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50 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Key provisions of the Montreal Protocol include
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a dual standard for developed and developing countries that allow developing countries more time to produce CFCs and other ozone-destroying substances
restrictions on the production of ozone-destroying substances and a schedule to phase out their use economic assistance from the developed countries to help developing countries find alternatives to CFCs and their ozone0destroying substances |
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The ozone hole is characterized by
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the total loss of ozone between about 14 and 20 km altitude
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The sudden appearance of the ozone hole over Antarctica at the polar sunrise because
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light is required to split molecular chlorine into atomic chlorine
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Nitrogen oxides
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are involved in the production of photochemical smog
emitted primarily from mobile sources converted to nitric acid droplets in the atmosphere |
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a layer of rich ozone air is found in the stratosphere because
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the competing reactions of ozone formation and destruction favor ozone formation in the stratosphere
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The ozone hole is best developed over Antarctica because
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a strong, cold polar vortex isolates the air over Antarctica and supports the development of polar stratospheric clouds
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an inversion originates from
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cold air trapped beneath warm air
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sulfur dioxide is
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a primary pollutant
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Uncertainty over how much additional warming will occur due to fossil due is a result of
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uncertainty over what the future CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use will be and hence how much CO2 will increase in the atmosphere
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Large and explosive volcanic eruptions such as Pinatubo (1991) affect climate by
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increasing the albedo of the atmosphere due to sulfur particles
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Which processes operate on timescales too long to explain the observed changes in climate over the last 100-150 years
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Milankovitch cycles
changes in ice sheet stability and THC changes in atmospheric CO2 due to geological processes in the carbon cycle |
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How does the (-) phase of the PDO affect the climate of the PNW?
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Winters are cooler and wetter
SST along the West Coast are cooler |
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During a La Nina winter what is expected?
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cooler and Wetter winter than normal in PNW
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Climate models can be used to
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investigate the importance of different forcings in explaining past changes in temperature
predict future temperature changes due to GHG emissions |
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Possible drivers of climate change on millennial timescales (1000-3000) years include
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ocean circulation changes
changes in ice sheet dynamics and meltwater release |
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Examples of the impacts of climate change on people include
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abandonment of norse settlements in greenland as the MWP ended
migration of ancestral Puebloan people form the Four Corners region to the Rio Grande Valley during an extended drought in the SW US Over-appropriation of the CO river watershed by assuming wetter than normal conditions in the 1920s as the average conditions |
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The principal line of evidence that the Younger Dryas affected an area larger than just Greenland where it is clearly evident in ice cores, is
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a decrease in methane concentrations
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The 8200 cold event has been linked to
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drainage of the last meltwater lake dammed by the Laurentide Ice Sheet
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The Neoglacial period refers to
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rejuvenation and expansion of glaciers in the late Holocene
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The large ice sheets of Greenland, Antarctica are being affected by global warming as shown by observations of
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increased extent of summer melting
breakup of floating ice shelves retreat of calving fronts |
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The early Holocine "climate optimum" was
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warmer in the NH mid-latitudes
Wetter in the NH subtropics |
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the GISP2 core shows that millennial scale cold events are also
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dry (higher dust) and windy (higher salt)
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Holocene climate can be characterized by
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a slight decreasing temperature trend driven by orbital variations, specifically a decrease in NH summe radiation
Climate change events that were smaller in amplitude than those of the Pleistocene, but still affected peoples and societies |
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The mid-Pleistocene transition refers to
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a change in the length of glacial cycles
a change from obliquity dominated to eccentricity dominated glacial cycles |
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The current interglacial (the Holocene) differs from the previous 3 interglacials in what ways?
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Holocene is longer
Holocene lacks a sharp and early peak in GHG concentrations |
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Climate during the Pleistocene was characterized by
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cyclic expansion and retreat of ice sheets, particularly in the NH
alternating periods when the climate was colder than today (glacials) and as warm or warmer than today (interglacials) |
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Small variations in solar radiation due to the Milankovitch cycles are amplified by
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Cchanges in albedo due to the expansion and retreat of ice sheets
changes in GHG concentrations on glacial-interglacial timescales |
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Confirmation of the Milankovitch theory of the ice ages came from
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changes in global ice volume recorded in marine sediments with the same timescales as the orbital cycles
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Changes in atmospheric CO2 on Milankovitch timescales are mostly (90%) the result of
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changes in biological uptake and ocean productivity due to iron fertilization by dust
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Changes in oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios measured in ice cores record primarily
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changes in air temperature
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If the Earth's axial tilt were to DECREASE by 3 degrees
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seasonal temperature would become LESS extreme
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The reappearance of BIF during Snowball Earth episodes is explained by
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oceans becoming anoxic due to thick ice cover, allowing iron to be present in its soluble, reduced form
re-oxygenation of the oceans when ice cover melted caused iron to be precipitated from seawater |
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a disproportionate amount of sediment produced by chemical weathering enters the ocean through rivers draining the
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Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau
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The key tectonic event responsible for an increase in CO2 removal from the atmosphere and a cooling of middle and late Cenozoic climate was
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collision of India with Asia
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The Cretaceous period was characterized by a warmer climate than today because
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CO2 supply was enhanced by a high rate of seafloor spreading
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A large ice cap covered the Southern continents during the Pennsylvanian period because
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both carbon sequestration in coal swamps and the tectonic collision forming the Appalachian mountains
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Late Precambrian Snowball Earth glaciation differs from the Pleistocene Ice Age glaciations in that
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Pleistocene ice sheets did not extend into tropical latitudes, while Snowball Earth sheets reached all the way to the equator
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Glacial erosion and sediment is easily recognized in the geologic record because
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sediments deposited by glaciers contain a wide range of rock sizes
bedrock surfaces eroded by glaciers are polished and striated |
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Why does mountain building increase the rate of rock weathering?
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steep slopes quickly shed weathering produces, exposing fresh material
mountain slopes are subject to rapid physical weathering and mechanical erosion orographic effect of mountain ranges concentrates precipitation |
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Rank the reservoirs of the global carbon cycle in order from LARGEST to smallest
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sedimentary rocks
deep ocean soils atmosphere |
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What best describes the Permian period?
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drying of global climate and dominance of reptiles.
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Free oxygen accumulated in the atmosphere
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once iron had been oxidized and deposited as BIFs
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The cooling and drying of Cenozoic climate led to the evolution of what major plant group?
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Grasses
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Limitations of cells that use anaerobic metabolism include
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large surface area to volume ratio
incomplete breakdown of food molecules to alcohol lack of energy to build and maintain cellular organelles |
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Which feedbacks are considered positive feedbacks?
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Ice-albedo
Water-vapor |
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Place the time scales of climate change in order from LONGEST to shortest
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tectonic, orbital, millenial
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The Mississippian and Pennsylvanian Periods (called the Carboniferous Period in Europe) are characterized by the
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dominance of amphibians on land
deposition of coal in vast swamps increase in atmospheric oxygen concentrations |
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The earliest evidence for life on Earth comes from
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light carbon isotope ratios - enriched in C-12
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What characteristic distinguishes the Protista from other kingdoms?
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protista are the only kingdom of single celled organisms that have a cell nucleus
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Characteristics of arthropods that made them well suited to life on land include
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ability to conserve water
structural support for their bodies |