Peter
http://www.globalwarmingheartland.org/GWQuiz/Testindex.html
Question 1:
The Global Warming Test
Global warming is a real phenomenon: Earth's temperature is increasing.
The answer is True
The Facts
Global warming is something that has been happening for a long time. The temperature of the Earth has been increasing more or less continuously since the time of the cave man.
Approximately 18,000 years ago the Earth began a gradual process of warming up after more than 100,000 years of Ice Ages. Much of North America, Europe, and Asia lay buried beneath great sheets of glacial ice.
By about 15,000 years ago the Earth had warmed sufficiently to halt the advance of glaciers, and sea levels worldwide began to rise.
By 8,000 years ago the land bridge across the Bering Strait was drowned, cutting off the migration of men and animals to North America.
Since the end of the Ice Age, Earth's temperature has risen approximately 16 degrees F and sea levels have risen a total of 300 feet! Forests have returned where once there was only ice.
From a geological perspective, global warming is the normal state of our accustomed natural world. Technically, we are in an "interglacial phase," or between ice ages. The question is not really if an ice age will return, but when.
Don't panic when you hear global alarmists warning the Earth may have warmed almost 1 degree in the last 200 years. Although this still hasn't yet been proven, it is in fact exactly what should be happening if everything is normal.
If global warming stops, then you can start worrying! It means our warm interglacial phase is over and we may be heading into another Ice Age!
- Global Warming Question #2
The Greenhouse Effect is real and contributes to global warming.
The answer is True
The Facts
The Greenhouse Effect helps to moderate temperatures -- especially nighttime temperatures. Without the greenhouse effect, the average temperature of the Earth would be -18 degrees C.
Greenhouse gases allow sunlight to pass through Earth's atmosphere, but as sunlight strikes the Earth it is partially changed to radiant heat. Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane help inhibit the escape of radiant heat back into space.
That is why the danger of nighttime frost is greater when the skies are clear than when skies are cloudy.
- Global Warming Question #3
The Greenhouse Effect is real and contributes to global warming.
The answer is True
The Greenhouse Effect helps to moderate temperatures -- especially nighttime temperatures. Without the greenhouse effect, the average temperature of the Earth would be -18 degrees C.
Greenhouse gases allow sunlight to pass through Earth's atmosphere, but as sunlight strikes the Earth it is partially changed to radiant heat. Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane help inhibit the escape of radiant heat back into space.
That is why the danger of nighttime frost is greater when the skies are clear than when skies are cloudy.
Global Warming Question #4
The Greenhouse Effect is caused primarily by:
Click to view imageWater Vapor Click to view imageCarbon DioxideClick to view imageOzone-destroying Aerosol Sprays
The answer is Water Vapor
The Facts
Over 95 percent of the Greenhouse Effect is the result of atmospheric water vapor in Earth's atmosphere. But because water droplets held in suspension (clouds) make almost as good a reflector as they do a thermal insulator, there is little rise in daytime temperatures due to the Greenhouse Effect.
Any greenhouse warming, if it does occur, is limited to primarily increasing nighttime temperatures, which provides beneficial moderation of nighttime low temperatures, but no increase in daytime high temperatures. Dr. Patrick Michaels, professor of environmental sciences, University of Virginia, has demonstrated this phenomenon very effectively.
Did you know...
The world's natural wetlands produce more greenhouse gas contributions annually than all human sources combined.
Global Warming Question #5
Which most accurately describes the effects of Global Warming in the United States over the last 100 years?
Click to view imageTemperatures have risen > 5° CClick to view imageTemperatures have risen > 2° CClick to view imageTemperatures have risen < class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">CNext Question Click to view image
The Facts
Temperatures have gone through nearly two complete cycles of warming and cooling over the last 100 years. During the period 1900 to 1940 temperatures were increasing. Then from 1940 to 1975 temperatures were decreasing. Currently, temperatures are increasing back to about where they were in the 1930's.
Overall, the total average annual temperature increase in the last century is so slight the actual amount is uncertain -- maybe 1/3° C.
Global Warming Question #6
CO2 levels in the atmosphere today are at record high levels.
Click to view imageTrueClick to view imageFalse
The answer is FalseNext Question Click to view image
The Facts
Carbon Dioxide is such a small component of Earth's atmosphere (380 ppmv) that the "slice" it represents in this chart is really only a "line" about 1/2 as thick as the line shown. Compared to former geologic times, Earth's atmosphere is "CO2 impoverished."
Click to view image
In the last 600 million years of Earth's history only the Carboniferous Period and our present age, the Quaternary Period, have witnessed CO2 levels less than 400 ppm, except during periods of glacial expansion during ice ages.
Click to view image
Late Carboniferous to Early Permian time (315 mya -- 270 mya) is the only time period in the last 600 million years when both atmospheric CO2 and temperatures were as low as they are today (Quaternary Period).
Temperature after C.R. Scotese http://www.scotese.com/climate.htmCO2 after R.A. Berner, 2001 (GEOCARB III) Click to view image
There has historically been much more CO2 in our atmosphere than exists today. For example:
Click to view imageDuring the Jurassic Period (200 mya), average CO2 concentrations were about 1800 ppm or about 4.7 times higher than today.
Click to view imageThe highest concentrations of CO2 during all of the Paleozoic Era occurred during the Cambrian Period, nearly 7000 ppm -- about 18 times higher than today.
Click to view imageThe Carboniferous Period and the Ordovician Period were the only geological periods during the Paleozoic Era when global temperatures were as low as they are today. To the consternation of global warming proponents, the Late Ordovician Period was also an Ice Age while at the same time CO2 concentrations then were nearly 12 times higher than today -- 4400 ppm.
According to greenhouse theory, Earth should have been exceedingly hot. Instead, global temperatures were no warmer than today. Clearly, other factors besides atmospheric carbon influence Earth temperatures and global warming.
Global Warming Question #7
Carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants damages forests.
Click to view imageTrueClick to view imageFalse
The answer is FalseNext Question Click to view image
The Facts
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the principal gas that trees and other plants need to survive, just like oxygen (O2) is the principal gas that humans and other animals require. Trees absorb CO2 and release O2 -- animals inhale O2 and exhale CO2. See how nice this all works!
Earth's first, primitive forests made their prolific debut 300 million years ago during the Carboniferous Period. Before then, the atmosphere held far more CO2 but concentrations declined throughout the Carboniferous Period as plants flourished.
During the Carboniferous Period the atmosphere became greatly depleted of CO2 (declining from about 2500 ppm to 350 ppm) so that by the end of the Carboniferous the CO2-impoverished atmosphere was less favorable to plant life and plant growth slowed dramatically. Today, CO2 concentrations are barely at 380 ppm -- still CO2-impoverished.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is not to be confused with its poisonous evil cousin carbon monoxide (CO), which can kill humans and animals in just a few minutes. Life as we know it could not exist without carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.
Did you know ...
Carbon dioxide is invisible. The puffs of clouds you see from coal-fired power plants are just that -- clouds. Power plants use steam to drive the turbines which generate electricity. Steam must be cooled and condensed to water to reuse it to make more steam.
The fat, curvy towers that look like they are belching white smoke are really only emitting pure water vapor. They are in effect making clouds.
The actual exhaust emissions come from the smokestack, which is the tall skinny tower. Because modern technology makes it possible to remove much of the fly ash and sulfur before releasing smokestack gases to the air, smokestack emissons today are often almost invisible.
Global Warming Question #8
Which of the following is not true about an increasing greenhouse effect?
Click to view imageThe consensus of scientists is that the problem warrants drastic actionClick to view imageNighttime temperatures may increase, but daytime temperatures will notClick to view imageThe coldest, driest regions of the planet will warm first
The answer is The consensus of scientists is that the problem warrants drastic action
The Facts
Click to view imageIn 1989 as the Cold War and the threat of nuclear war were winding down, the Union of Concerned Scientists began to circulate a petition urging recognition of global warming as potentially the great danger to mankind. The petition was eventually signed by 700 scientists. Only three or four of the signers, however, had any involvement in climatology. Richard S. Lindzen, MIT
Click to view image"When a bureaucracy's reason for existence is threatened, it typically generates new missions." Desperately Seeking Mission: Why the State Department's Gone Green --- Peter VanDoren
Click to view imagePresident Clinton and others cite a letter signed by 2600 scientists that global warming will have catastrophic effects on humanity. Thanks to Citizens for a Sound Economy, we know now that fewer than 10 percent of these "scientists" know anything about climate. Among the signers: a plastic surgeon, two landscape architects, a hotel administrator, a gynecologist, seven sociologists, a linguist, and a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. Global Warming Treaty is All Pain, No Gain --- Malcom Wallop
Click to view image"It's unfortunate that many people read the media hype before they read the (IPCC) chapter on the detection of greenhouse warming. I think the caveats are there. We say quite clearly that few scientists would say the attribution issue [the argument that global warming is caused by human industrial activity] was a done deal."
Global Warming Question #9
Which temperature measuring method most accurately measures global warming?Click to view imageGround-based ThermometersClick to view imageOrbiting Weather SatellitesClick to view imageWeather Balloons
The answer is Orbiting Weather SatellitesNext Question
The Facts
Orbiting satellites provide the most accurate global temperature readings -- accurate to 0.1 degree C. Interestingly, in the 18 years that satellites have been recording temperature they have actually showed a slight decrease in average global temperatures.
Ground-based thermometers that were originally in rural areas have been reading increasingly hotter temperatures with time due to urban encroachment. The asphalt and concrete structures replacing green leafy plants makes for hotter local ground temperatures. This phenomenon is known as the "urban heat-island effect" and has been well-documented by climatologist Dr. Patrick Michaels, professor of environmental sciences, University of Virginia.
In a November 1997 press release Vice President Al Gore proclaimed that 1997 was the hottest year on record. Ground-based temperature readings were the basis for this announcement. Had the data from orbiting satellites been cited the report would have been much different: no net increase in global temperatures in 1997.
Global Warming Question #10
Which answer below provides the best explanation for the following temperature record?
Click to view image
Click to view imageIndustrial pollution from factories, power plants, and cars caused global warmingClick to view imageNatural variations in global temperatures may occur in roughly 500-year cyclesClick to view imageGlobal cooling occurred as a result of the Renaissance Period
The answer is Natural variations in global temperatures may occur in roughly 500-year cycles
The Facts
The primary cause of variations in global temperature is the cycles of the sun and Earth's orbit about the sun. In addition to 40-year cycles and 500-year cycles, other temperature cycles include:
21,000 - year cycle: Elliptical orbit of the Earth around the Sun (precession of the equinoxes)
41,000 - year cycle: Cycle of the +/- 1.5 degree wobble in Earth's orbit
100,000 - year cycle: Variations in the shape of Earth's elliptical orbit (cycle of eccentricity)
Finally....
The Global Warming Test
Congratulations. You have completed the test. 10 Correct: Excellent, you know your facts
9 Correct: Good, you are an independent thinker
8 Correct: Fair, you are on your way
7 or below: Check out globalwarmingheartland.org to learn the facts about global warming Learning the facts is the best way to understand that global warming is occuring but is not a crisis. It is better to trust scientists than politicans. Do not let fear ruin your day. Learn the Facts. http://www.globalwarmingheartland.org
1 comment:
This is highly interesting and significant. Where did you put your hands on this quiz? This should be used in highschools and colleges!
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