Review Questions for Chapter 19 - Climate Change

• What techniques have scientists utilized to reconstruct our past climate?
• What are the significant climatic events over the last 18,000 years?
• describe the global temperature trend since the industrial revolution
• what is a the feedback mechanism? What are examples of positive and negative feedback mechanisms for a warming planet?
• describe some of the natural causes for climate change:
  • plate tectonics
  • the Milankovitch theory
    • eccentricity cycle
    • precession cycle
    • tilt cycle
  • aerosols in the troposphere and stratosphere'
  • sunspot activity
• explain the theory of nuclear winter
• describe the current CO2 concentration trend
  • the trend is caused by????
• why will the sea level rise if global warming occurs?
• what are the IPCC committee conclusions on the subject of global warming?
• why are predictions for global warming so problematic?