Chapter #16 Solutions - Understanding Weather and Climate - James E Burt, Edward Aguado - 7th Edition

1c. What are the boundary conditions of a system? Get solution

1ct. There is little doubt most of the wanning of recent decades is due to the activities of humans, but some are not convinced dut the effect of this warming will be problematic for society. How would you argue for and against this viewpoint? Get solution

1. Go to the website www.pewclimate.org and check to see if it includes any new press releases. If so, what are the major findings contained in them? Are these findings actually new or do they expand on known information? Get solution

1rq. Define climatic change and discuss the practical difficulties of identifying climatic change from observations. Get solution

1va. The attached maps show the current distribution of quaking aspen trees and their projected distribution for 2090, assuming a substantial increase in greenhouse gas concentrations....What general change in distribution is expected to take place? Get solution

2c. How do positive and negative feedback processes affect changes in climate induced by outside agents? Explain. Get solution

2ct. In addition to changes in average temperature and precipitation, it is believed that the frequency of unusual events (such as droughts and floods) might be more common as a result of global warming. What regions of North America are more vulnerable to economic losses from these events than from increased temperatures? Get solution

2. Open the Weather in Motion module, “Retreat of Continental Ice Sheets,” on this book’s website, Move the cursor on the map so that you can observe the retreat of the Northern Hemisphere glaciers during the last 21,000 years. Did the ice retreat uniformly across North America? Where in the Northern Hemisphere did the ice first begin to retreat? Get solution

2rq. Explain how cores taken from ocean deposits and ice sheets can be used to infer past climate conditions. Get solution

2va. The attached maps show the current distribution of quaking aspen trees and their projected distribution for 2090, assuming a substantial increase in greenhouse gas concentrations....Given the fact that temperatures will increase substantially by 2090, what does that tell you about the type of climate conditions favored by quaking aspen? Get solution

3c. How is it possible to infer past climate conditions for times before climate records were kept? Get solution

3ct. As recently as 20,000 years ago a continental glacier extended as far south as the central United States. Describe what impacts the ice might have had on the average position and magnitude of the polar jet stream. Get solution

3. Check your favorite newspaper or news magazine to see if there are any articles describing new findings about climate change or political issues related to the topic. How would you rank the importance of climate change relative to other major political issues? Get solution

3rq. Describe two types of remnant landforms that can provide information on past climates in a region. Get solution

3va. The attached maps show the current distribution of quaking aspen trees and their projected distribution for 2090, assuming a substantial increase in greenhouse gas concentrations....This projected distribution change involves the movement of a type of tree to different elevation ranges. What kind of changes might happen for trees that exist outside of mountainous regions? Get solution

4c. Explain how the following can provide evidence for past climates: ocean-floor rocks, ice cores, relict landforms, tree rings. Get solution

4ct. Explain how climate scientists used multiple simulations based on several different GCMs to determine the relative contributions of natural and human forcings to climate change. Get solution

4rq. How are tree cores used as indicators of past climates? Get solution

5c. What does the term “snowball Earth” refer to? Get solution

5ct. What are two ways in which positive feedback mechanisms involving the cryosphere could enhance temperature increases in the Arctic in coming decades? Get solution

5rq. Describe how pollen samples obtained from old soils provide information on past climates. Get solution

6c. What is one major trend in Earth’s climate during the last 50 million years? Explain. Get solution

6rq. Explain how it is possible that the global climate can be both cooling and warming at the same time. Get solution

7c. Should Earth be considered a “warm” planet or a “cold” planet? Explain. Get solution

7rq. How does the present climate compare to past climates over the course of geologic history? Is it correct to say the ice age is over? Get solution

8c. How have climates of the Holocene generally differed from those in the preceding epoch? Get solution

8rq. Describe the frequency at which glacial/interglacial cycles have occurred during the Pleistocene. Get solution

9c. How do you think the climate of the Little Ice Age may have affected human populations in Europe? Get solution

9rq. What time frames constitute the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs? Get solution

10c. How does global climate in the last century compare with average conditions during the last 1000 years? Get solution

10rq. What magnitude of mean temperature differences coincided with the various glacial/interglacial episodes of the Pleistocene? Get solution

11c. Define the following terms: eccentricity, obliquity, precession. Get solution

11rq. Which regions of North America experienced the greatest temperature differences from current values during the last glacial episode of the Pleistocene? Get solution

12c. How do cyclical variations in Earth’s orbit, including Milankovitch cycles, affect climate? Explain. Get solution

12rq. List the factors that can lead to climatic change. At what time scales do each of these occur? Get solution

13c. Explain how can tropospheric aerosols can promote both cooling and warming. Get solution

13rq. Describe the factors that can lead to variations in the amount of solar radiation available at the top of Earth’s atmosphere. Get solution

14c. How does an increase in greenhouse gases change the effective emission altitude? What role does this effect play in global warming? Get solution

14rq. What evidence is there that variations in sunspot activity do or do not lead to climate changes on Earth? Get solution

15c. List three other anthropogenic gases in addition to CO2. What is their contribution to global warming? Get solution

15rq. How do changes in eccentricity and obliquity and precession interact to influence Earth’s climate? What time scales apply to each? Get solution

16c. Describe the ice-albedo feedback. As a positive feedback, does it necessarily lead to global warming? Explain. Get solution

16rq. What types of occurrences on Earth can affect atmospheric turbidity? How do turbidity differences affect global temperatures? Get solution

17c. How do changes in water vapor and clouds affect atmospheric temperatures? Use the concepts of positive and negative feedback in your answer. Get solution

17rq. Describe positive and negative feedbacks and provide examples of each. Get solution

18c. Explain the relationship between CO2 levels in the atmosphere and plant growth. Get solution

18rq. What is a general circulation model? Get solution

19c. Why have scientists predicted that the West Antarctic ice sheet is melting? Get solution

19rq. What reasons are there to think projections from GCMs can be trusted? Get solution

20c. What is the thermohaline circulation? Get solution

21c. Climatologists have hypothesized that, in the past, pulses of freshwater from melting glaciers in what is now Canada may have disrupted the flow of warm surface waters across the North Atlantic Ocean toward western Europe. How might this have affected that region’s climate? Get solution

22c. What physical principles and boundary conditions are used in building general circulation models of the atmosphere? Get solution

23c. Look at the two graphs in Figure 16–28. How do the differences between the two graphs help in deciding whether the global warming is attributable to natural or human causes? Get solution

24c. Which event(s) in Table 16-2 might be most likely to cause problems in the area where you live during this century? Explain. Get solution