Answer Happy

EXERCISE 24 PROBLEMS-PART I The following questions are based on Figure 24-5, showing variations in CO, and temperature anomalies in Antarctica going back 800,000 years. This temperature record shows the major glacial (cold) and interglacial (warm) periods of the later Pleistocene Epoch (2.58 million to 11,700 years ago) 1. Was there any time in the last 800,000 years when the concentration of carbon dioxide was higher than it is today? 2. Was there any time in the last 800,000 years when temperature in the Antarctic was higher than it is today? If so, when? 3. Were there times over the last 800,000 years when temperature in the Antarctic was lower than today? If so, how much colder? 4. Using the period of peak of temperature associated with an interglacial period for refer- ence, what was the approximate time interval between major periods of glaciation over the last 450,000 years? 5. What appears to happen more abruptly, the onset of a glacial period or the onset of an interglacial period? Why do you say this? 6. What is the general correlation between the concentration of CO, and temperature in the Antarctic over the last 800,000 years, as shown in Figure 24-5?
400 Carbon Dioxide (parts per million) Current concentration 1958 concentration 300 250 Momen this 200 5 Antarctic Temperature (°C) 0 -5 www -10 -15 800,000 600,000 200,000 0 400,000 Date (years before present) Figure 24-5: Carbon dioxide and temperature record for Antarctica over the last 800,000 years. CO, record derived from the EPICA Dome Cice core and other ice cores in Antarctica. Temperature record derived from Dome C data; temperature scale is relative to average temperature over the last 1000 years. (Adapted from Hess, McKnight's Physical Geography, 12th ed.)