CK12 Earth Science

(Marvins-Underground-K-12) #1

  1. When the weather along coastal California is especially rainy with many winter storms,
    what is likely to be happening in the equatorial Pacific in terms of the Southern Os-
    cillation?

  2. The Peruvian anchovy fishery collapsed in 1972. Using what you know about climate
    and food webs, can you devise an explanation for this event?

  3. What two events must occur for there to be an ice age?

  4. What human activities are responsible for increasing greenhouse gases in the atmo-
    sphere?

  5. Why are CO 2 emissions projected to increase by so much during the next few decades?

  6. What role do the developed nations play a role in increasing CO 2 emissions in the next
    few decades?

  7. Why do storms increase in frequency and intensity as global temperatures increase?

  8. Earth is undergoing some important changes, some of which are known about and
    monitored by satellites. Describe the sort of global change that satellites can monitor.

  9. What will happen if sea level rises by 60 cm (2 feet0 by the end of this century? Which
    locations will be hardest hit?

  10. What can be done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?


Vocabulary


asteroid A chunk of rock or ice that moves through the solar system.


El Niño Part of the Southern Oscillation in which the trade winds weaken or reverse
directions, and warm water accumulates on the ocean surface off of South America.


global warming The global increase in average global temperature that has been taking
place due to human activities.


La Niña Part of the Southern Oscillation in which the trade winds are stronger than
normal and surface water off of South America is cold


mass extinction An extinction in which 25% or more of the planet’s species die out in a
fairly short period of time.


Milankovitch cycles Cycles in Earth’s position relative to the sun that affect global cli-
mate, resulting in a cycle of around 100,000 years.


Southern Oscillation A reversal of normal atmospheric low and high pressure conditions
in the Pacific Ocean.


sunspot Sunspots are magnetic solar storms on the sun that cause solar radiation to de-
crease slightly. Sunspots come and go over an 11-year cycle.

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