EARTH SCIENCE
CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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True. The ocean stores vast amounts of heat, which it exchanges with the atmosphere to impact climate.
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False
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Either A or B
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None of the above
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Detailed explanation-1: -As oceans store a large amount of heat, even small changes in ocean currents can have a large effect on global climate. In particular, increases in sea surface temperature can increase the amount of atmospheric water vapour over the oceans, increasing the quantity of greenhouse gas.
Detailed explanation-2: -The ocean is a significant influence on Earth’s weather and climate. The ocean covers 70% of the global surface. This great reservoir continuously exchanges heat, moisture, and carbon with the atmosphere, driving our weather patterns and influencing the slow, subtle changes in our climate.
Detailed explanation-3: -The ocean warms and cools more slowly than the atmosphere, thus coastal weather tends to be more moderate than continental weather, with fewer hot and cold extremes. Evaporation from the ocean, especially in the tropics, creates most rain clouds, influencing the location of wet and dry zones on land.
Detailed explanation-4: -Covering more than 70% of Earth’s surface, our global ocean has a very high heat capacity. It has absorbed 90% of the warming that has occurred in recent decades due to increasing greenhouse gases, and the top few meters of the ocean store as much heat as Earth’s entire atmosphere.
Detailed explanation-5: -Scientists have determined that the ocean absorbs more than 90 percent of the excess heat, which is attributed to greenhouse gas emissions. The greater OHC coincides with increases in global average land and sea surface temperatures.