Climate Change

SNC2D Name: ______________

Climate Change Unit Review

Questions:
1. What is the difference between weather and climate?
  Weather is the environmental conditions (temp, precip, wind, cloud) in a particular place at a particular time.     Climate is the average environmental conditions averaged over many years (>30).

2. Identify which of the following statements refer to climate and which refer to weather by writing C (climate) or W (weather) in the space to the left of the following statements:

_C_ In central Ontario, snowfall on December 25 occurs less than 50% of the time. _W_ December 25, 1999, was warm and cloudy.
_W_ Hurricane Hortense struck the Nova Scotia mainland on September 15, 1996.
_C_ Most hurricanes in Atlantic Canada occur in September or October.

3. What are 5 natural mechanisms or processes that can account for climate changes that occurred before the era of human civilization?
  Many possible answers:
    -   Changes in Sun’s radiation output (e.g. Sun spots, solar flares)
    -   Earth’s tilt changes
    -   Earth’s orbit changes
    -   Volcanoes
    -   Meteorite impacts
    -   Prevailing wind and ocean current changes
    -   Natural atmospheric changes (greenhouse gas levels)
    - Continental drift (very gradual changes)


4. What is “thermal energy”?
Thermal energy (heat) is energy associated with moving particles.   An thermal energy increases, particles move more quickly.

  5. For each statement below, write the method of energy transfer:
    a) Warm water near the equator moves north or south by ocean currents:
        Convection
    b) A metal spoon that is left in a pot of boiling water becomes warm:
        Conduction
    c) Energy from the sun travels through space to reach the Earth's surface:
        Radiation

6. Sketch a diagram to represent how convection transfers thermal energy in a liquid or gas.
                                            Cool particles fall.


Warm...