Term
| Be able to name three gases tha John Tyndall found to be transparent to thermal IR, and three gases he found to be mostly opaque to thermal IR. |
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Definition
Transparent: Nitrogen (N2), Oxygen (O2), Hydrogen (H2), and Argon (Ar)
Opaque: Water Vapor (H2O), Carbon Dioxide (CO2), and Ozone (O3) |
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Term
| What band of the EMR spectrum is the maximum output of the Sun, and what band of the EMR spectrum is the maximum output of the Earth? |
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Definition
Sun: Visible
Earth: Thermal IR |
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Term
| Know what happens to the wavelength of maximum output from a body as its temperature increases or decreases? |
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Definition
| As temperature increases, wavelength decreases (They are inversely proportional) |
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Term
| What is the definition of a "Blackbody"? |
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Definition
| Blackbody: A hypothetical body that absorbs all radiation that hits it and emits maximum radiation of every wavelength. |
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Term
| Know what happens to the amount of radiation emitted from a blackbody as its temperature increases? |
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Definition
| As temperature increases, radiation increases (Directy proportionaly, so radiation is also inversely proportial to wavelength) |
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Term
| What's the value of the solar constant and where does it apply? |
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Definition
342 Watts/m2
Amount of energy hitting the top of the atmosphere |
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Term
| Why can't water vapor drive climate change? |
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Definition
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Term
| Which gas did Svante Arrhenius show had the greatest potentia to drive climate change, and how was water vapor involved with this? |
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Definition
CO2
Linked to water through positive feedback |
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Term
| What is the change in temperatire with a doubling of CO2 called? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the principle reason that the surface of Venus is so much hotter than the surface of Earth? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the "faint young sun" paradox, and what mechanism might resolve this paradox? |
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Definition
| Earth used to be less luminous, Earth was not frozen, Greenhouse gas levels were higher. |
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Term
| What may have caused the decade cooling of global temperatures from the 1940's to the 1970's? |
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Definition
| Aerosols in the atmosphere |
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Term
| When NASA scientist and climate model pioneer James Hansen testified to congress on Global Warming, in what decade did he say that the anthropogenic climate forcers would begin to emerge from the background natura influences? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the value of climate sensitivity to doubling of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the current rate of coal fired power plant production in China? |
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Definition
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Term
| Which greenhouse gas has seen the greatest relative increase due to human activities, and which one are we most concerned about? |
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Definition
Fastest relative increase: Methane (CH4)
Most concerned: Carbon Dioxide (CO2) |
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Term
| On what timescale do scientists expect global temperature to rise in response to greenhouse gas forcing? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is a GCM and what is the main difference between a GCM and a cGCM? |
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Definition
Global Circulation Model and (Coupled) Global Circulation Model
Ocean and Atmosphere are coupled |
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Term
| In what units is climate forcing measured, and what is the best estimate of climate forcing over the past 150 years? |
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Definition
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Term
| What natural phenomenon causes the most reduction in climate forcing over the past 150 years? |
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Definition
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Term
| If greenhouse gas concentrations were to be kept stable over the next century, what do scientists believe would happen to global temperature? |
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Definition
| Continue to increase for 30 years |
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