Question

Which of the following statements are incorrect regarding carbon dioxide and global warming ?

1. Carbon dioxide is presently increasing in concentration at the rate of 0.4% annually
2. Carbon dioxide is alone responsible for 60% of the global warming tendency.
3. Carbon dioxide is opaque to incoming solar radiation and transparent for long wave terrestrial radiation.
4. Global temperature has increased to 10° C since the last ice age 18,000 years ago.

• A. 1, 2
• B. 4 only
• C. 3, 4
• D. 1, 4

Answer 1

Answer:

C. 3, 4

Carbon dioxide is opaque to incoming solar radiation and transparent for long wave terrestrial radiation.

• This statement describes the exact opposite of how the greenhouse effect works. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is actually transparent to incoming shortwave solar radiation (allowing sunlight to pass through to Earth's surface) but opaque to outgoing longwave terrestrial radiation (trapping the heat radiated back from the Earth).

Global temperature has increased to 10°C since the last ice age 18,000 years ago.

• The total global average temperature increase since the peak of the last ice age (the Last Glacial Maximum) is roughly 4°C to 6°C, not 10°C. A 10°C global shift would represent a far more extreme disruption than what occurred.