GEO 302C EXAM 4 Fall 2003

The mean score of this test is 86. Your grade was posted on eGradebook on 12/3/03.

 

You may not refer to any other materials during the exam. For each question (except otherwise explicitly stated), select the best answer for that question. Read all choices before selecting an answer and make sure your choice answers the question asked.

 

1.         The past twenty years or so, the size of the Antarctic ozone hole has increased to approximately as large as the area of __________?

            a. North America

            b. Canada

            c. USA

            d. Mexico

            e. Texas

 

2.         Near the Earth’s surface ________ is a major component of urban smog, but it in the stratosphere it protects life on Earth from harmful UV radiation.

            a. sulfur dioxide (SO2)

            b. carbon monoxide (CO)

            c. carbon dioxide (CO2)

            d. methane (CH4)

            e. ozone (O3)

 

3.         Which of the following is not a greenhouse gas?

            a. sulfur dioxide (SO2)

            b. ozone (O3)

            c. carbon dioxide (CO2)

            d. methane (CH4)

            e. water vapor (H2O)

 

4.         Which of the following statements is not true of carbon monoxide (CO)?

            a. it is the most plentiful of the primary pollutants

            b. it is a poisonous gas

            c. it is produced by the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing fuels

            d. roughly half of the CO in the atmosphere is produced by automobiles

            e. it has increased considerably since the early 1970s

 

5.         Volcanoes are an important natural source of:

            a. benzene

            b. ozone

             c. sulfur dioxide

            d. carbon monoxide

            e. chlorofluorocarbons

 

6.         A primary component of photochemical smog is:

            a. ozone

            b. carbon monoxide

            c. sulfur dioxide

            d. chlorofluorocarbons

 

7.         The urban heat island is:

            a. warmer air temperatures in urban areas compared to surrounding rural areas

            b. a concentration of energy use in an urban area

            c. locating factories in a single location downwind from cities

            d. use of conservation techniques to reduce energy use in cities

 

8.         The problem of acid rain is probably most severe in which of the following regions:

            a. Gulf Coast

            b. New England

            c. Desert Southwest

            d. Pacific Northwest

            e. Central Plains

 

9.         The so-called "ozone hole" is observed above:

            a. the continent of North America

            b. the equator

            c. the continent of Australia

            d. the continent of Antarctica

            e. the continent of Asia

 

10.        Suppose it is warm and raining, and a cold front is moving toward your location.  Directly behind the cold front it is cold and snowing.  Still further behind the front the weather is cold and clearing.  If the front is scheduled to pass your area in 6 hours, a persistence forecast for your area for 12 hours from now would be:

            a. cold and snowing

            b. cold and clearing

            c. cold and cloudy

            d. warm and raining

            e. not enough information on which to base a forecast

 

11.        Which forecasting method assumes that weather systems will move in the same direction and at the same speed as they have been moving?

            a. persistence forecast

            b. analogue forecast

            c. climatological forecast

            d. steady state (trend) forecast

 

12.        Predicting the weather by weather types employs which forecasting method?

            a. steady-state

            b. analogue

            c. persistence

            d. guess

 

13.        Suppose that where you live the middle of January is typically several degrees warmer than the rest of the month.  If you forecast this "January thaw" for the middle of next January, you would have made a:

            a. forecast based on the analogue method

            b. persistence forecast

            c. forecast based on weather types

            d. climatological forecast

14.        Which of the following is not true in describing numerical weather predictions?

            a. computer forecast models may have flaws

            b. there are regions of the world where surface observations are sparse

            c. computer models of the atmosphere may contain chaotic behavior

                  d. the distance between grid points on some models can always pick up smaller-scale weather features such as thunderstorms

 

15.        The forecasting of weather by a computer is known as:

            a. weather type forecasting

            b. climatology forecasting

            c. extended weather forecasting

            d. analogue prediction

            e. numerical weather prediction

 

16.         Modern computer forecasting models have increasingly smaller grid spacing. This presents which of the following problems?

            a. mesoscale weather features can be predicted

            b. small-scale weather features can be resolved by the models

            c. much more computations are needed

            d. none of the above

 

17.        Ice cores record both the record of past temperatures, and also the causes of climate change.

            a. true

            b. false

 

18.        The higher the ratio of oxygen 18 to oxygen 16 in the shells of organisms that lived in the sea during the geologic past, the       the climate at that time.

            a. colder

            b. warmer

            c. wetter

            d. drier

 

19.        Which of the following is not true?

            a. oxygen 16 evaporates more readily from the ocean than oxygen 18

            b. oxygen 16 and oxygen 18 are found in roughly equal amounts in ocean water

            c. the nucleus of oxygen 18 contains two more neutrons than the nucleus of oxygen 16

            d. both oxygen 16 and oxygen 18 are found in the shells of marine organisms

 

20.        A high concentration of oxygen 16 found in the ice caves of Antarctica and Greenland would indicate       at the time the ice was formed.

            a. cold air temperatures

            b. mild winters

            c. intense ultraviolet radiation

            d. the caves were under the ocean

 

21.        Evidence suggests that throughout much of the earth's history, the global climate was:

            a. warmer than it is today

            b. colder than it is today

            c. about the same temperature as it is today

           

 

22.        Which of the following has been used to reconstruct past climates?

            a. analysis of air bubbles trapped in ice

            b. study of documents describing floods, droughts and crop yields

            c. the ratio of oxygen 18 to oxygen 16 in the shells of marine organisms

            d. study of geologic formations

            e. all of the above

 

23.        During the Pleistocene epoch:

            a. continental glaciers continuously covered large parts of North America and Europe

            b. it was much warmer than now

                 c. continental glaciers alternately advanced and retreated over large portions of North America and Europe.

            d. tropical vegetation was growing over vast regions of the Central Plains of North America.

            e. sea level was higher than today

 

24.        Thick sheets of ice advanced over North America as far south as New York as recently as:

            a. 1816 ("the year without a summer")

            b. 1550

            c. 18,000 to 22,000 years ago

            d. 2 million years ago, at the beginning of the Pleistocene epoch

            e. during the Cretaceous age

 

25.        Over the past 100 years or so, it appears that average yearly global temperatures have:

            a. increased slightly

            b. fluctuated widely but shown no overall change

            c. decreased slightly

            d. remained constant

 

26.        The Viking colony in Greenland perished during:

            a. the Pleistocene epoch

            b. the climatic optimum

            c. the Little Ice Age

            d. the explosion of Mt. Pinatubo

            e. the Industrial Revolution

 

27.        The Medieval Climatic Optimum was a relatively _________ period.

            a. cold

            b. warm

 

28.        During the Little Ice Age:

            a. the climatic optimum occurred

            b. the Bering land bridge formed

            c. alpine glaciers grew in size and advanced

            d. continental glaciers covered large portions of North America

            e. sea level lowered by about 280 ft

 

29.        If the earth were in a cooling trend, which process below would most likely act as a positive feedback mechanism?

            a. increasing the snow cover around the earth

            b. increasing the water vapor content of the air

            c. decreasing the amount of cloud cover around the globe

            d. increasing the carbon dioxide content of the air

 

30.        If the earth were in a warming trend, which of the processes below would most likely act as a negative feedback mechanism?

            a. increasing the water vapor content of the air

            b. increasing the snow cover around the earth

            c. decreasing the amount of cloud cover around the globe

            d. increasing the carbon dioxide content of the air

 

31.        The Milankovitch Theory proposes that climatic changes are due to:

            a. variations in the earth's orbit as it travels through space

            b. volcanic eruptions

            c. changing levels of CO2 in the earth's atmosphere

            d. particles suspended in the earth's atmosphere

 

32.        During a period when the earth's orbital tilt is at a minimum, which would probably not be true?

            a. there should be less seasonal variation between summer and winter

            b. more snow would probably fall during the winter in polar regions

            c. there would be a lesser likelihood of glaciers at high latitudes

            d. there would be less seasonal variations at middle latitudes

 

33.        Precession of the equinox refers to:

            a. changes in the shape of the earth's orbit as the earth revolves around the sun

            b. changes in the tilt of the earth as it orbits the sun

            c. changes in the seasons, especially from winter to summer

            d. the wobble of the earth on its axis

 

34.        The Milankovitch cycles in association with other natural factors explain how glaciers may advance and retreat over periods of:

            a. hundreds of millions of years

            b. several million years

            c. hundreds of thousands of years

            d. ten thousand years to one hundred thousand years

            e. hundreds of years

 

35.        The formation of continental glaciers over vast areas of North America is most favorable when Northern Hemisphere summers are       and winters are      .

            a. cool, extremely cold

            b. cool, mild

            c. warm, extremely cold

            d. warm, mild

 

The above figure shows annual changes (anomalies) of the average global surface air temperature from 1861 to 2000 relative to 1961 to 1990 which is considered to be the baseline period. Please use this figure when answering Questions 36-40.

36. Which of the following statements is correct in describing the climate over the past 140 years:

    a. mostly cold but with an overall warming trend

    b. mostly warm but with an overall cooling trend

    c. mostly warm but without any trend

    d. mostly cold but without any trend

    e. none of the above

 

37. Which of the following statements is correct in describing the climate over the past 25 years:

    a. mostly cold but with a strong warming trend

    b. mostly warm with a strong warming trend

    c. mostly warm but without any trend

    d. mostly cold but without any trend

    e. none of the above

   

38. Which decades represent the warmest decades over the past 140 years?

     a. 1960s

     b. 1970s

     c. 1980s

     d. 1990s

 

39. Which year represents the warmest year over the past 140 years?

     a. 1996

     b. 1997

     c. 1998

     d. 1999

     e. 2000

 

40. Which of the following is correct in describing the overall temperature trend over the past century?

    a. a warming by about 1.7°C

    b. a warming by about 0.7°C

    c. a cooling by about 0.7°C

    d. a cooling by about 1.7°C

 

41. The climate of the last 1000 years can be characterized as:

    a. a Medieval Warm Period, a cold Little Ice Age, and a warming trend since the late 19th century

    b. a Younger-Dryas cold spell, a cold Little Ice Age, and a warming trend since the late 19th century

    c. a mid-Holocene maximum, a Medieval Warm Period, and a cold Little Ice Age

    d. a predominantly warm period

    e. all of the above.

42. The climate of the last 1 million years can be characterized as:

    a. mostly cold with relatively short warm periods

    b. mostly cold but with a strong warming trend

    c. mostly warm but with very strong glacial periods

    d. mostly warm and dry

    e. all of the above.

 

43.  Which of the following is in the correct sequence from long to short term effects on climate?

     A. eccentricity – mountain building – El Nino – seasonal changes in monsoon intensity

     B. plate tectonics – Earth’s orbital parameters – ENSO – seasonal changes in latitudinal distribution of insolation

     C. mountain building – the Southern Oscillation – precession - seasonal changes in latitudinal distribution of insolation

     D. eccentricity – obliquity – precession – the ocean conveyor belt – ENSO

     E.  both B and D are correct

 

44. Which of the following is NOT true about the Milankovitch Cycles?

   a. They explain glacial and interglacial intervals during the current Icehouse climate period.

   b. One part of the cycle is the change in the tilt of the Earth about every 40,000 years.

   c. One part of the cycle is the change in the shape of the Earth’s orbit over time scales of 100,000 years.

   d. The cycles have been supported by the trends of atmospheric CO2, CH4, and temperature as recorded in the Antarctic ice core.

   e. One part of the cycle is the wobbling of the spin axis about every 10,000 years.

 

45. Two examples of human activities that can explain the steady increase in the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration since the Industrial Revolution are:

A. burning fossil fuels and cutting trees

B. building dams and growing trees

C. using wind energy and collecting solar energy

D. none of the above

 

46.        Large volcanic eruptions with an ash veil that enters the stratosphere, tend to ___      at the surface.

            a. increase temperatures

            b. increase precipitation

            c. decrease temperatures

            d. have no effect

 

47.        Studies reveal that during colder glacial periods, CO2 levels       during warmer interglacial periods.

            a. were higher than

            b. were lower than

            c. were about the same as

            d. were more variable than

 

48.        The most recent warming trend experienced over the Northern Hemisphere could be the result of:

            a. increasing volcanic eruptions

            b. light colored particles in the stratosphere

            c. increasing levels of CO2

            d. a decrease in the energy emitted by the sun

            e. an observed decrease in snow cover

 

49.        Everything else being equal, a gradual increase in global CO2 would most likely bring about:

            a. an increase in surface air temperature

            b. a marked decrease in plant growth

            c. a decrease in evaporation from the earth's oceans

            d. no change in global climate

 

50.        The much-studied temperature record of the past 140 years is derived from

            a. land-based thermometer readings only

            c. satellite-based observations only

            b. ocean-based thermometer readings only

            d. tree ring records

            e. both land- and ocean-based thermometer readings