Exercises

Question 15.1

What is a greenhouse gas, and how does it affect Earth’s climate?

Question 15.2

Why is it incorrect to assert that greenhouse gases prevent heat energy from escaping to outer space?

Question 15.3

From the information given in Figure 15.18, estimate the residence time of carbon dioxide (a) in the ocean and (b) in the atmosphere.

Question 15.4

Between 2000 and 2010, emissions of carbon into the atmosphere from fossil-fuel burning and other industrial activities averaged about 7.8 Gt/year, almost all of it in the form of carbon dioxide. What was the mass of carbon dioxide emitted?

Question 15.5

List three causes of climate change that result from plate tectonic processes.

Question 15.6

What is the role of continental glaciers in climate variation?

Question 15.7

What information about glacial cycles has been obtained by studying ice cores?