Trivia Question: Which of the following affect how much energy is powering Earth’s climate?

a.    Solar energy output.

b.    Volcanic activity.

c.    Variations in Earth’s orbit around the Sun.

d.    What is in in the atmosphere.

e.    All of the above.

The correct answer is e. Changes in all of the above over different points in the past 12,000 years are believed to have affected how much energy is in Earth’s climate. Before the 20th century, Earth had been in a gradual 8,000-year cooling trend, following a time of rapid warming as the Earth came out of the last ice age. These events were likely driven by changes in Earth’s orbital patterns that affect how the Sun’s energy hits the Earth. Volcanic eruptions have instigated cooling episodes lasting years to centuries. Shifts in solar activity, such as the 11-year sunspot cycle, also affect how much energy the Earth receives. Changes in these drivers cause other changes, such as changes in the atmosphere and the size of ice masses, which can have amplifying effects. An increase in energy that causes a retreat in sea ice, for example, means more exposed ocean surface, which allows Earth to absorb more energy.

(Source: Miller, GH et al. “Abrupt onset of the Little Ice Age triggered by volcanism and sustained by sea-ice/ocean feedbacks.” Geophysical Research Letters 39 (2012): L02708.)

Trivia Question: Following periods of frequent volcanic eruptions, what does Earth’s climate tend to do?

a.    It warms.

b.    It cools.

c.    It doesn’t change.

The correct answer is b. Periods over the past 1,500 years when volcanic eruptions were frequent – especially powerful eruptions in the tropics – tend to be periods when cooling is observed, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere. Strong eruptions from tropical volcanoes such as Pinatubo, Tambora and Krakatau in Indonesia, and Cosigüina in Nicaragua, can load large amounts of sulfur into the stratosphere, which blocks sunlight leading to cooling. The same loading of sulfur dioxide and other particles into the stratosphere also makes sunsets more intense!

(Source: Miller, GH et al. “Abrupt onset of the Little Ice Age triggered by volcanism and sustained by sea-ice/ocean feedbacks.” Geophysical Research Letters 39 (2012): L02708 and Corfidi, SF. “The Colors of Sunset and Twilight.” NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center 2009. Accessed Online 5 February 2012: <http://www.spc.noaa.gov/publications/corfidi/sunset/> and Gao, C et al. “Volcanic forcing of climate over the past 1,500 years: An improved ice core-based index for climate models.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 113 (2008): D23111.)

Trivia Question: 20,000 years ago, when Earth’s climate was much cooler and a massive ice sheet extended form the Arctic south all the way to the Columbia River, the Great Salt Lake was…

a) larger than it is today.
b) smaller than it is today.
c) unchanged from where it is today.

The correct answer is a. The Great Salt Lake is a remnant of Lake Bonneville, which was several times larger 20,000 years ago. Lake Bonneville was once as large as Lake Michigan, but shrunk over the past 20,000 years, leaving behind the Great Salt Lake Desert and the Great Salt Lake. There are many salt flats and salt deserts across the Intermountain West, which are indications of the wetter climate and greater lake coverage that existed in the region during past glacial periods. Similar processes happened elsewhere around the world, including in the Sahara Desert. Ancient, glacial era lake beds across the world constitute Earth’s major atmospheric dust sources.

Seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

Sources: Munroe, JS et al. “Latest Pleistocene advance of alpine glaciers in the southwestern Uinta Mountains, Utah, USA: Evidence for the influence of local moisture sources.” Geology 34 (2006): 841-844 and Dyke, AS et al. “The Laurentide and Innuitian ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum.” Quaternary Science Reviews 21 (2002): 9-31.

Trivia Question: Does the world have more wet or dry areas than it did in 1950?

a) Wet areas
b) Dry areas

The correct answer is b. The Earth’s land surface is drier overall than it was in the early part of the 20th century. Dry area coverage has been growing at a rate of 1.74 percent per decade since the early 1980’s. The United States has been an exception to this general rule: despite periods of severe drought, particularly in parts of the West, wet area coverage has been increasing by about one percent each decade.

Seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

Source: Dai, A. “Characteristics and trends in various forms of the Palmer Drought Severity Index during 1900-2008.” Journal of Geophysical Research 116 (2011): D12115.

The correct answer is true. Bacteria are single-celled organisms that are found on every continent, at the bottom of the ocean and as high as 50 miles in the atmosphere. Each year, between 90 million and four billion pounds of bacteria travel from the Earth’s surface into the air around us. While most of these bacteria sink down to the surface within days or weeks, winds sometimes carry them into circulation patterns that keep them aloft for years. Many bacteria return to Earth during rainfall, with both living and dead bacteria serving as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). CCN are tiny particles that even smaller water vapor droplets cling to as raindrops form. Once enough water vapor droplets gather on the nuclei, raindrops fall. This is a critical part of Earth’s water cycle, which moves water from the oceans to the land, making freshwater and life on land possible. Without the nuclei, water vapor would not collect and fall as raindrops. Other types of condensation nuclei include mineral dust particles, salt from the ocean and sulfate from volcanic activity.

Seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

Source: Smith, DJ et al. “The High Life: Transport of Microbes in the Atmosphere.” Eos 92 (2011): 249-250.

Trivia Question: As temperatures in the Arctic have warmed over the last 50 years, Alaska’s tree cover has…

a) Expanded
b) Shrunk
c) Not changed

The correct answer is a. As temperatures have warmed, tundra soils have begun to thaw at deeper levels for at least some part of the year. This has created a disturbance that allows trees, which have deeper roots than grasses and shrubs, to move into the tundra. Warmer temperatures also stimulate microbial activity in the soils, giving trees yet more of an incentive to move north. About 4,500 square miles of Alaska that were tundra in 1960 are covered by trees today.

Seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

Sources: Hinzman, L et al. “Evidence and Implications of Recent Climate Change in Northern Alaska and Other ArcticRegions.” Climatic Change 72 (2005): 251–298 and Tape, K et al. “The evidence for shrub expansion in Northern Alaska and the Pan-Arctic.” Global Change Biology 12 (2006): 686-702.

Trivia Question: How much time does it take the Earth to receive as much solar energy as mankind uses over the course of an entire year for transportation, electricity , manufacturing, heating and cooling of buildings, etc.?

a) Six months
b) One week
c) One day
d) One hour

The correct answer is d. In a little over an hour the Earth absorbs as much solar energy as is required to keep the human economy moving for a whole year. Most of mankind’s energy currently comes from fossil fuels, ancient plant and animal bodies that originally got their energy from the Sun but over time were compressed into compact sources that release useful energy when burned.

Seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

(Sources: International Energy Agency. (2006) World Energy Outlook 2006 and NASA, Langley Research Center. “Earth Radiation Budget Experiment.” 2005. Accessed Online 6 March 2011 <http://asd-www.larc.nasa.gov/erbe/ASDerbe.html>)

Trivia Question: Approximately what percentage of the Sun’s energy does the Earth reflect back into space?

a) Five percent
b) 10 percent
c) 30 percent
d) 50 percent

The correct answer is c. About thirty percent of the solar radiation that reaches Earth’s atmosphere is reflected. More specifically, clouds reflect about 20 percent of this radiation, the ground and ground cover reflects about 10 percent, and dust and other particles in the air “scatter” radiation in all directions causing a small percentage to be reflected back into space. The reflecting power of a surface is referred to as its albedo. Because Earth reflects about 30 percent of the radiation it receives, it has an albedo of 0.3. This number is an average, of course, with lots of albedo variability amongst cloud types and objects on the Earth’s surface. Highly absorptive asphalt, for example, has an albedo of 0.04. Fresh snow, on the other hand, has an albedo as high as 0.9.

Seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

Source: Strahler, A and Strahler, A. Physical Geography: Science and Systems of the Human Environment. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2002.

Trivia Question: Why does Earth have seasons?

a) Because the Earth is far away from the Sun in December and close to the Sun in July
b) Because the Sun is stronger during different times of the year
c) Other planets get between the Earth and the Sun during winter
d) Because Earth tilts on its axis

The correct answer is d. The Earth is tilted at an angle of about 23.5 degrees. The part of the Earth that leans toward the Sun changes over the 365.25 day period it takes for Earth to make one complete orbit. On June 21 the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun and is gets lots of daylight and more solar energy, while the Southern Hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun.  The opposite is the case on December 21. On March 21 and September 21, the angle between the Sun’s rays and the Earth’s surface is 90 degrees and everyplace on the globe has an equal number of hours of day and night.

Season: Spring

Source: Strahler, A and Strahler, A. Physical Geography: Science and Systems of the Human Environment. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2002.

Trivia Question: Why does Earth have seasons?

a) Because the Earth is far away from the Sun in December and close to the Sun in July
b) Because the Sun is stronger during different times of the year
c) Other planets get between the Earth and the Sun during winter
d) Because Earth tilts on its axis

The correct answer is d. The Earth is tilted at an angle of about 23.5 degrees. The part of the Earth that leans toward the Sun changes over the 365.25 day period it takes for Earth to make one complete orbit. Right now, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the sun and is getting fewer hours of daylight and less solar energy. The Southern Hemisphere, however, is getting an abundance of sunlight and temperatures are warm. Thus, while December 21-22may be the shortest day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, it is the longest day of the year in the Southern Hemisphere.

While the Earth is closer and farther away from the sun at different points in the year, it is actually closest during the winter and farthest away during the summer!

Above: A schematic diagram illustrating the differences in hemispheric orientation relative to the Sun at different points of the year, the mechanism behind Earth’s seasons. Image Courtesy of the National Weather Service.

Season: Winter

Source: Strahler, A and Strahler, A. Physical Geography: Science and Systems of the Human Environment. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2002.

Trivia Question: As temperatures have warmed since the 1960s, birds in the United States birds have moved their wintering grounds…

a) farther north
b) farther south
c) closer to the ocean
d) to the east

The correct answer is a. As temperatures have warmed since the mid-1960s, most bird species that have shown significant changes in where they winter have moved farther north. Globally, species are moving their ranges – range being the geographic extent of where a species lives – towards the poles at a rate of 3.8 miles per decade. Because they are particularly mobile animals, birds are shifting their ranges particularly quickly. In North America, 60 percent of the 305 species tracked are on the move and spending their winters an average of 35 miles farther north than they did in the mid-1960s. Some species that are moving north particularly rapidly are the Wild Turkey, the Purple Finch and the American Robin.

Season: Winter

Sources: Parmesan, C and Yohe, G. “A globally coherent fingerprint of climate change impacts across natural systems.” Nature 421 (2003): 37-42 and The National Audubon Society. “Birds and Climate Change: Ecological Disruption in Motion.” February 2009. Accessed Online 3 December 2010 <http://birdsandclimate.audubon.org/>

Trivia Question: What is the best way to predict what kind of winter you will have?

a) Look at how intense the Sun is right now
b) Look at how much ice there is in the Arctic
c) Look at sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean
d) Watch squirrel behavior

The correct answer is c. If you want to know what sort of winter you will have, you need to know what the prevailing winds are likely to be. In the tropical Pacific, huge masses of warm and cold water move around on cycles of 3-7 years. When warm waters cover the Pacific, an El Niño is happening. When the eastern Pacific is relatively cold, a La Niña is happening. These warm and cold water masses are large enough to influence how the atmosphere circulates, particularly the strength and position of the jet streams that drive the strength and position of mid-latitude winds. What these winds do determines what kind of winter we have in different parts of the United States.

Above: A schematic diagram of how El Niño and La Niña affect the jet streams and America’s weather.  Image Courtesy of NOAA Climate Prediction Center/NCEP/NWS

Season: Winter

Source: NOAA: Climate Prediction Center. “Frequently Asked Questions About El Niño and La Niña” Accessed Online 6 December 2010

Trivia Question: In the United States, which season is warming the most?

a) Spring
b) Summer
c) Fall
d) Winter

The correct answer is d. While the United States is warming at a rate of about 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit per decade for the year as a whole, this warming is most pronounced during the winter months. The December through February period is warming at a rate of 0.7 degrees Fahrenheit per decade. The spring season is warming by around 0.5 degrees per decade, the summer by a little under 0.3 degrees per decade, and the fall by less than 0.2 degrees per decade.

For more information and to view maps and charts of seasonal temperature trends in your region, visit: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/charts.shtml

Season: Winter

Source: NOAA: Climate Prediction Service. “U.S. Temperature and Precipitation Trends.” Accessed Online 6 December 2010

Trivia Question: During cold snap events, such as the late December 2009-early January 2010 event, were upper-atmosphere westerly winds weaker or stronger than normal?

a. weaker than normal
b. stronger than normal
c. around normal

The correct answer is a. The Arctic Oscillation was in a negative phase during last winter’s cold snap, meaning that the pressure difference between the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes and the Arctic was less than normal and the westerly winds were weaker than normal. Stronger westerly winds block the frigid Arctic air masses and keep them from invading the United States. When these winds are weaker, the cold air has a much easier time making it down to the mid-latitudes. Stronger westerly winds also strengthen the flow of warm and moist air from the Pacific into the Western United States; a weakening of the westerlies weakens this effect.

(Source: Higgins, RW et al. Relationship between Climate Variability and Winter Temperature Extremes in the United States. Journal of Climate 15 (2002) : 1555-1572and Thompson, David W.J. Regional Climate Impacts of the Northern Hemisphere Annular Mode. Science 293 (2001): 85-89 and Keenlyside, NS et al. Advancing decadal-scale climate prediction in the North Atlantic Sector. Nature 453 (2008): 84-88 and Moran, JM. Climate Studies: Introduction to Climate Science. Boston: American Meteorological Society. 2010.)

Trivia Question: As the oceans absorb more carbon dioxide, they become…

a. more basic (higher pH).
b. more acidic (lower pH).
c. richer in nutrients.
d. warmer.

The correct answer is b. As oceans take CO2 out of the atmosphere, the waters become more acidic. More acidic waters mean there are less carbonate molecules available to organisms that use calcium carbonate to build their bodies, such as coral, oysters and many of the tiny plankton that are at the base of the food chain. One indicator of how this acidification has affected ocean life is the thickness of foraminiferan shells, which are a type of plankton. Samples from the Southern Ocean around Antarctica indicate that foramineferan shells, which are harder to make when there are fewer carbonate molecules, are now one-third thinner than they were in pre-industrial times.

Seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

Sources: Hoegh-Guldberg et al. “Coral Reefs Under Rapid Climate Change and Ocean Acidification.” Science 318 (2007): 1737 and “Oceans Becoming More Acidic, Potentially Threatening Marine Life.” Science Daily 23 February 2009. Accessed Online 25 February 2009 and Moy, AD et al. “Reduced calcification in modern Southern Ocean planktonic foraminifera.” Nature Geoscience 2 (2009): doi:10.1038/ngeo460.

Trivia Question: How have marmots responded to this temperature rise and decrease in hibernation period?

a. They have become larger.
b. They have become smaller.
c. Their population has declined.
d. Their population has grown.
e. a and d.

The correct answer is e. Marmots now have more time to be active, eat and reproduce. As a result, today there are more marmots in the Colorado Rockies and they are bigger than they were several decades ago. Most of the population and size trends have occurred since 2000. There are now three times more marmots living in Colorado’s Upper East River Valley and juvenile marmots are now growing at a rate of 0.7 pounds per year faster than in 2000.

Please visit http://www.earthgauge.net/climate-facts-image-library#7 to download an image of a yellow-bellied marmot in Rocky Mountain National Park. The image is in the public domain.

Seasons: Spring, Summer

Sources: Martens, Chad. “Are Alpine Species Disappearing? The Effects of Climate Change on Alpine Vertebrates in the Rocky Mountains.” Mountain Research Station, University of Colorado, Boulder. Spring 2005 and Ozgul, A et al. “Coupled dynamics of body mass and population growth in response to environmental change.” Nature 466 (2010): 482-483.

Trivia Question: All other things being equal, during what phase of ENSO does the Atlantic Hurricane season tend to be most active?

a. El Niño
b. La Niña
c. Neutral

The correct answer is b. The amount of vertical wind shear over the ocean can make or break a hurricane season. Vertical wind shear is the change in the speed and direction of wind at different levels of the atmosphere. More vertical wind shear, or lots of variation in wind speed across different altitudes, suppresses hurricane activity. Less vertical wind shear, or more even wind patterns across different altitudes, promote hurricane development. La Niña phases work to reduce the amount of vertical wind shear over the North Atlantic, and thus La Niña years tend to be years with more active Atlantic hurricane seasons. La Niña conditions are now present in the tropical Pacific.

Seasons: Summer, Fall

Sources: Briggs, WM. “On the Changes in the Number and Intensity of North Atlantic Tropical Cyclones.” Journal of Climate 21 (2008): 1387-1402. Donnely, JP and Woodruff, JD. “Intense hurricane activity over the past 5,000 years controlled by El Niño and the West African monsoon.” Nature 447 (2007): 465-468.

Trivia Question: Which of the following is a common source of cloud condensation nuclei?

a. Dust storms
b. Ocean salt spray
c. Volcanoes
d. Ocean algae
e. All of the above

The correct answer is e. Dust from dust storms, salt from the ocean, sulfate from volcanic activity, and a substance emitted in large quantities by ocean algae blooms called dimethylsulfide are all crucial sources of cloud condensation nuclei. Any changes in the concentrations of these different nuclei can affect the weather by affecting when and how clouds form and rain falls.

Seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

Source: Vakkubam SM et al. “Weak response of oceanic dimethylsulfide to upper mixing shoaling induced by global warming.” PNAS 104 (2007): 16004-16009.

Trivia Question: Which island is this?

a. Baffin Island
b. Hokkaido (Japan’s northernmost Island)
c. Hawaii’s Big Island
d. Greenland

The correct answer is d. Greenland’s ice sheet, the world’s second largest ice sheet behind the Antarctic ice sheet, has been losing more ice during the summer melt season than it gains during the cold season. For the past few decades, Greenland has been losing about 57 cubic miles of ice each year. For further comparison, this ice melt is about 14 times the annual flow of the Colorado River.

Seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall

Sources: Steffen, K. “Cryospheric Contributions to Sea-Level Rise and Variability.” United States Senate, Washington, DC. 3 May 2007. Accessed Online 21 May 2010

Trivia Question: What was this substance?

a. Carbon dioxide (CO2)
b. Carbon monoxide (CO)
c. Sulfur dioxide (SO2)
d. Ash

The correct answer is c. The June 15th eruption of Mt. Pinatubo on the island of Luzon in the Philippines injected about 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, the second lowest layer of the atmosphere between six and 31 miles in altitude. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists sulfur dioxide as a criteria air pollutant. When it is present in the lower parts of the atmosphere, it makes rain more acidic and can lead to damaged plants, buildings and degraded water quality. After the Pinatubo eruption, plumes of sulfur dioxide circled the Earth in about three weeks and by the end of the year had made it to the poles, forming a “sulfur dioxide envelope” around the Earth. The sulfur dioxide particles in the stratosphere absorbed sunlight, warming that layer of the atmosphere by seven degrees Fahrenheit, but they also prevented the usual amount of sunlight from reaching the Earth’s surface, which caused a surface cooling of one degree Fahrenheit.

Seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

Sources: Gu, Lianhong et al. “Response of a Deciduous Forest to the Mount Pinatubo Eruption: Enhanced Photosynthesis.” Science 299 (2003): 2035-2038 and Wolfe, Jason. “Volcanoes and Climate Change.” NASA Earth Observatory 5 September 2000. 16 July 2008