9. Looking at the chart, tell about consequences of greenhouse effect.

10. Answer the following questions.

1.What are the functions of atmosphere?

2.What gases absorb the radiation?

3.What happened to the energy absorbed by the atmospheric gases?

4.Why does the temperature rise on the Earth?

5.What can it result in?

6.What are the reasons of increasing the concentration of CO2?

7.What other gases that can affect the heat balance of the earth can you name?

8.How do they appear in the environment?

9.What is the result of reaction N2O with ozone?

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10.What are the forecasts for the further increase in the atmospheric warming?

11.Put the sections of the article from the New Scientist into the correct order. The first section is “ a” and the last is “g”.

Looking on the Dark Side of Global Warming

A …The following chain of events takes a pessimistic view of what could be in store for a world that carries on as it does today, taking estimates from the agreed by the IPCC (Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change) scientists.

B. At the same time a “plankton multiplier effect” comes into effect as warmer weather makes the upper level of the oceans more stable. Phytoplankton grow more slowly, because they receive less nutrients, which come from deeper water that now reaches the surface layer more rarely.

C. But in this version of the future, the effect is worse. The depleted ozone layer above the Antarctic and Arctic transmits far more ultraviolet-B radiation to the surrounding seas. This weakens the phytoplankton, further depleting the ocean sink for carbon dioxide, which allows more of the gas to build up in the atmosphere.

D. The oceans, one of the two major carbon dioxide sinks, cannot absorb as much carbon dioxide as they once did. Many scientists believed that this happened suddenly at the end of the last ice age, boosting average temperatures in the North Atlantic by as much as 5 degrees C within a century.

E. The world warms at the accelerated rates predicted by the IPCC as concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases go on building up the atmosphere, without any cuts in emissions. As the oceans warm, they are less able to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

F. This is a safe bet: the IPCC report warns of this positive feedback, which arises because carbon dioxide is less soluble in warmer water.

G. This is a major fear, now that ozone depletion has been found to extend into subarctic latitudes in the spring, when phytoplankton bloom …

(Mascull B. Key Words in Science and Technology. The University of Birmingham, 1997)

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12.  You will hear a lecture on global warming. For questions 1–15, fill in the missing information.

The director of NASA’s Institute for Space Studies James Hansen had a simple message about 1). … As evidence he presented not just the atmospheric models that for years have predicted climate change, but also 2). … that show a rise of 0.6 degrees Celsius. And the decade of the nineties, as Hansen pointed out, is by far 3). …The date was 4). …, and human-induced global warming had finally emerged as 5). … that policymakers could no longer ignore. Although much of the key data had been developed and even published in preceding years, 6). …. A sober government scientist was publicly stating his conclusion that humaninduced greenhouse warming is a reality with which 7). … .

Against the background of a persistent North American drought and unusually mild European weather, shock waves emanated quickly from Capitol Hill. Hundreds of reports soon followed in magazines and on television programs around the world. Opinion polls soon showed that climate change had become 8). … . Since Hansen’s testimony, debate has raged in the scientific community and popular press about some of the details of his conclusions. Hansen brought to public attention what is now a strong and largely undisputed consensus of atmospheric scientists: global temperatures are 9). … during the coming decades.

The Earth’s climate is a product of 10). … . On Venus, a human being’s blood would boil. On Mars, a person would 11). … . The difference in temperature is largely due to 12). … . All three receive huge quantities of solar energy, but the amount that is radiated back into space depends on 13). … . Some gases tend to absorb the heat in the same way that 14). …, allowing temperatures to build up. The scorching heat of Venus is a product of an atmosphere composed largely of carbon dioxide. Earth, on the other hand, has 15). …, only 0.03 percent of which is carbon dioxide. This share has varied only by 40 percent over the past several years, allowing a relatively stable climate conducive to life.

(By Ch. Flavin, from World watch Paper)

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13.Tell about the greenhouse effect using this picture.

14.  You will hear a man talking about a climatic phenomenon called El Niňo. For questions 10–14, choose the best answer (A, B, C or D) which best fits according to what you hear.

1.The phenomenon known as El Niňo

A) is confined to the Pacific Ocean.

B) affects climate in many parts of the world. C) resembles global warming.

D) caused the disappearance of the dinosaurs.

2.It was named after

A)Jesus Christ.

B)a fisherman’s son.

C)a warm current.

D)a time of year.

3. It is caused by

A) the wind changing direction.

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