Weather, Climate Change, and Energy Resources: An Overview, Exams of Meteorology

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BISC 003 Exam 4 Questions and Answers climate - Correct answer an area's long-term (average) atmospheric conditions, including features like avg. temps, precipitation, etc. weather - Correct answer short-term atmospheric conditions (hours or days) global climate change - Correct answer describes changes in aspects of earth's climate, including temp, precipitation, storm frequency and intensity over geologic time, the earth's climate has _____ - Correct answer varied substantially greenhouse effect - Correct answer a natural effect of the earth's atmosphere (specifically the troposphere) greenhouse gases absorb heat from the earth which _____ - Correct answer re-radiates it and warming the lower atmosphere concentrations of some greenhouse gases are increasing which _____ - Correct answer increases the greenhouse effect water vapor - Correct answer largest contributor to the greenhouse effect, but concentrations have not changed carbon dioxide (CO2) - Correct answer naturally produced by respiration, decomposition, or combustion co2 concentrations have _____ - Correct answer gone up 40% since 1700 co2 concentrations have risen because of _____ - Correct answer burning of fossil fuels + deforestation methane - Correct answer naturally produced by decomposition that happens in absence of oxygen methane concentrations have _____ - Correct answer gone up 250% due to release during fossil fuel extraction, livestock digestion, and melting of permafrost nitrous oxides - Correct answer mainly from auto exhaust ozone - Correct answer largely due to photochemical smog chlorofluorocarbons - Correct answer synthetic (human-made) refrigerant (banned by Montreal Protocol) the heat-trapping ability of CO2 is low relative to other greenhouse gases, but _____ - Correct answer greater abundance causes it to contribute most of the human-caused portion of the greenhouse effect (~85%) modern evidence of climate change and breadth of impacts - Correct answer - rising temperatures - changing precipitation patterns - loss of surface ice, sea ice, and permafrost - melting ice and warming temperatures cause sea-level rises rising temperatures - Correct answer average temperature of earth rose ~1.6 degrees F over past 100 years with additional increase of 2-7 degrees F by 2100 intensity of temperature changes vary across the planet, with the greatest increases in _____ - Correct answer the arctic changing precipitation patterns - Correct answer more in most places, less in others; future changes expected to intensify current patterns the changes in precipitation patterns will _____ - Correct answer affect frequency and intensity of storms, flooding, drought, and wildfires loss of surface ice, sea ice, and permafrost - Correct answer mountain glaciers have declined globally; loss of sea ice covering the north pole ice sheets on land in arctic and antarctic are melting rapidly due to _____ - Correct answer positive feedback mechanism humanistic people have _____ - Correct answer little interest in wildlife but a general concern for the safety of all animals moralistic - Correct answer ethical, spiritual, or philosophical basis for concern of all animals moralistic people believe in _____ - Correct answer a sense of equality between humans and animals based on moral beliefs scientistic - Correct answer systematic study of structure and function in animals scientistic people believe that _____ - Correct answer animals are objects of curiosity to be studied rather than subjects for affection or moral concern utilitarian - Correct answer practical and material exploitation of animals utilitarian people believe that _____ - Correct answer ethics or affection for an animal are conditional on its usefulness to humans dominionistic - Correct answer mastery, physical control, dominance of animals dominionistic people see animals as _____ - Correct answer a means to test one's skills and prowess negativistic - Correct answer fear, aversion, alienation from animals what is the current world population? - Correct answer approximately 8 billion it is difficult to determine the carrying capacity of the earth for humans because _____ - Correct answer humans have repeatedly been able to overcome perceived limits through advances in technology carrying capacity depends on number of people and their _____ - Correct answer per capita impact carrying capacity - Correct answer K per capita impact - Correct answer ecological footprint IPAT model was developed by _____ - Correct answer Ehrlich and Holdren in 1974 I = _____ - Correct answer total impact of a population on the environment P = - Correct answer population size (increases impact) A = - Correct answer affluence (increases impact) T = - Correct answer technology (can increase and decrease impact) carrying capacity of earth - Correct answer - 1-2 billion with everyone living prosperously in a healthy environment - 30+ billion with all living in extreme poverty in a degraded environment the world growth rate has _____ - Correct answer been declining since the late 1960s demographic transition - Correct answer a predicted series of changes in birth (B) and death (D) rates across time as human populations become industrialized pre-industrial stage - Correct answer B = D with both very high (stable) transitional stage - Correct answer D drops largely due to advances in food production or health technologies industrial stage - Correct answer B drops due to additional technologies and changes in role of women in society total fertility rate (TFR) - Correct answer average number of children per woman during her lifetime during the industrial stage, TFR dropped due to _____ - Correct answer - access to birth control - the education and empowerment of women post-industrial stage - Correct answer B = D with both low demographic transition theory is good because it _____ - Correct answer predicts an end to human population growth as a result of cultural and technological changes the demographic transition theory may not happen in all countries because? - Correct answer - lack of birth control in poor regions - male-dominated cultures restricting female rights - religious or cultural beliefs in other developing countries, growth rates are declining due to _____ - Correct answer an increase in D rather than a decrease in B reducing poverty tends to _____, but increasing affluence _____ - Correct answer lower TFR and stop population growth; increases per capita impact rapid-growth pattern - Correct answer - "bottom-heavy" population faces massive increase in population size because there are so many breeding aged people - 2.9% growth rate stable or declining growth pattern - Correct answer - "top-heavy" pyramid leads to a stable or declining population dominated by older age classes - 0.4% growth rate elderly-dependency ratio - Correct answer ratio of working age population to retired renewable - Correct answer replenished over short periods in a time scale relevant to human life non-renewable - Correct answer resources in finite supply and formed much more slowly than we use them what are the main non-renewable resources? - Correct answer - fossil fuels - coal - natural gas - solar power concentrated with mirrors to generate heat to drive electricity generation - photovoltaic cells can be used to generate electricity directly what are the main waste products of solar energy? - Correct answer none wind energy - Correct answer use of turbines to harness the kinetic energy of wind and convert it into electrical energy wind energy is _____ - Correct answer growing fast and expected to continue growing what are the main waste products of wind energy? - Correct answer none hydrogen fuel - Correct answer shows promise to produce large quantities of energy cleanly and efficiently using the most abundant element in the universe hydrogen fuel is a _____ - Correct answer clean alternative to gasoline downsides of hydrogen fuel - Correct answer H2 gas does not tend to exist freely to obtain H2 gas, we must _____ - Correct answer force substances to release their H atoms using energy (electricity) hydrogen fuel produced from electricity from renewable sources = ______ - Correct answer clean, safe energy system of nature pros of coal - Correct answer - easy to store - produces heat - most abundant cons of coal - Correct answer - non-renewable - emits greenhouse gases (CO2 + SO2) - habitat destruction with strip mining and acid mine drainage - produces lots of toxic ash pros of natural gas - Correct answer - abundant - emits half as much CO2 as coal - emits 2/3 as much coal as oil cons of natural gas - Correct answer - non-renewable - fracking to access it requires large amounts of water and can impact groundwater - still emits CO2 pros of crude oil - Correct answer - abundant (much already used up) - convenient for use in automobiles cons of crude oil - Correct answer - non-renewable - releases CO2 + NO's - potential oil spills with collection and transport pros of nuclear power - Correct answer - free of air pollution cons of nuclear power - Correct answer - non-renewable - wastes are highly radioactive and no long-term plan for disposal - major accidents or sabotage at a power plant can be catastrophic pros of biomass energy - Correct answer - renewable - few air pollutants cons of biomass energy - Correct answer - crops for bioenergy require large areas of land, water, fertilizers - not fully carbon neutral - bioenergy crops compete with food crops driving up food prices pros of hydroelectric power - Correct answer - renewable - no air pollutants cons of hydroelectric power - Correct answer - often entails damming which has impacts - little room for expansion pros of solar energy - Correct answer - renewable - super abundant - all techniques are pollution free (once running) cons of solar energy - Correct answer - not all regions are consistently sunny - will always be an intermittent resource (night or cloudy days) - up-front costs are high (currently) pros of wind energy - Correct answer - renewable - still lots of potential to expand - no air pollutants cons of wind energy - Correct answer - reliable winds not available everywhere - massive size of turbines opposed by locals - turbines pose problems for birds and bats pros of hydrogen fuel - Correct answer - super abundant - no pollutants - can be used to fuel cars cons of hydrogen fuel - Correct answer - no infrastructure - needs electricity to isolate hydrogen fuel