1.4.1 Water, Carbon and Climate Flashcards
How is carbon are essential to life?
Carbon is a fundamental building block to life – all living things contain carbon.
- For example, 50% of a tree’s biomass is carbon.
How is water are essential to life?
All living things need water to survive
How are human activities affecting the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere?
Most scientists agree that human activities are causing an enhanced greenhouse effect.
This is where the additional greenhouse gases reflect more energy back to the Earth than in the natural greenhouse effect, so temperatures increase even further. This is thought to be causing global warming and other changes to the climate.
The interaction between water and carbon
- Carbon combines with water in the atmosphere. This allows chemical weathering, which removes carbon from the atmosphere.
- Water is needed for photosynthesis, which removes carbon from the atmosphere.
The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere affects global temperatures, which affect the amount of evaporation that can take place, which affects the amount of precipitation.
Examples of positive and negative feedback in the water cycle
In these examples, the positive feedbacks would increase global warming because they are amplifying the temperature rise.
The negative feedbacks would cancel out the temperature increase, so global warming wouldn’t increase.
Examples of positive and negative feedback in the carbon cycle
In these examples, the positive feedbacks would increase global warming because they are amplifying the temperature rise.
The negative feedbacks would cancel out the temperature increase, so global warming wouldn’t increase.
What are the predicted impacts on plant, animals and people
1) The pattern of precipitation is expected to change – wet areas are expected to get wetter and dry areas are expected to get drier. This could cause water shortages in some areas, which could lead to conflicts in the future.
2) Extreme weather events (e.g. storms, flood and droughts) are expected to get more frequent. Less developed countries will probably be worst affected as they are less able to deal with the impacts.
3) Agricultural productivity will decrease in some areas, which could lead to food shortages.
4) Sea levels are expected to rise further. This will flood coastal and low-lying areas.
5) The geographical range of some species will change as climate changes. The arrival of new species in an area may damage the ecosystem, and some species may become extinct.
6) Plankton numbers may decline if temperatures increase, which will have a knock-on effect on marine food chains.
What are the human influences on the carbon cycle?
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
An international organisation set up by the UN to share knowledge about climate change.
The IPCC states that countries need to reduce the amount of CO2 emitted by human activities in order to prevent large temperature rises.
Case study: Kiribati
Kiribati is the first country expected to be lost to sea level rise. They are currently doing ‘migration with dignity’, where the population is slowly being resettled elsewhere.
