The early chapter numbers here correspond to those in the text "The Cosmic Perspective: Solar System", or my subsection titles in Chapter 0. I've gone through our text and my question bank and found the chapter and subsection within the book which contains the relevant material to answer or to reason your way to the answer to that question. There are roughly 12 questions on a typical quiz, so you'll see below for each quiz a list of ~12 section titles, one line for each question. In some cases, the relevant material is in two sections; you'll then see two lines for that question, one of them indented. For most questions, the answer to the question is given explicitly in the section listed. But in some cases, the text doesn't address it well, or at all. In this case, you'll see an "L" out in front. That means consult your notes from my "L"ecture on that material. In some cases, the material spreads through the entire chapter, not a single section within that chapter. In other cases, the section contains all the basic facts, but you'll need to do some reasoning to deduce an answer not given explicitly. In these cases, you may see an "R" (for "reasoning required"). So, like all good exams, there's a mix of easy, hard, factoid, and inductive reasoning questions. There's even a couple of extra credit questions floating around in my test bank. If you get one, there's no mark-off if you get it wrong, and you get a bonus if you get it right.
For most of the course - on Earth's climate past, present and future - there is little material in the text and nearly all of the exam questions are instead drawn from my PowerPoint lectures. Each of these chapters begins with a "K", so don't look for "K32" in your textbook - it's a PowerPoint presentation. For more tips on studying for these exam questions see this additional study guide page (link will update soon) . Also, this page of Key Points may be useful.
Remember that for those sections which are in the textbook, the textbook authors like to title their subsections as a question - but this is NOT the exact question worded that I will ask you! It's only the text subsection most relevant for a question I will give you.
Quiz #1
L 0.8 Occam's Razor
& 3.4a Can we distinguish science
from non-science?
0.3 The Real World
L 0.9 Importance of attitude: "I just want
to know the Truth"
0.1 Natural Selection & Development of Mind
0.4 Scientific Method
5.4c How does light tell us temperatures?
L 5.3c How is energy stored
in atoms?
5.5a How does light tell us the speed of a distant object?
5.4c How does light tell us temperatures?
L 5.4b How does light tell us what things are made
of?
29.3 Judgment by the Weight of Evidence
29.3 Judgment by the Weight of Evidence
K20.7 Know which heat mechanism works best
in solids, fluids, vacuum
K20.5 Molecular or atomic absorption of
photons slows radiation
Quiz #2
10.2d How does a planet gain or lose
atmospheric gases?
10.4b Why did Mars change?
10.1b How does the greenhouse effect warm a
planet?
10.5 The Atmospheric History of Venus
11.1a Are Jovian planets all alike?
11.1c What are Jovian planets like on the
inside?
11.2c What is special about Titan and other
moons?
K13.4 Exoplanet atmosphere composition from
transit depths
K13.3 Metallicity and how it affects solar
system formation
K13.5 Tidally locked exoplanets have what
feature?
K13.7 The definition of the Habitable Zone
Quiz #3
14.1c What is the Sun's structure?
14.1 How is solar luminosity changing over
the sun's lifetime?
14.3c How does solar activity vary with
time?
K31.1 Ice Ages; what causes them
K31.2 How has CO2 in the atmosphere changed
over history of Earth?
& K31.8 History of the amount of Earth's atmosphere
K31.6 Snowball Earth - evidence?
K31.7 What happened to CO2 in Earth's
atmosphere over Earth's history?
K32.3 Troposphere: densest, heated from
below, convective
K32.7 Coriolis Force: Apparent Force due to
Inertia. Which direction?
K32.4 Stratosphere: heated from above by solar UV
absorption by ozone
K32.7 Coriolis Force: Apparent Force due to
Inertia. Which direction?
K33.2 Volcanic CO2 vs human generated - how much?
K33.1 Fast Carbon Cycle
Quiz #4
K34.1 Global Climate Models: Clouds Most
Difficult
K34.7 Streamlining: Embedded Models,
Real-World Fitting
K34.10 Change model initial conditions
slightly to test for chaos
K35.11 Sulfate aerosols mostly bright,
reflective, cool climate
K35.5 Low Clouds vs Cirrus: Cooling vs
Heating
K35.5 Low Clouds vs Cirrus: Cooling vs
Heating
K35.10 Temperature at top of cloud mostly
determines climate effect
K35.2 Saturation Humidity vs. Temperature -
+7% per 1C! Very Steep
K36.4 Thermocline; Deep Ocean Time
Scale
K36.7 Higher Ocean Temp = Less Dissolved
CO2
K37.1 Know how characteristic time scale
varies with mass and forcing
Quiz #5
K38.2 Global temps flat in 1945-1970
period because PDO cool phase and smog aerosols
K38.4 Hansen's 2005 "radiative forcings" slide- methane vs CO2 forcing
K38.9 CO2 contributions: Deforestation is 25% that of
fossil fuels
K38.7 Arctic Ocean ice trends much worse
than IPCC predictions
K39.1 Solar activity & luminosity: no
rise even slight fall in past 60 years
K39.2 Warming troposphere w/cooling
stratosphere says: GHG's are cause
K39.6 Natural forcings of climate account for net=0% of GW. It's ALL humans!
K40 Brain studies: fear vs understanding complexity: Conservatives vs Liberals
K40.5 Graph showing Republican vs Demo & free market vs govt solutions
K40.6 Big Oil funded denialsm when own scientists showed their climate catastrophic business model
K41.8 Science Process: Motivations of scientists, real and slander
Quiz #6
K42.1 Climate and Sea level rise; IPCC vs newest projections
K42.8 California forecast less rain and much less snow
K42.10 Temp keeps rising, even when atmospheric CO2 levels held constant
K42.14 Global rainfall forecast: more rain over poles and equatorial ocean, drought over mid-latitudes
K43.1 Global energy consumption is
proportional to total accumulated wealth
K43.3 Generalized Jevon's Paradox: Energy
efficiency expands civilization and so expands energy needs
K44.1 Game theory, under climate uncertainties, predicts climate negotiations will continue to fail
K44.2 Tax-and-Dividend - the single best
policy action
K44.3 Strong trade sanctions against countries not adopting Tax/Dividend
K45.9 Removing air CO2 via making CaCO3 requires making block as tall as Mt Everest
K45.8 "Sun shade" strategies, what do they not solve?
K45.1 The most cost-effective, abundant non-carbon power source: solar PV
K45.11 Area the size of Texas, in solar PV,
would power the World
0.8 General Principles in the Design of a Scientific Test
& 3.5b Does astrology have any scientific validity
L 0 Chapter 0: Science and Clear
Thinking
5.4c How does light tell us temperatures?
& 5.5a How does light tell us the
speed of a distant object?
L 5.4b How does light tell us what things are made
of?
29.2 When the Facts Change
K20.6 Know what each heat transfer mode
means, microscopically
K20.7 Know which heat mechanism works best
in solids, fluids, vacuum
10.2d How does a planet gain or lose
atmospheric gases?
10.4b Why did Mars change?
10.6a How did Earth's atmosphere end up so
different?
10.6c How is human activity changing our
planet?
11.1d What is the weather like on Jovian
planets?
11.2c What is special about Titan and other
moons?
K13.6 How do we measure the temperature of Exo-planets?
K13.8 Orbital considerations leading to
long-term stable climate
K14.2 How much does solar luminosity change
during sunspot cycle?
14.2b How does the energy from fusion get
out of the sun?
K31.2 How has CO2 in the atmosphere changed
over history of Earth?
K31.4 Source of nitrogen in our atmosphere; early ammonia probably
K31.1 Ice Ages; what causes them
K31.9 How we measure density of our ancient
atmosphere; fossil raindrop imprints!
K32.6 Hadley, Ferrel,
Polar Cells and Why they exist
K32.9 Which Cell is Weakest and Why
K33.4 Higher Ocean Temp = Less Dissolved
Carbon
K33.3 Relative Sizes of Main Carbon
Reservoirs on Earth - be able to put them in order, don't need absolute numbers
K34 Climate Modelling
K35.8 Volcanic aerosols in stratosphere
cause major cooling
K35.5 Low Clouds cool climate, Cirrus heats climate, generally
K35.12 Sulfate aerosols are mostly made by fossil
fuel burning
K35.14 Know how clouds are changing with
climate now, and forward
K36.5 Oscillations in Heat Transfer to/from
Ocean (e.g. ENSO)
K36.2 Changes: Sea Surface Temps vs Global
Troposphere Temps
K37.4 Human attention spans vs climate time
scale
K38.12 Sea level rise rate - contributions from
different causes
K38.6 Greenland ice trends
K39.5 CO2 rise is human-caused - know the arguments
showing this
K40.1 The 5 general tactical categories in denialist writings
K38.1 Solar activity and luminosity trends:
past century
& K41.7 Arguments for/against solar-caused global warming
K42.15 Know how long climate change temperatures will last
K42.17 West Antarctic Ice Sheet now (2014) in
irreversible collapse
K42.19 How will
hurricanes change with advancing Global Warming?
K42.8 California forecast, less rain and much less snow.
K43.2 Energy required by Civilization even at zero economic
growth
K44.4 Know findings of the Princeton
2014 Gilens&Page study on who determines our laws
K44.5 Instructor advocates "Occupy Washington DC" as best strategy to get policy moving
K45.12 Safest GeoEngineering to cool Earth: large scale CO2 removal, and wind-powered pumps to re-ice the Arctic Ocean. All safe strategies should re-trace our track which took us to today's unfortunate climate state, near as possible.
K45.14 Only 2 real GeoEngineering categories: (1) "Sun shades" and (2)Enhancing Earth heat loss to space