The Oceans And Climate Disruption Test Bank Answers Ch.16

Investigating Oceanography, 3e (Sverdrup)

Chapter 16 The Oceans and Climate Disruption

1) If humans were not present on Earth, climate would remain constant.

2) The anthrosphere includes human modifications to the environment.

3) A negative feedback mechanism works to enhance a change in the environment.

4) Proxies are indirect estimates of temperature, ocean salinity, precipitation, and other environmental parameters.

5) Climate change can be related to plate tectonic activity.

6) Rapid changes in Earth's climate are referred to as climate disruptions.

7) The greenhouse effect refers to the warming of Earth's climate caused by increased plant respiration.

8) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that Earth's temperature will remain constant for the next few decades.

9) Paleoproxies are direct measurements of historical environmental variables such as temperature.

10) Despite increasing model complexity and result accuracy, climate prediction models always include some degree of uncertainty.

11) Ocean acidification is sometimes called "the other CO2 problem."

12) North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) formation may become more sluggish, but is unlikely to shut down in the next 100 years.

13) Warmer global seawater temperatures are expected to slow down the microbial loop.

14) Scientists overwhelmingly agree that Earth's climate is undergoing an abrupt increase in temperature.

15) We can mitigate abrupt climate change in the short term by not using fossil fuels.

16) Proposals to directly manipulate Earth's climate are called "geoengineering."

17) The Kyoto Protocol and the Copenhagen Accord are binding agreements requiring countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

18) Large-scale iron fertilization could lead to enhanced hypoxia or anoxia.

19) Polar bears are expected to lose less than 50 percent of their summer habitat by the year 2100.

20) The tilt of the Earth (or obliquity) can change rapidly, resulting in abrupt climate change.

21) Earth's climate is comprised of all of the following except ________.

A) precipitation

B) temperature

C) the atmosphere

D) wind

E) weather

22) On average, Earth's surface albedo is about ________.

A) 2 percent

B) 7 percent

C) 31 percent

D) 52 percent

23) The CLAW hypothesis links increasing ocean temperature to the production of more ________.

A) oxygen

B) dimethyl sulfide

C) hydrogen peroxide

D) carbon dioxide

24) Cloud condensation nuclei include ________.

A) dimethyl sulfide

B) sea salt

C) organic compounds

D) pollutants

E) All of these choices are correct.

F) None of these choices is correct.

25) Milankovich cycles are oscillations in Earth's solar energy and variations in Earth's orbit occurring at ________.

A) 23,000 to 400,000 years

B) hundreds of years

C) 10,000 to 50,000 years

D) millions of years

26) A period of abrupt cooling that occurred (geologically) recently from about 1350–1850 is called the ________.

A) Great Freeze

B) Little Ice Age

C) Stormageddon

D) Perfect Storm

27) Rapid cooling of Earth's climate can be caused by ________.

A) volcanic activity

B) plate tectonics

C) solar flares

D) changes in Earth's orbit

28) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in ________.

A) 1988

B) 1970

C) 1995

D) 2002

29) The most abundant greenhouse gas in Earth's atmosphere is ________.

A) oxygen

B) carbon dioxide

C) methane

D) tropospheric ozone

30) Without greenhouse gases, Earth's average temperature would be about ________.

A) -40°C

B) -18°C

C) 0°C

D) 15°C

31) Man-made chemicals such as CFCs can exhibit ________ times more greenhouse potential than carbon dioxide.

A) 0.24 to 0.53

B) 10 to 50

C) 200 to 2000

D) 12000 to 15000

32) The Vostok ice core provides direct measurements of all the following except ________.

A) dust

B) methane

C) carbon dioxide

D) temperature

33) Carbon dioxide molecules last, on average, ________ years in the atmosphere

A) 2

B) 12

C) 100

D) 200

34) The Berkeley Earth Team estimates that Earth's average temperature increased about ________ since the 1950s.

A) 0.1°C

B) 0.5°C

C) 1.0°C

D) 2.0°C

E) 5.0°C

35) Climate models used in the IPCC Assessment Reports have been improved by including ________.

A) more complex feedbacks

B) higher spatial resolution

C) higher temporal resolution

D) All of these choices are correct

36) Scientists have been able to evaluate changes in ocean temperature profiles over more than 100 years by comparing modern instrument float records to data obtained during the ________.

A) HMS Challenger expedition

B) Glomar Explorer expedition

C) Beagle expedition

D) Meteor expedition

37) Scientists have reported increased temperatures at depths greater than ________ in the North Atlantic where thermohaline circulation rapidly transports surface water to depth.

A) 200 m

B) 800 m

C) 1600 m

D) 2000 m

38) Increased CO2 in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution has resulted in lower surface ocean pH of about ________ pH units.

A) 0.01

B) 0.1

C) 1.0

D) 5.0

39) Decreasing ocean pH can directly result in all of the following except ________.

A) increased metal solubility

B) changes in phytoplankton growth

C) expansion of hypoxic dead zones

D) declines in calcifying organisms

40) Sea level can rise in response to ________.

A) thermal expansion

B) atmospheric pressure changes

C) changes in sea ice extent

D) All of these choices are correct.

41) North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) formation may be impacted by climate change because of ________.

A) increased precipitation at higher latitudes

B) decreased surface water density

C) increased water column stability

D) All of these choices are correct.

E) None of these choices is correct.

42) Changes to North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) could result in ________.

A) rapid warming of the U.S. east coast

B) rapid cooling similar to the Little Ice Age

C) no change in Earth's climate

D) increased precipitation at high latitudes

43) A warmer ocean has been linked to ________.

A) decreases in disease outbreaks

B) migration of species poleward and deeper

C) declines in the microbial loop

D) increases in nutrients from deep-water sources

44) To detect trends in primary productivity related to climate change, scientists need ________ years of global data, such as can be obtained from ocean color satellites.

A) 10 to 15

B) 20 to 40

C) 30 to 50

D) more than 100

45) Sources of renewable ocean energy include all of the following except ________.

A) wind, wave, current, and tidal power

B) salinity and thermal gradients

C) algal biofuels

D) methane hydrates extracted from the deep ocean

46) Algal biofuels are considered viable alternatives to land-based crops such as corn and soybeans because ________.

A) algae do not compete with food production

B) growing algae does not require farmland

C) algae can be grown on wastewater

D) All of these choices are correct.

E) None of these choices is correct.

47) Geoengineering proposals to mitigate climate change include ________.

A) large-scale iron fertilization

B) enhancement of deep-water formation

C) increasing rates of denitrification

D) development of wind turbine farms in the open ocean

48) Potential issues with direct injection of CO2 into the deep ocean include all of the following except ________.

A) potential acidification

B) the legal basis for injecting carbon

C) potential impacts to the deep-ocean ecosystem

D) uncertainly in how long the CO2 would stay at depth

E) All of these choices are correct.

F) None of these choices is correct.

49) Large-scale fertilization of the ocean to stimulate blooms and draw down carbon have been proposed using ________.

A) iron

B) phosphorus

C) urea

D) All of these choices are correct.

E) None of these choices is correct.

50) The Copenhagen Accord ________.

A) was led by Denmark

B) recommended a target of no more than 2°C rise in global temperature

C) is a binding agreement

D) established specific targets for greenhouse gas emissions

51) Gradual climate change is not caused by changes in Earth's ________.

A) eccentricity

B) obliquity

C) precession

D) volcanic activity

52) Periods of Earth's history with extensive sea ice result in enhanced albedo, leading to more cooling. This is referred to as ________.

A) the CLAW hypothesis

B) positive feedback

C) negative feedback

D) abrupt climate change

53) Records indicating rapidly rising temperature of about 1°C since the the 1950s provides evidence for ________.

A) uncertainties and errors in the data

B) volcanic activity

C) natural variability of Earth's climate

D) human-induced climate change

54) According to a 2014 report conducted by Yale University and George Mason University, the majority of the public surveyed in the United States agreed that global warming is occurring, and ________ believed it was caused primarily by human activities.

A) 10 percent

B) 25 percent

C) 50 percent

D) 75 percent

E) 90 percent

55) Potential sources of energy that can be obtained from the sea include all of the following except ________.

A) tides

B) waves

C) currents

D) differences in temperature between deep and shallow water

E) polymetallic nodules

56) Changes to any one component of Earth's climate system result in predictable changes to climate.

57) Cloud formation is an example of a positive-feedback mechanism that modulates climate.

58) A climate proxy provides indirect evidence for historical changes in climate.

59) If there were no gases in Earth's atmosphere, the average surface temperature would be similar to the 1840s before the Industrial Revolution.

60) A decrease in pH of about 0.1 pH units is very small and is unlikely to have negative consequences on marine organisms.

61) Fertilization of the ocean with iron to enhance carbon sequestration is an example of geoengineering.

62) Less than half of the U.S. population agreed that global warming is occurring, according to a 2014 survey.

63) The albedo, or reflectivity, increases (from lowest to highest) in which sequence?

A) ocean; grassland; snow; asphalt

B) asphalt; ocean; grassland; snow

C) asphalt; grassland; ocean; snow

D) snow; grassland; ocean; asphalt

E) ocean; asphalt; grassland; snow

64) Earth's climate changes on timescales of about 23,000 to 400,000 years caused by ________.

A) plate tectonics

B) human activity

C) volcanic eruptions

D) Milankovich cycles

E) sun spots

65) The relative contribution of common gases in the atmosphere increase as a percentage of the greenhouse effect in which of the following going from lowest to highest percentage?

A) carbon dioxide; methane; CFC-11; CFC-12

B) CFC-12; CFC-11; methane; carbon dioxide

C) CFC-11; CFC-12; carbon dioxide; methane

D) methane; carbon dioxide; CFC-11; CFC-12

E) methane; CFC-11; CFC-12; carbon dioxide

66) The Greenhouse gas with the greatest greenhouse potential is ________.

A) Carbon dioxide

B) Methane

C) Ozone

D) CFC-11

E) CFC-12

67) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts continued warming of about ________ per decade over the next two decades.

A) 0°C

B) 0.1°C

C) 0.2°C

D) 0.3°C

E) 0.5°C

68) If the Earth and oceans are warming at about 0.2°C per decade, we would expect the temperature 100 years from now to be ________ warmer than today.

A) 0°C

B) 1°C

C) 2°C

D) 5°C

E) 10°C

69) Sea level can be changed by ________.

A) thermal expansion

B) melting of glaciers

C) El Niño

D) changes in atmospheric pressure

E) all of these choices

F) none of these choices

70) As the oceans change temperature, many marine animals ________.

A) migrate poleward and deeper

B) migrate poleward and shallower

C) migrate toward the coast

D) migrate toward the Equator

E) migrate toward the gyres

71) Commercial companies have considered large-scale ocean fertilization with all of the following to create phytoplankton blooms except ________.

A) iron

B) phosphorus

C) silica

D) urea

72) The Copenhagen Accord, an international response to climate change, ________.

A) established specific targets for greenhouse gases

B) provided a mechanism for enforcement

C) recommended a target of no more than 2°C rise in global temperature

D) endorsed geoengineering solutions to climate change

E) was renounced by the United States and Canada

73) Based on a survey of U.S. residents completed in 2014, ________ percent of respondents agreed that global warming is occurring.

A) 0

B) 10

C) 66

D) 93

E) 100

74) Volcanic activity can lead to rapid cooling of Earth's climate because of ________.

A) increasing albedo

B) decreasing respiration

C) increasing respiration

D) decreasing photosynthesis

E) increasing photosynthesis

75) Methane can exhibit ________ times more greenhouse potential than carbon dioxide.

A) 2

B) 5

C) 25

D) 250

E) 1000

76) Ice cores, such as the Vostok ice core, can be used to reconstruct temperature patterns indirectly, using ________.

A) dust content in ice

B) carbon dioxide concentration in gas bubbles

C) mercury concentrations in ice

D) methane concentrations in gas bubbles

E) oxygen isotopes of water in ice

77) The majority of the increase in heat input to the Earth as a result of global warming has ended up in ________.

A) the oceans

B) the continents

C) sea ice

D) glaciers

E) the atmosphere

78) The organisms potentially impacted by ocean acidification are ________.

A) coral

B) crustaceans

C) mollusks

D) echinoderms

E) all of these

79) The compound that exerts a major control on the pH of seawater is ________.

A) NO3–

B) NH4+

C) N2

D) PO43–

E) CO2

80) The process responsible for the majority of sea-level rise in the global ocean is ________.

A) albedo

B) photosynthesis

C) glacier melt

D) thermal expansion

E) El Niño

81) According to the fifth report of the IPCC, a future high-emission scenario will result, by the year 2100, in an average global atmospheric temperature change (relative to the 1986–2005 average) of ________.

A) 0.5°C

B) 1°C

C) 2°C

D) 4.5°C

E) 10°C

82) According to the fifth report of the IPCC, the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide we are now recording are unprecedented for (at least) the past ________.

A) two decades

B) century

C) three hundred years

D) millennium

E) eight-hundred thousand years