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117 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is the physical supercontinental cycle of Global change?
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plate tectonics drives continental movement
ocean basis open and close Continental landmasses collide and rift apart |
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Sea level has
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risen and fallen many times over history of Earth.
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During the Phanerozoic Eon, the sea level
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rose and fell over 300 meters
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What provides evidence of sea-level change
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sedimentary rock preserve
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sea levels are bounded by?
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unconformities
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There are three types of rocks in the rock cycle
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igneous
sedimentary metamorphic |
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How did igneous rocks form
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cooled from a mel
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how do sedimentary rocks form?
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made of weathered and eroded materials
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How do metamorphic rocks form?
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rocks altered by heat and pressure
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Why may a rock type transform into another?
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atoms in rocks are constantly being rearranged
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Biogeochemical cycles
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chemical fluxes between living and nonliving
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Biogeochemical cycles involve
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storage and transfer between reservoirs
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What are nonliving resorvoirs
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atmostphere
lithosphere hydrosphere |
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What are the living reservoirs?
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all living organisms
microbes plants animals |
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What is the hydrologic cycle?
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water moves b/w reservoirs on or near earth's surface.
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Biological parts of the hydrologic cycle
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all living organisms
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What are the physical parts of the hydrologic cycle?
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oceans
atmosphere surface water ground water glaciers soil moisture |
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The Carbon Cycle
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a biogeochemical cycle that regulates climate.
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What causes carbon to the atmosphere?
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volcanic Carbon Dioxide
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How is Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide removed?
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dissolves in water as carbonic acid and bicarbonate
photosynthesis weathering |
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Carbon maybe stored
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for longs periods of time
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Where is carbon stored?
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limestones
fossil fuels (coal and oil) organic shales methane hydrates |
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How is carbon returned to the atmosphere
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respiration
Rapid oxidation (burning) metamorphism degassing |
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Earth's climate has _____
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changed many times
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Long term climate change covers
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millions to tens of millions of years in scale
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Shore term climate change covers
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Tens to hundreds of thousand of years in scale
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What reveal our past and suggests our future global climate
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climate studies
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What do climate studies do
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distingushes kings of climate changes
establishes raes determines the effects on earth |
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Methods of studying climate change
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Paleoclimates
Computer simulations |
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What is paleoclimates studies?
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investigation of past climatic variation
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What id computer simulations of climate change?
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modeling of past and future changes
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What is the Greenhouse effect?
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H2O, CO2, and CH4 in Earth’s atmosphere absorb thermal energy emitted by the earth and reradiate it, warming the lower atmosphere.
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Paleoclimates
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past climates are interpreted by datable Earth materials that are climate-sensitive
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What are the Stratigraphic records?
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sequences of rock strata.
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What are often climate-sensitive?
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depositional environments
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Glacial tills are climate sensitive how?
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they are cold and continental
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What does a coral reef tell about the climate
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hot, tropical marine
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Dealing with Paleoclimatic evidence, paleontological evidence is what?
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the faunal assemblages that reflect climate
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Assemblage changes reflect?
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climatic shifts
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What in pond sediments show climate change?
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pollen
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Spruces are in what climate
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cold
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Pines are in what climate?
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warmer
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Trees are in what kind of climate?
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colder, drier
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Grasses form in what kind of climate
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warmer, wetter
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Paleoclimates: Oxygen isotopes
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two isotopes 16 O and 18 O
16 O water evaporates faster than 18 O water reveal the temperature in which snow formed |
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Oxygen isotope ratios are preserved in
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carbonate shells of organisms
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The oxygen in CaCO3 shells mirrors
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oceanic 18 O/16 O
sea foor sediments preserve ocean chemistry and temperature changes |
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Paleoclimates: Growth rings
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tree rings can easily be dated
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Ring thickness reflects
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climatic changes
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thicker rings reflects what
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wetter, warmer
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Thinner rings reflect what
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colder and drier
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Growth rings in corals and shells provide
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the same data in tree rings
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Historical records are useful in the recontruction of past climate, what are they?
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written documents,
archaelogical evidence paintings crop records |
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Greenhouse climates mean what
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warmer climates
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Icehouse climates mean what
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colder climates
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There have been at least ____ major icehouse periods in Earth's geological history
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5
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What causes long-term climate changes?
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Complex interactions across the Earth system
Plate tectonics Uplift Formation of coil and oil Evolution of life |
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Warmer or colder climates may last
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thousands of years
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The past million years climate has been
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a flux
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how many glaciations have there been in the past million years?
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20-30
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what seperates glaciations?
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interglaciations
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Short term climate changes last how long?
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decades to centuries
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The Holocene Period
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past 15,000 years
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What has the warmer climate led to in the Holocene period?
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deglaciation, temperatures in fluctuation
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What cold periods have happened in the Holocene Period interglacial period
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Younger Dryas
Holocene Maximum Medieval Warm PEriod Little Ice Age Modern warming trend |
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What is the younger Dryas
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interval of cooler temperatures named after an Arctic flower that became widespread during the period.
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What is the Holocene Maximum
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5,000 to 6,000 years ago, temperatures warmed again. increased evaporation and precipatation.
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What is the Medieval Warm Period
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3000 years ago, after temperatures dipped to a low, temps climbed. Vikings established agriculture
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What is the Little Ice age?
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temperature dropped. 1500 c.e- 1800 ce.
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What is the Modern Warming period
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temperatures warmer now than it was during the medieval warm period
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Short term climate changes are regulated by
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solar radiation and cosmic rays
earth's orbit an tilt volcanic emissions ocean currents surface albedo concentrations of greenhouse gases |
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What are mass extinction events?
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stratigraphic record contains evidence in dramatic decreases in biodiversity, caused by catastrophic changes
large numbers of species disappear forever millions of years need for biodiversity to recover |
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What ware the Major extinctions
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LAte Ordovican
Mid-Late Devonian End Permian Late Triassic End Cretaceous |
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What impact did prehistoric humans have on the climate?
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small impact, very few humans
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What impact does today's humans have on climate
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humans are a huge force of planetary change.
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What causes the impact humans have on climate
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population growth
advancements in industry, technology, medicine, agriculture fueled by natural resources |
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Human demands often
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rival or exceed some natural processes.
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Carrying capacity
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maximum number of individuals of a given species that an area's resources can sustain indefinetly without significantly depleting or degrading resources
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Landscape modifications by humans
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human induced erosion may exceed natural processes.
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Ecosystem modifications by humans
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balances are destabilized
Human-caused changes occur faster than indigenous organisms can adapt rainforest decline is largely the result of human activity. |
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What ecosytem modifications do humans contribute to
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deforestation
overgrazing agriculture urbanization |
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Pollution
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materials that harm life forms and resources
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Modern human society generates
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contaminates, which are numerous and diverse and the natural environment cant absorb or modify them
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Pollution affects
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air quality
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Smog is what?
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smoke plus fog
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Urban haze is created by reaction of
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ground level ozone and unburned hydrocarbons
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Pollution does what to water?
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Causes water contamination by entering surface and ground water
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What are the pollutants of water?
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sanitary wastes
fuel and oil solvents fertilizers pesticides |
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What is acid runoff
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Pollution, sulfide minerals dissolve and release acid.
caused by coal mining and metal mining |
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What is acid precipitation/
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sulfide rich aerosols acidify rain
coal-fired power plants ore smelters |
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Radioactive waste pollution
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Nuclear materials, mining, and processing generates waste.
Mine spoil and mill tailings High-level nuclear wasters medical radioactive isotopes |
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What does pollution cause to the ozone?
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the depletion of stratospheric ozone
CFC's destruct the ozone |
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The stratospheric ozone protects
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Earth from UV radiation
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Ozone depletion is harmful to?
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many life forms
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Ozone depletion is unrelated to
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Carbon dioxide buildup
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Global Warming recently
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human greenhouse gas additions alter climate
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What has happened to the Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution?
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it has steadily climbed
in 1750 it ws 280 ppm in 1958 was 315, 2010- 390ppm |
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human additions of ___ and ___ exceed natural removal
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Carbon dioxide and methane
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What has caused the increase of Carbon dioxide?
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fossil fuel combustion
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What has caused the increase of methane?
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rice-paddy decay and livestock
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Observations of global warming
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larsen b along the Antarctica Peninsula are breaking up
The summer melt line indicates melting of the greenland ice sheet is accelerating Valley glaciers are retreating Arctic Ocean sea ice is reduced |
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Most scientists accept global warming as a
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fact
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Surface air temperatures have
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warmed by 1 degree since 1880
global averqage temperature is higher today than the last 2,000 years |
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computer models are used to
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predict climate changes
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by 2050 average annual T will increase by
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1.5-2 C
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by 21150 global T may be
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5 to 11 degrees warmer than present
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Predicted effects of global warming
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stronger storms
due to higher surface temps greater evaportation greater differential pressures |
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In 2005 what happened
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set a number of storm records
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what will happen to the sea due to global warming
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a rise in sea level
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Sea level is now rising how much a year
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1-2mm a year
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Warming will accelrate sea level rise by
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thermal expansion of seawater
melting polar ice |
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Global warming coul lead to
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the interruption of the oceanic heat conveyor system
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Polar ice meltwater is
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freshwater
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The interupption of the oceanic heat conveyor does what to the polar ice
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dillutes surface water near the poles,
freshwater won't sink and move southward Thermophaline circulation would stop preventing warm water from flowing northward. |
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In millions of years, Earth's surface will be different how:
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plate tectonics will reshuffle continents
erosion will reshape the landscape seas will invade or expose land homo sapiens may not be present, a new species may have evolved by then |
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In about 5 billion years, what will happen to the sun
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it will run out of fuel and become a red giant
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What will happen to the Earth when the sun becomes a red giant
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Earth will dry out
it will become vaporized |
