Global Climate Change Flashcards

All 6 cards in this deck

What is stated to be a major cause of climate change?

An increase in the average (mean) global temperature.

Describe four potential effects of global climate change.

Melting ice, rising sea levels, flooding, more extremes of weather (also loss of habitats).

True or false? Acid rain is a potential effect of global climate change.

False. Acid rain is caused by sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen, not by rising global temperature.

Why is it difficult to predict the effects of global climate change?

Global climate is a very complex system, so models of it are simplified and their predictions are uncertain.

What does a graph showing that both carbon dioxide concentration and mean global temperature have risen tell you?

There is a correlation between them, but correlation alone does not prove that carbon dioxide caused the temperature rise.

When judging the quality of the evidence in a report about climate change, what should you check?

Whether the data are peer reviewed, from a reliable source, and use all the evidence rather than a selected, biased part of it.