Climate System Components Questions and Answers

Q: The five components of the climate system are the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere and

Correct answer: biosphereThe five are the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the lithosphere and the biosphere. The biosphere belongs among them because living matter exchanges carbon, water and energy with the others on climatically important timescales - through photosynthesis and respiration, through transpiration, and through the albedo and roughness of vegetated surfaces. The ionosphere, magnetosphere and exosphere lie outside the system as usually defined.

Q: Match each component of the climate system with a characteristic response time.List IA. AtmosphereB. Ocean mixed layerC. Deep oceanD. Ice sheetsList II1. centuries to a millennium2. days to weeks3. thousands of years4. months to a few years

Correct answer: A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3Response time rises with heat capacity and with how slowly each reservoir is stirred. The atmosphere adjusts in days to weeks; the ocean mixed layer, being stirred by the wind but far more massive, in months to a few years; the deep ocean, ventilated only slowly, in centuries to a millennium; and the great ice sheets in thousands of years. That spread is why the system is never in equilibrium with its forcing.

Q: Weather differs from climate in that climate refers to

Correct answer: the statistics of weather over timeWeather is the state of the atmosphere now and climate is the distribution from which that state is drawn - the means, the variability and the extremes over a period conventionally taken as thirty years. The distinction matters because a single cold winter says nothing about the distribution, and a shift in the distribution is detectable long before any individual day becomes impossible.

Q: Match each forcing or variability with its nature.List IA. Orbital changesB. Volcanic aerosolC. El NinoD. Greenhouse gas emissionList II1. internal variability of the coupled system2. external, on timescales of tens of thousands of years3. external and anthropogenic4. external, with an effect lasting a few years

Correct answer: A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3Two questions separate these: is the cause outside the climate system, and on what timescale does it act. Orbital changes are external and act over tens of thousands of years. Volcanic aerosol is external and lasts a few years, until it settles out of the stratosphere. Greenhouse gas emission is external and anthropogenic. El Nino is not a forcing at all - it is the coupled system rearranging heat within itself.

The five components of the climate system are the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere and

A.biosphere
B.ionosphere
C.magnetosphere
D.exosphere

Answer: A

Correct answer: biosphere

The five are the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the lithosphere and the biosphere. The biosphere belongs among them because living matter exchanges carbon, water and energy with the others on climatically important timescales - through photosynthesis and respiration, through transpiration, and through the albedo and roughness of vegetated surfaces. The ionosphere, magnetosphere and exosphere lie outside the system as usually defined.

Discuss in Forum

Match each component of the climate system with a characteristic response time.
List I
A. Atmosphere
B. Ocean mixed layer
C. Deep ocean
D. Ice sheets
List II
1. centuries to a millennium
2. days to weeks
3. thousands of years
4. months to a few years

A.A-3, B-1, C-4, D-2
B.A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3
C.A-4, B-2, C-1, D-3
D.A-2, B-4, C-3, D-1

Answer: B

Correct answer: A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3

Response time rises with heat capacity and with how slowly each reservoir is stirred. The atmosphere adjusts in days to weeks; the ocean mixed layer, being stirred by the wind but far more massive, in months to a few years; the deep ocean, ventilated only slowly, in centuries to a millennium; and the great ice sheets in thousands of years. That spread is why the system is never in equilibrium with its forcing.

Discuss in Forum

Assertion (A): The deep ocean is central to understanding climate change over centuries.
Reason (R): Its heat capacity is enormous and its response time is measured in centuries.

A.A is true but R is false
B.A is false but R is true
C.Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
D.Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A

Answer: C

Both are true and the reason gives the significance: heat taken up by the deep ocean delays the surface response to a forcing, so the full effect of a change is not seen for a very long time. Heat capacity is the reason.

Discuss in Forum

Consider the following statements about response times in the climate system.
1. The atmosphere responds in days while ice sheets take millennia.
2. The range of timescales complicates modelling considerably.
3. All components respond on roughly the same timescale.

A.3 only
B.1 only
C.All of them
D.1 and 2 only

Answer: D

The first two are correct. The third is quite wrong, and the spread of timescales over six orders of magnitude is one of the defining features of the system. Fast and slow must be modelled together. Six orders of magnitude separate the extremes.

Discuss in Forum

Weather differs from climate in that climate refers to

A.the statistics of weather over time
B.the weather at one single moment in time
C.the forecast issued for the coming week
D.the temperature and nothing else

Answer: A

Correct answer: the statistics of weather over time

Weather is the state of the atmosphere now and climate is the distribution from which that state is drawn - the means, the variability and the extremes over a period conventionally taken as thirty years. The distinction matters because a single cold winter says nothing about the distribution, and a shift in the distribution is detectable long before any individual day becomes impossible.

Discuss in Forum

State whether the following is true or false.
A single unusually cold winter is evidence against a warming climate.

A.True
B.False
C.True only at large scales
D.False only at small scales

Answer: B

Climate is a statistical description and individual seasons vary widely about the mean. Only a trend over many years carries information about the climate itself. Variability is expected. One season carries almost no information at all.

Discuss in Forum

An external forcing of the climate system is one that

A.is always caused by some human activity
B.acts only on the atmosphere itself
C.originates outside the system itself
D.arises from interactions within the system

Answer: C

Volcanic aerosol, orbital changes and solar variability are the natural examples, and greenhouse gas emissions the anthropogenic one. Internal variability by contrast needs no forcing at all. Solar and volcanic are the natural cases.

Discuss in Forum

Match each forcing or variability with its nature.
List I
A. Orbital changes
B. Volcanic aerosol
C. El Nino
D. Greenhouse gas emission
List II
1. internal variability of the coupled system
2. external, on timescales of tens of thousands of years
3. external and anthropogenic
4. external, with an effect lasting a few years

A.A-4, B-2, C-1, D-3
B.A-2, B-4, C-3, D-1
C.A-3, B-1, C-4, D-2
D.A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3

Answer: D

Correct answer: A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3

Two questions separate these: is the cause outside the climate system, and on what timescale does it act. Orbital changes are external and act over tens of thousands of years. Volcanic aerosol is external and lasts a few years, until it settles out of the stratosphere. Greenhouse gas emission is external and anthropogenic. El Nino is not a forcing at all - it is the coupled system rearranging heat within itself.

Discuss in Forum

Assertion (A): Internal variability can produce climate fluctuations with no external cause at all.
Reason (R): The coupled ocean atmosphere system has its own modes of oscillation.

A.Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
B.Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
C.A is true but R is false
D.A is false but R is true

Answer: A

Correct answer: Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

Both are true and the reason gives the mechanism. The ocean and atmosphere are coupled non-linear fluids with their own modes of oscillation, so the system can move from one state to another with no push from outside - El Nino being the clearest case. This is why detecting a forced trend requires an estimate of the internal variability against which to judge it.

Discuss in Forum

10.

A positive feedback in the climate system

A.always destabilises the system completely
B.amplifies the initial change
C.opposes the initial change
D.has no effect on the response

Answer: B

The ice albedo feedback is the standard example, where melting ice exposes darker surface and absorbs more sunlight. Positive does not mean good, and it does not necessarily mean runaway. Ice albedo is the standard illustration.

Discuss in Forum

Loading…

Topics

Other Subjects

Tags: Climate System Components Questions and Answers || Climate System Components MCQ Questions and Answers || Climate System Components GK Questions and Answers || Climate System Components GK MCQ Questions || Climate System Components Multiple Choice Questions and Answers || Climate System Components GK || GK on Climate System Components || Climatology Questions and Answers || Climatology MCQ Questions and Answers || Climatology GK Questions and Answers || GK on Climatology

Climate System Components Questions and Answers

Topics

Other Subjects

About Us

Stay informed about all important Dates & Notifications