SAAO | Earth Day 2022 Quiz

The oceans affect the climate on our planet.*
- True
- False
Most of the Earth's water is found in:*
- Lakes and rivers
- The Earth's interior
- The atmosphere
- The oceans
- The polar ice caps
Measurements of Earth’s gravitational field permit topographic, or surface, mapping of the ocean floor.*
- True
- False
Which of these has a greater effect on global sea level?*
- Melting sea ice
- Melting land ice
- Both have the same effect on global sea level
What is sea surface salinity?*
- The measure of tsunami strength
- The light reflected off of the ocean's surface
- The salt concentration on the ocean's surface
- All of the above
Tides are caused by:*
- The wind
- The moon's gravitational pull
- The gravitational pull of both the moon and the sun
- Earthquakes
The sea level isn’t level at all. The ocean has hills and valleys similar to what we see on the land's surface. Ocean surface highs and lows are known as:*
- Ocean surface geography
- Ocean surface topography
- Ocean surface pressure gradient
NASA has been measuring sea surface height from space since 1993. Over that period, the average global sea level has:*
- Risen
- Fallen
- Remained about the same
The only current that makes an uninterrupted circle around the entire Earth without hitting land is the:*
- Gulf Stream
- Antarctic Circumpolar Current
- Japan Current
- California Current
What are aerosols?*
- Another name for precipitation
- Another name for greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane
- Minute particles suspended in the atmosphere
- All of the above
Most aerosols in the atmosphere are from human-caused pollution.*
- True
- False
What effects do various aerosols have on the climate?*
- They reflect sunlight back into space, cooling the planet
- They provide a platform for water droplets and ice crystals to form and develop into clouds
- They increase the brightness of clouds, making them reflect more solar energy back into space
- They absorb sunlight, heat the surrounding air and prevent cloud formation
- All of the above
- a, b, and c
Which of these qualities are used to identify types of clouds?*
- Shape, altitude and whether they are producing precipitation
- Colour and how fast they are moving through the sky
- Whether they look like a bunny or a turtle
Do clouds heat or cool Earth?*
- Heat
- Cool
- Both heat and cool
- Neither heat nor cool
Which has more land: The Northern or Southern Hemisphere?*
- Northern Hemisphere
- Southern Hemisphere
- They have an equal amount of land
The pull of gravity is the same everywhere on Earth.*
- True
- False
Snow is important because it:*
- Builds ice sheets and glaciers
- Provides habitat for wildlife
- Is an important source of water
- All of the above
Where have some of the strongest and earliest impacts of global warming occurred?*
- In the tropics
- In northern latitudes
- The impacts of global warming are distributed equally all over the planet
In the 10,000 years before the Industrial Revolution in 1751, carbon dioxide levels rose less than 6 percent. Since then, they've risen by:*
- 11 percent
- 49 percent
- 62 percent
Burning fossil fuels is the major source of human-produced carbon dioxide. But what is the second leading source?*
- Deforestation
- Volcanic activity
- Cow belching
We produce more than 36 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year. Where does the majority of it end up?*
- It is inhaled by trees for photosynthesis
- It enters our oceans
- It lingers in the atmosphere
Which planets have carbon dioxide in their atmosphere?*
- Earth
- Earth and Venus
- Earth, Venus and Mars
- Earth, Venus, Mars and Jupiter
If humans stopped emitting carbon dioxide tomorrow, what would happen to global temperatures?*
- They would immediately begin to drop
- They would keep rising for about a decade, plateau for decades, and then very slowly drop
- They would immediately stop rising, flatten out, and then drop
Which of the following gases does not trap heat?*
- Carbon dioxide
- Nitrogen
- Water vapour
- Methane
How does the sun produce energy?*
- Nuclear fusion (fusing atoms together to form a larger atom)
- Nuclear fission (splitting atoms to form smaller atoms)
How do nuclear power plants produce energy?*
- Nuclear fusion (fusing atoms together to form a larger atom)
- Nuclear fission (spitting atoms to form smaller atoms)
- Nuclear meltdown
- Radioactive decay
Earth is called a 'Goldilocks planet' because:*
- Its distance from the sun is 'just right' for life
- It has bears on it
- Scientists don't refer to Earth this way
Mars once had running water that carved canyons and other features into its surface. What happened to the water?*
- Mars is too far from the sun and cold to sustain water
- Marsquakes caused all the water to seep into cracks in the crust
- An asteroid clobbered Mars and vaporized the water
- Most of Mars’s water was lost to space or remains frozen in soil and ice caps
Earth isn't the only body in the solar system with rivers and lakes. Which other world has similar features?*
- Mercury (liquid lead)
- Saturn's moon Titan (liquid methane)
- Saturn (liquid oxygen)
- Neptune's moon Triton (liquid ammonia)
Earth and Venus are rocky planets of about the same size, but Earth's average surface temperature is about 15℃, while Venus' is 464℃, hot enough to melt lead. Why the difference?*
- Venus has a stronger greenhouse effect than Earth
- Venus is made of denser rock than Earth
- Earth is more geologically active than Venus
- Ice caps and oceans on Earth absorb energy from the atmosphere
Which circumstances could end life on Earth?*
- The sun continues to heat up. In a billion years, Earth gets too hot, oceans evaporate, water vapour is “cooked out” of Earth’s crust and all life dies out.
- A massive asteroid smashes into Earth, boiling away the oceans
- Both of the above
- None of the above
Earth's magnetic field shields us from solar wind and helps to hold onto the atmosphere and water. To what do we owe this invisible protector?*
- The aurora borealis
- Plate tectonics
- Earth's circulating liquid metal core
- All of the above
Most places on Earth are warmer than they were 100 years ago.*
- True
- False
Credits: NASA, Science

Earth Day 2022 Quiz

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