A: Climate Change

Question 1

What is climate change

Answer 1

Any significant change in the earths climate over a long period

Question 2

What’s the quaternary period

Answer 2

The most recent geological time period spanning from about 2.6 million years ago to the present day

Question 3

In the period before the Quaternary, the earths climate was warmer and quite stable.

Answer 3

Then things changed a lot

Question 4

During the Quaternary global temperature has shifted between

Answer 4

Coldplate your periods that last for around 100,000 years and Walma into glaze your periods that last for around 10,000 years

Question 5

The last glacial Period ended around

Answer 5

15,000 years ago since then the climate has been warming

Question 6

Global warming is the term used to describe

Answer 6

The sharp rise in global temperatures over the last century. It’s a type of climate change

Question 7

Quaternary period

Answer 7

Millions of years ago

Question 8

How can scientists work out how the climate has changed over time

Answer 8

Ice and sediment cores
Pollen analysis
Tree rings
Temperature records

Question 9

What is ice and sediment cores

Answer 9

Ice sheets are made up of layers of ice - One layer is formed each year
Scientist drill into ice sheets to get long cores of ice
By analysing the gasses trapped in the layers of ice, they can tell what the temperature was each year
One icicle from Antarctica shows the temperature changes over the 400,000 past years
The remains of organisms found in calls taken from ocean sediments can also be analysed. This can extend the temperature record back at least 5 million years

Question 10

Describe how tree rings work

Answer 10

As the tree grows it forms the new ring each year
The tree rings are thicker and warm and wet conditions
Scientist take calls and count the rings to find the age of a tree the thickness of each ring shows what the climate was like
Three rings are a reliable source of evidence of climate change for the past 10,000 years

Question 11

Describe pollen analysis

Answer 11

Pollen from plants gets preserved in sediment, e.g. at the bottom of Lakes or in peat bogs
Scientists can identify and date the preserved pollen to show which species were living at that time
Scientist know the conditions that plants are living now so preserved pollen from similar plants shows that climate conditions were similar

Question 12

How do you temperature records work

Answer 12

Since the 1850s global temperatures have been measured accurately using thermometers. This gives a reliable but short-term record of temperature change

Historical records (eg harvest dates, newspaper weather reports) can extend the record of climate change a bit further back

Question 13

What are natural factors that cause climate change

Answer 13

Orbital changes
Volcanic activity
Solar output

Question 14

What is orbital changes

Answer 14

The way the Earth moves around the Sun changes for example the path of the Earths orbit around the Sun changes from an almost perfect circle to on the lips and back again about every 96,000 years

These changes affect the amount of solar radiation (how much energy) the Earth receives. If the Earth receives more energy, it gets warmer

Orbital changes may have caused the glacial and interglacial cycles of the quaternary period

Question 15

What is volcanic activity

Answer 15

Major volcanic eruptions eject large quantities of material into the atmosphere
Some of these particles reflect the suns rays back out to space so the surface cools
Okay nose also release CO2 (greenhouse gas) but not enough to cause warming
Volcanic activity may cause short-term changes in climate E.G.the cooling that followed in the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991

Question 16

What is solar output

Answer 16

The suns output of energy isn’t constant – it changes in short cycles for about 11 years, and possibly also on longer cycles of several hundred years
Period one so the output is reduced may cause as climate to become cooler in some areas
Most scientists think that changes in solar output don’t have a major affect on global climate change

Question 17

What is the greenhouse effect

Answer 17

Where greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane absorber outgoing heat So less is lost to space it’s essential for keeping the planet warm

Question 18

Humans also are responsible for the cause of climate change through

Answer 18

Increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases

Question 19

How are humans increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases

Answer 19

Burning fossil fuels
Farming
Cement production
Deforestation

Question 20

How does burning fossil fuse increase the concentration of greenhouse gases

Answer 20

CO2 is released in the atmosphere when fossil feels like cold, oil, natural gas and petrol are burnt, e.g. in thermal power stations or in caRs

Question 21

How does farming increase greenhouse gases

Answer 21

Farming of livestock produces a lot of methane – cows love to fart
Rice paddies contribute to global warning because of flooded fields emit methane

Question 22

How does cement production contribute to greenhouse gases

Answer 22

Cement is made from Limestone which contains carbon when cement is produced lots of CO2 is released into the atmosphere

Question 23

How is deforestation contributing to the greenhouse gases

Answer 23

Can’t remove CO2 from the atmosphere and convert it into organic matter using photosynthesis
When trees and plants are chopped down and stop taking in CO2
CO2 is also released into the atmosphere when trees are burnt as fuel or to make way for agriculture

Question 24

How much are temperatures expected to rise by between 2005 and 2100

Answer 24

0.3-4.8 degrees

Question 25

What are some environmental affects of warmer temperatures

Answer 25

Warmer temperatures cause glaziers to shrink and ice sheets like Greenland to melt. The melting of ice on land especially from Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet means that water stored on land as ice returns to the oceans. This causes sea level to rise

Question 26

E.E

What’s happening to sea ice

Answer 26

Is also shrinking, leading to the loss of polar habitats

Question 27

E.E

Rising sea levels means

Answer 27

Low-lying and coastal areas like the Maldives will be flooded more regularly coastal erosion will increase with sealevel rise and some coastal areas will be submerged so habitats will be lost

Question 28

E.E

Other species are declining due to warming

Answer 28

E.g. some coral reefs are suffering from bleaching due to increasing seawater temperatures

Question 29

E.E

Precipitations patterns are changing

Answer 29

Warming is affecting how much rain areas get

Question 30

E.E

Distribution and quantity of some species could change and biodiversity could decrease

Answer 30

Some species and now found in higher latitudes due to warming temperatures

Some habitats are being damaged or destroyed due to climate change species that are specially adapted to these areas may become extinct

Question 31

What does high-latitude mean

Answer 31

Far from the equator both north and south

Question 32

People effects from climate change

Answer 32

Some places deaths due to heat have increased - but deaths due to cold has decreased

Question 33

CCP (climate change for people)

Some areas could become so hot and dry that are difficult or impossible to inhabit

Answer 33

Low-lying coastal areas could be lost to the sea or floods it often that they also become impossible to inhabit this can lead to migration and overcrowding in other areas

Question 34

CCP

Some areas are struggling to supply enough water for the residents due to problems with water availability cause by changing rainfall patterns

Answer 34

This can lead to political tensions especially where rivers cross borders

Question 35

CCP

Climate change is affecting farming in different ways around the world

Answer 35

Globally some crops have suffered from climate change (e.g. maize crops Have got smaller due to warming in recent years)
But some farmers in high latitude countries are finding that crops benefit from warming conditions

Question 36

CCP

lower crop yields could increase

Answer 36

Malnutrition
ill health
Death from starvation,
Particularly in lower latitudes

Question 37

CCP

Climate change means the weather is getting more extreme this means

Answer 37

More money has to be spent on predicting extreme weather events reducing their Impacts and rebuilding them after

Question 38

What do you mitigation strategies aimed to do

Answer 38

Reduce the causes of climate change

Question 39

There are various strategies by aim to reduce the causes of climate change by reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere these ways are :

Answer 39

Carbon capture
Planting trees
Alternative energy production
International agreements

Question 40

Mitigation strategies

What’s carbon capture

Answer 40

Carbon capture and storage is a new technology designed to reduce climate change by reducing emissions from fossil fuel burning power stations

CCS involves capturing CO2. And transporting it to places where can be stored safely e.g. deep underground

Question 41

Mitigation strategies

How does planting trees reduce greenhouse gases

Answer 41

Planting trees increases amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed from the atmosphere through photosynthesis

Question 42

Mitigation strategies

How does alternative energy production help with reducing greenhouse gases

Answer 42

By replacing fossil fuels with nuclear power and renewable energy can help reduce climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power stations

In the UK more offshore windfarms are being built several wave and tidal power projects are planned and new nuclear power plants also been planned

Question 43

Mitigation strategies

How does international agreements reduced to greenhouse gases

Answer 43

From 1997 most countries in the world agreed to monitor and cut greenhouse gas emissions by signing an international agreement called the Kyoto protocol

Each country was set a target e.g. the UK agreed to reduce emissions by 12.5% by 2012 the UK met the target actually reducing emissions by an average of 22%

EU has now agreed to cut emissions by 20% from the 1990 levels by 2020

Question 44

What is adaptation in terms of managing climate change

Answer 44

It means responding to changes caused by climate change

Question 45

What are some ways that people are adjusting to the effects of climate change

Answer 45

Changing agricultural systems

Managing watersupply

Coping with the rising sea levels

Question 46

Adaptation to climate change

What is changing agricultural systems

Answer 46

Changing rainfall patterns and high temperatures will affect the productivity of existing systems

It may be necessary to plant new crop types that are more suitable to the new climate conditions in an area eg soya, peaches and grapes maybe grown in southern England

In some regions, Biro technology is being used to create new crop varieties which are more resistant to extreme weather events e.g. drought resistant mipallet is being grown in Kenya

Question 47

Adaptation to climate change

Managing watersupply

Answer 47

Dry areas of predicted to get dryer leading to more water shortages so people need to use water resources more efficiently

Water meters can be installed in peoples homes to discourage them from using a lot of water

Rainwater can be collected and waste water can be recycled to make more water available

Question 48

Adaptation to climate change

Coping with rising sea levels

Answer 48

C levels are predicted to rise but up to 82 cm by 2100 which would flood many islands and coastal areas
Physical defences such as flood barriers are being built and better flood warning systems are being put in place e.g. the Thames barrier in London can be closed to prevent seawater flooding the city

In areas that can’t afford expensive flood defences e.g. Bangladesh people are building their houses on top of a embankment and building raised flood shelters to use in emergencies