How Does Climate Change Impact the Arctic & Antarctic?
The polar regions are particularly vulnerable to climate change challenges
Questions
One method NOT used for measuring climate change in the polar regions is:
- Instruments on land & sea
- Satellites
- Local knowledge from Antarctic indigenous people
- Local knowledge from Arctic indigenous people
Why is the Antarctic Circumpolar Current important to the world’s climate?
- It redistributes temperature & salt throughout the ocean
- All answer choices are accurate
- It drives CO2 gas exchange with the atmosphere
- Density differences make it the "mixer of the deep oceans"
How much would global sea level rise if the Greenland & Antarctic ice sheets completely melted?
- From 10 to 15 feet
- Almost 100 feet
- From 20 to 25 feet
- Over 200 feet
What evidence do we have of climate change in the polar regions?
- The ice flows faster, is retreating, & surfaces have dropped
- Trees are growing all over Antarctica & Greenland now
- From space we can see straight through the thinning ice
- Both poles have large increases in species diversity
Walrus in the Arctic are suffering from the loss of sea ice because they:
- Use the sea ice as a platform for resting
- All answer choices are accurate
- Launch from sea ice to hunt for food on the ocean bottom
- Drift on sea ice to find the ~5000 clams they eat each day
The polar regions are often decribed as the planet’s refrigerator; this means that:
- They cool the planet by radiating heat back into space.
- The local residents can store food in the cellar all year
- Their cool temperatures keep crops fresh for weeks
- Animals live longer because the climate is so cold outside
An important example of a "positive feedback loop” in the polar climate system is:
- Scientists in remote places check on each others instruments
- Warming ocean water opens new areas for marine species
- Warmer winters cause more plant growth, providing more food
- Sea ice melt opens more ocean to sunlight, causing more melt
Antarctica’s Adelie penguin are negatively impacted by Earth's warming climate because:
- Loss of sea ice near the peninsula affects their food, krill
- Rain falls instead of snow, freezing the feathers of chicks
- Warming causes chicks to hatch before food is available
- All answer choices are accurate
People describe Alaska as having “drunken trees” because:
- Many Alaskan trees grow in bogs soaking in fermented juices
- Trees tip as nitrates in the soil convert to "laughing gas"
- Trees tip from buckling of the ground due to permafrost thaw
- Arctic hare have gnawed away tree roots for winter nutrition
Albedo is a measure of surface reflectivity. The polar albedo is important because:
- It reflects greenhouse gases, cooling our planet
- It absorbs solar radiation, which melts snow
- It reflects solar radiation back into space, cooling earth
- It absorbs greenhouse gases, pulling them out of circulation
Over the last 30 years, the late summer sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean:
- Covers more area than it did 30 years ago
- Declined, but has recovered to where it was 30 years ago
- Has completely disappeared in the summer
- Covers less area than it did 30 years ago
Which of the following would contribute the most to sea level rise?
- Melting of the Arctic sea ice
- Melting of land ice in Greenland and Antarctica
- Melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas
- Melting of the glaciers in Alaska