NRES 105 UIUC Final UPDATED ACTUAL
Exam Questions and CORRECT Answers
Explain the differences between weather and climate - CORRECT ANSWER - Weather is
the day-to-day state of the atmosphere, and its short-term variation in minutes to weeks. People
generally think of weather as the combination of temperature, humidity, precipitation,
cloudiness, visibility, and wind. Climate is the weather of a place averaged over a period of time,
often 30 years.
Describe the components of the climate system and (biosphere and geospheres) and how they
interact - CORRECT ANSWER - The climate system is the highly complex system
consisting of five major components: the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the
lithosphere and the biosphere, and the interactions between them.
Understand and be able to discuss the different natural drivers of climate change (solar radiation
or energy balance, uneven heating of earth, seasonal changes,
wind (e.g. Hadley cells and Coriolis effect) and ocean circulation (i.e. thermohaline circulation),
Milankovitch cycles, and shorter term drivers like ENSO and PDO. - CORRECT
ANSWER -
Explain what a model is and the difference between Global Climate Models and Regional
Climate Models - CORRECT ANSWER - Global climate models: simulate climate
changes across the entire planet. Referred to as GCMs because they simulate general
atmospheric
circulation patterns. Represent atmospheric and ocean circulation in a series of equations
describing physical properties of gases and fluids.
Regional climate models (RCMs): very similar in structure to GCMs, but they capture finer-scale
resolution of change in a particular region.
Understand how models are reliable but still contain some uncertainty - CORRECT
ANSWER - Transitions between glacial and interglacial periods are not reproduced well
by GCMs. No model simulates the future perfectly.
, What do current IPCC models project for the future and how do these projections change based
on different carbon emissions scenarios? - CORRECT ANSWER - The Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has prepared a series of
standard greenhouse gas concentrations for use in GCM simulations, known as Representative
Concentration Pathways (RCP).
Higher concentrations will result from higher emissions and lack of action to curtail emissions,
whereas lower concentrations
may result from lower economic growth or active efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Define climate proxy & describe how they are measured. - CORRECT ANSWER -
Sources of climate information from natural archives such as tree rings, ice cores, corals, lake
and ocean sediments, tree pollen, or human archives such as historical records or diaries, which
can be used to estimate climate conditions prior to the modern period (e.g. mid 19th century to
date) during which widespread instrumental measurements are available
Stable vs radioisotopes - CORRECT ANSWER - Isotopes are broken into two specific
types: stable and unstable. These unstable isotopes are commonly referred to as radioactive
isotopes
Radiocarbon dating - CORRECT ANSWER - Layers of sediment accumulate in lake
bottoms, sometimes with annual strata coinciding with spring sediment loads delivered by
swollen rivers or by cycles in organic detritus due to seasonal mixing. These
sediments may be dated, by radiocarbon techniques or by counting annual
strata backward in time, providing a "clock" that can be used to calibrate the
time of changes in biotic composition or climate.
Know what different isotopes tell us about past climate - CORRECT ANSWER - Ocean
waters high in 18O therefore represent cooler climates, whereas lower 18O/16O ratios indicate
warmer, nonglacial climates. Because
some marine organisms fix oxygen in their shells,
fossil shells can be analyzed for 18O/16O ratio to determine past temperatures and past climate
shifts.
Exam Questions and CORRECT Answers
Explain the differences between weather and climate - CORRECT ANSWER - Weather is
the day-to-day state of the atmosphere, and its short-term variation in minutes to weeks. People
generally think of weather as the combination of temperature, humidity, precipitation,
cloudiness, visibility, and wind. Climate is the weather of a place averaged over a period of time,
often 30 years.
Describe the components of the climate system and (biosphere and geospheres) and how they
interact - CORRECT ANSWER - The climate system is the highly complex system
consisting of five major components: the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the
lithosphere and the biosphere, and the interactions between them.
Understand and be able to discuss the different natural drivers of climate change (solar radiation
or energy balance, uneven heating of earth, seasonal changes,
wind (e.g. Hadley cells and Coriolis effect) and ocean circulation (i.e. thermohaline circulation),
Milankovitch cycles, and shorter term drivers like ENSO and PDO. - CORRECT
ANSWER -
Explain what a model is and the difference between Global Climate Models and Regional
Climate Models - CORRECT ANSWER - Global climate models: simulate climate
changes across the entire planet. Referred to as GCMs because they simulate general
atmospheric
circulation patterns. Represent atmospheric and ocean circulation in a series of equations
describing physical properties of gases and fluids.
Regional climate models (RCMs): very similar in structure to GCMs, but they capture finer-scale
resolution of change in a particular region.
Understand how models are reliable but still contain some uncertainty - CORRECT
ANSWER - Transitions between glacial and interglacial periods are not reproduced well
by GCMs. No model simulates the future perfectly.
, What do current IPCC models project for the future and how do these projections change based
on different carbon emissions scenarios? - CORRECT ANSWER - The Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has prepared a series of
standard greenhouse gas concentrations for use in GCM simulations, known as Representative
Concentration Pathways (RCP).
Higher concentrations will result from higher emissions and lack of action to curtail emissions,
whereas lower concentrations
may result from lower economic growth or active efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Define climate proxy & describe how they are measured. - CORRECT ANSWER -
Sources of climate information from natural archives such as tree rings, ice cores, corals, lake
and ocean sediments, tree pollen, or human archives such as historical records or diaries, which
can be used to estimate climate conditions prior to the modern period (e.g. mid 19th century to
date) during which widespread instrumental measurements are available
Stable vs radioisotopes - CORRECT ANSWER - Isotopes are broken into two specific
types: stable and unstable. These unstable isotopes are commonly referred to as radioactive
isotopes
Radiocarbon dating - CORRECT ANSWER - Layers of sediment accumulate in lake
bottoms, sometimes with annual strata coinciding with spring sediment loads delivered by
swollen rivers or by cycles in organic detritus due to seasonal mixing. These
sediments may be dated, by radiocarbon techniques or by counting annual
strata backward in time, providing a "clock" that can be used to calibrate the
time of changes in biotic composition or climate.
Know what different isotopes tell us about past climate - CORRECT ANSWER - Ocean
waters high in 18O therefore represent cooler climates, whereas lower 18O/16O ratios indicate
warmer, nonglacial climates. Because
some marine organisms fix oxygen in their shells,
fossil shells can be analyzed for 18O/16O ratio to determine past temperatures and past climate
shifts.
