PT106.S4.P2.Q11

PrepTest 106 - Section 4 - Passage 2 - Question 11

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P1

Long after the lava has cooled, the effects of a major volcanic eruption may linger on. ██ ███ ██████████ █ ████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ████████ ████ ████████ ███ ██████ ██████ ███ █████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ ███████████ ████ █████████ ███████ ████ ████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ████████ ██ ████ █ ████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███

Researcher's perspective · Effects of a major volcanic eruption can chill Earth by blocking sunlight
████ █████ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ███ ███████ █████ ███████ █ ███████ ██ ███████████ █████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██████ ██████ ███ ████████████ ██████ ████ ███ ██ ██████████ ██ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████

Researcher's example · Tambora volcano eruption in 1815
Some think this caused colder weather in parts of North American the next year.
P2

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Mass and Portman (M and P) perspective · Volcano effect on climate not as strong as previously believed
████ ███ ███████ ████████ ██████ ███████████ ████ ███ ███ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ████ ████████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ██ ████ ██ ██ ████████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ █████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████ ██████████ █████ ██ ███ ██ ██████████████ ████████████ █████ █████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████ ███ ███████ █████ ███ ███████████ ████ ███████ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ███████ █████ ██ ██ █████████ ███ ██ ███ ████ █████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ██ ██ █████████████ ████ ██████ ██ █████████ ██ █████

Complicating factor · El Nino can magnify the apparent cooling effect of a volcano
El Nino causes temporary warming, which fades away. If eruption happens during warming, that might hide the actual effect of the volcano. But, if eruption happens while El Nino warming is fading away, that makes effect of eruption seem larger than it is.
P3

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Correcting for complicating factor · Show volcanos don't cause as much cooling as previously thought
After M and P subtracted effect of El Nino, found (1) minor eruptions have no discernible effect on temperature; (2) major eruptions cause smaller drop than expected in hemisphere of the eruption, and an even smaller drop in the other hemisphere.
P4

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Other researchers' perspective · Climatic feedback loops can make small cooling effect turn into larger one
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Climatic feedback loop · Small temperature drop leads to causal chain of effects that could lead to major cooling in a region
Delayed melting of snow leads to more sunlight reflected, which affect jet stream...at this point I'm not focusing too much on the details. We can come back to this paragraph if we're asked about the climatic feedback loop.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
Show answer
11.

The author of the passage █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███████████

a

Major volcanic eruptions █████████ █████ ███████ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ████ █ ██████ ███████████

Anti-supported.

10%
b

Major volcanic eruptions ███ ██████ ███ ██ █████ ██████████ ████ ██ █████████ █████ ███ ██████

Not supported. The author never suggests volcanic eruptions can cause El Nino.

2%
c

Major volcanic eruptions ██ ███ ████████ █████ █████████ ████ ████████

Supported. Research shows that major eruptions cause a much smaller drop in global temperature than previously thought. Although they might lead to colder summers through the feedback loop described in P4, that would only suggest that eruptions can indirectly cause cold summers.

78%
d

The climatic effects ██ █████ ████████ █████████ ██████ ████ █████ ██ █████ █████████ ████ ██ ███████

Not supported. Although minor volcanic eruptions have less of an impact on climate than major ones, we don’t know that the difference is “only” a matter of degree. Perhaps minor volcanic eruptions cause different kinds of climatic changes, too, from major ones.

9%
e

El Niño has ██ ███████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███████████ ████████████

Not supported. We know that El Nino warms the atmosphere; we’re not told that it has no detectable effect on average hemispheric temperature. If anything, the passage suggests that it can have a detectable effect on temperature, which is why we need to account for that effect when determining the impact of a volcanic eruption on global temperature.

1%

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