Practice Test Geeks(CCP) Certified Climate Change Professional Practice Test
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Climate Change Science & Modeling Flashcards

7 cards from real CCP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 Climate Change Science & Modeling flashcards as text

  1. What does the term 'radiative forcing' measure in climate science?

    Answer: The net change in energy flux caused by a driver of climate change

    Radiative forcing quantifies the net change in energy flux (W/m²) in the atmosphere caused by a climate driver such as greenhouse gases or aerosols.

  2. Which feedback mechanism causes Arctic sea ice loss to amplify warming by exposing darker ocean water?

    Answer: Ice-albedo feedback

    The ice-albedo feedback occurs because dark ocean water absorbs more solar radiation than reflective ice, amplifying warming as ice melts.

  3. In climate models, what is a 'parameterization'?

    Answer: A mathematical representation of processes too small or complex to resolve explicitly

    Parameterization represents sub-grid-scale processes (such as convection or cloud microphysics) using simplified equations based on observable large-scale variables.

  4. What is the primary driver of the observed increase in global mean sea level over the past century?

    Answer: Thermal expansion of seawater and melting of land ice

    Both thermal expansion of warming ocean water and the melting of glaciers and ice sheets contribute roughly equally to observed sea level rise.

  5. Which greenhouse gas has the highest Global Warming Potential (GWP) over a 100-year horizon per unit mass?

    Answer: Sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆)

    SF₆ has a GWP of approximately 23,500 over 100 years, making it the most potent greenhouse gas by mass on this timescale.

  6. The Milankovitch cycles describe variations in Earth's orbit that operate on timescales of:

    Answer: Tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years

    Milankovitch cycles—eccentricity (~100,000 yr), obliquity (~41,000 yr), and precession (~23,000 yr)—operate over tens to hundreds of thousands of years and drive glacial-interglacial cycles.

  7. What does a positive climate sensitivity value indicate?

    Answer: Surface temperatures will rise in response to increased radiative forcing

    A positive equilibrium climate sensitivity means the planet warms in response to increased radiative forcing, such as doubling CO₂.