Name _____________________________________________ Date _________________ Period _______
Climate C.H.A.N.G.E. Quiz #3
Earth’s Natural Cycles & Anthropogenic Sources
1.) Explain two problems with proxy data.
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2.) What term is used to describe the study of climate prior to instrumental measurements?
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3.) List three proxies used by climate scientists. _____________ _____________ _____________
4.) Provide two reasons as to why a global surface temperature measurement from 1850 is
different from a global surface temperature measurement from 2012.
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5.) Provide three reasons why Earth’s climate changes naturally.
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6.) What are the three Earth-Sun cycles which make up the Milankovitch cycle?
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7.) Why is Earth’s surface unevenly heated by the sun?
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8.) Compare the sun’s energy output during an active period (lots of sunspots) and during a
dormant period (very few sunspots).
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9.) What happens to Earth’s surface temperature after a major volcanic eruption? Why is this so?
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10.) Describe the difference between ocean temperatures during El Nino and ocean temperatures
during La Nina.
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11.) List five anthropogenic sources of climate change.
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12.) What event in Great Britain triggered the increase of carbon dioxide emissions into the
atmosphere?
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13.) How can aerosols affect Earth’s surface temperature?
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14.) List five sources of anthropogenic aerosols.
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15.) What international treaty signed by 46 countries is responsible for the decrease of aerosol
emissions into the atmosphere?
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16.) Along with carbon dioxide, which greenhouse gas is emitted by “gassy” cows?
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17.) What effect does deforestation have on the carbon cycle?
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18.) What is the importance of ozone in the atmosphere?
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19.) There have been two separate ozone depletion events since the 1970’s. In both cases ozone
was destroyed by ________________.
20.) What are three ways humans have used land.
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Answer Key
1.) Proxy data provides an indirect measurement of climate and proxies are only located in
certain areas, not globally.
2.) Paleoclimatology
3.) Tree rings, corals, ice cores, ocean sediment, fossils, pollen
4.) Instruments were not as accurate and they did not have as many locations taking
measurements as they do today.
5.) The distance from the sun changes, the sun’s intensity changes, volcanic eruptions, carbon
dioxide concentration, ocean currents, and Milankovitch cycle.
6.) The orbital eccentricity of Earth’s orbit, the obliquity of Earth’s axis of rotation, and its
precession.
7.) The height of the sun in the sky changes throughout the year. In the summertime, the sun is
more directly overhead and it is in the sky for a longer period of time. In the wintertime, the
sun is lower in the sky and it is not in the sky for a long period of time. Also, the albedo is
not uniform which leads to some areas absorbing more heat than others.
8.) When there are a lot of sunspots, the sun is said to be in an active period and the amount of
energy released by the sun is higher than when the sun has few to no sunspots and the sun
is in a dormant period.
9.) After major volcanic eruptions Earth’s surface temperature decreases because the aerosols
released during the eruption block out some of the sunlight from reaching Earth’s surface.
10.) El Nino brings unusually warm ocean temperatures whereas La Nina brings unusually cold
ocean temperatures.
11.) Raising cattle, land use, aerosol concentration, carbon dioxide concentration, cement
manufacturing, ozone depletion, and deforestation
12.) Industrial Revolution
13.) Aerosols can act to reflect or absorb the sun’s rays so they can lead to an increase or a
decrease in global surface temperatures.
14.) Fossil fuel combustion, biomass burning, automobiles, incinerators, smelters, power plants,
deforestation, overgrazing, dust, cigarettes, stoves, fireplaces, and candles
15.) Montreal Protocol
16.) Methane
17.) Deforestation takes away a sink for carbon dioxide, so it leads to an increase in the amount
of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
18.) Ozone prevents harmful UV rays from striking Earth.
19.) Halocarbon refrigerants (CFC’s, freons and halons)
20.) Deforestation, Urbanization, Suburbanization, irrigating desert land, damming rivers, and
resource extraction