedback: melting ice exposes darker ocean that absorbs more sunlight?

• A. positive feedback (amplifies warming)
• B. negative feedback (reduces warming)

Question 5

Sea ice has an albedo of 0.6 (it reflects that fraction of sunlight). If 400 W/m² of sunlight arrives, how much is absorbed, in W/m²?

Answer W/m²

Question 6

Why can Milankovitch cycles not explain today's warming?

• A. They only affect Mars
• B. They stopped working in 1900
• C. They cause cooling only
• D. They act over thousands of years, but today's warming has happened in about 150 years

Question 7

Is this a positive or negative climate feedback: a warmer Earth radiates more energy to space?

• A. positive feedback (amplifies warming)
• B. negative feedback (reduces warming)

Question 8

Open ocean has an albedo of 0.06 (it reflects that fraction of sunlight). If 400 W/m² of sunlight arrives, how much is absorbed, in W/m²?

Answer W/m²

Question 9

What are Milankovitch cycles?

• A. the 11-year sunspot cycle
• B. daily changes in weather
• C. slow changes in Earth's orbit and tilt that pace ice ages over tens of thousands of years
• D. yearly ocean tides

Question 10

Is this a positive or negative climate feedback: melting ice exposes darker ocean that absorbs more sunlight?

• A. positive feedback (amplifies warming)
• B. negative feedback (reduces warming)

Question 11

Desert sand has an albedo of 0.4 (it reflects that fraction of sunlight). If 200 W/m² of sunlight arrives, how much is absorbed, in W/m²?

Answer W/m²

Question 12

Why do large volcanic eruptions sometimes cool the planet for a year or two?

• A. Volcanoes release huge amounts of ice
• B. Sulfur gases form tiny droplets high in the atmosphere that reflect sunlight
• C. Lava cools the oceans
• D. Ash absorbs all the CO₂

Question 13

Is this a positive or negative climate feedback: melting ice exposes darker ocean that absorbs more sunlight?

• A. positive feedback (amplifies warming)
• B. negative feedback (reduces warming)

Question 14

Open ocean has an albedo of 0.06 (it reflects that fraction of sunlight). If 300 W/m² of sunlight arrives, how much is absorbed, in W/m²?

Answer W/m²

Question 15

Why might a "tipping point" in the climate system be especially worrying?

• A. Past a threshold, change can become self-sustaining and hard to reverse
• B. It makes the climate change back instantly
• C. It only affects weather for one day
• D. It reduces sea level

Question 16

Is this a positive or negative climate feedback: melting ice exposes darker ocean that absorbs more sunlight?

• A. positive feedback (amplifies warming)
• B. negative feedback (reduces warming)