These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs. A region's climate is generated by the climate system, which has five components: atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, land surface, and biosphere.

• Unit 5 Study Guide Answers

Climate is a measure of the average pattern of variation in temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, precipitation, atmospheric particle count, and other meteorological variables in a given region over long periods of time. Climate is different from weather, which only describes the short-term conditions of these variables in a given region. An ice core is a core sample that is removed from an ice sheet, most commonly from the polar ice caps of Antarctica, Greenland, or high mountain glaciers elsewhere.

As the ice forms from the incremental buildup of annual layers of snow, lower layers are older than upper, and an ice core contains ice formed over a range of years. The properties of the ice and its inclusions can then be used to reconstruct a climatic record over the age range of the core, normally through isotopic analysis. This enables the reconstruction of local temperature records and the history of atmospheric composition.

greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases are gas compounds that contribute to the greenhouse effect. These gases allow direct sunlight (relative shortwave energy) to reach Earth's surface unimpeded. As the shortwave energy (that in the visible and ultraviolet portion of the spectra) heats the surface, longer-wave (infrared) energy (heat) is reradiated to the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases absorb this energy, thereby allowing less heat to escape back to space, and 'trapping' it in the lower atmosphere.

Many greenhouse gases occur naturally in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and nitrous oxide, while others are synthetic. Those that are human-made include the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and Perfluorocarbons (PFCs), as well as sulfur hexafluoride (SF 6). (See for more details.).

rate of change. The change in a variable over a specific period of time. (See for more details.) Conceptual Questions. How are climate models constructed?. What factors increase uncertainty in climate models?. Why do some climate models produce different outcomes than others?. What role do greenhouse gases play in climate?.

Unit 5 Study Guide Answers

Which greenhouse gas concentrations do current human activities impact, and how are we contributing these to the atmosphere?. What role do feedbacks play in attempts to predict future climate change?. What do ice cores tell us about methane and carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere over the past 400,000 years?. If we know that greenhouse gases have fluctuated in Earth's atmosphere in the past, why are we concerned about an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere right now? Need additional help? These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate.

The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.