1.2 Natural Causes of Climate Change

Question 1

What are the 4 natural causes of climate change?

Answer 1

1. Orbital Changes
2. Volcanic Activity
3. Asteroid Collisions
4. Solar Output

Question 2

What is Climate Change?

Answer 2

Any significant change in the Earth’s climate over a long period- constantly changes.

Question 3

What is Natural climate change?

Answer 3

Natural climate change refers to how the average climatic condition f the planet vary over time.

Question 4

What are Orbital Changes?

Answer 4

Variations in the way the Earth moves around the Sun.

Question 5

What is Eccentricity?

Answer 5

Path of the Earth’s orbit changes from circle to ellipse. Means it is TILTED at an angle as it orbits the Sun which means it can receive more/less solar radiation.

Question 6

How does Volcanic activity affect climate change?

Answer 6

They can throw up large quantites of material such as ash or dust into the air which can prevent the Sun’s energy from reaching the Earth’s surface.

Question 7

What are Asteroid Collisions?

Answer 7

Asteroids hitting Earths surface can throw up huge amounts of dust into atmosphere.

Question 8

What are Sunspots?

Answer 8

Black areas on the Sun which can tell us how active the Sun is.
More sunspots= More solar energy

Question 9

What are the 3 pieces of evidence for natural climate change?

Answer 9

Tree Rings, Ice Cores, Historical Sources

Question 10

What are tree rings?

Answer 10

Each Ring=A Year of Growth
It can tell us if there were wetter or drier conditions one year depending on the size of the ring.

Question 11

What are ice cores?

Answer 11

Layers of ice whcih scientists can use to analyse how much CO2 it had.

Question 12

What are Historical Sources?

Answer 12

Old Photos, Drawings, Written records, Diaries whcih can give us some ideas of climate trends.