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Edexcel A Level Geography > Carbon EQ3 - Human threats to global climate system > Flashcards

Carbon EQ3 - Human threats to global climate system Flashcards

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1
Q

How are carbon and water cycles threatened by human activity?

A
  • climate change
  • ocean acidification
  • land conversion
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2
Q

What is the importance of the terrestrial biosphere?

A

Sequesters about a quarter of fossil fuel CO2 emissions annual, directly slowing down global warming

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3
Q

What is the driver of deforestation, how do rates vary globally?

A

Deforestation is driven by increasing demand for commodity production. By 2015, 30% of all forest cover was completely cleared.
Temperate forests in UK/USA have long history of exploitation, SE Asia has huge rates of deforestation today as well as rainforests in Brazil

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4
Q

What are the implications of deforestation on the carbon cycle, water cycle and soil health?

A

Carbon = increased release to atmosphere via destruction of carbon sink, less sequestration as removal of primary producers (reduction of NPP)
Water cycle = reduced EVT rates (75% to 25%), more surface run off, reduced interception and infiltration
Soil health = reduction in soil carbon storage and biomass, more erosion/degradation

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5
Q

How does afforestation vary regionally and what are the impacts of this land use change?

A

Afforestation is more common in HICs, in LICs it tends to be via monocultures of commercial trees (palm oil)
Impacts: beneficial for CO2 sequestration but controversial impacts on landscape character, carbon, water and soil

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6
Q

How does grassland conversion vary regionally and what are the impacts of this land use change?

A

Grasslands can be used intensively for animals or ploughed up and used as farmlands - more common in temperate grasslands with better agricultural properties
Impacts = soil and ecosystem degradation

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7
Q

What is ocean acidification?

A

The decreasing pH of the ocean due to their function as a fossil fuel gas sink

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8
Q

What are the impacts of ocean acidification?

A

INCREASES RISK OF MARINE ECOSYSTEMS REACHING A CRITICAL THRESHOLD OF PERMANENT DAMAGE
- CO2 dissolved into ocean forms carbonic acid, which reacts with carbonate to form bicarbonate
- reduced carbonate ion availability means organisms have thinner, weaker shells
- acidic water dissolves these shells to weaken them
- causing the major functions of ecosystem to collapse (coral bleaching)
- net reef loss

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9
Q

What is ecosystem resilience?

A

The level of disturbance that ecosystems can cope with while keeping their original state

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10
Q

What is critical threshold?

A

An abrupt change in an ecological state, potentially due to small environmental changes

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11
Q

What is the enhanced greenhouse effect?

A

The intensification of the natural greenhouse effect by human activities, primarily through fossil fuel combustion and deforestation, causing global warming

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12
Q

How may climate change impact drought?

A

Increase frequency of drought due to shifting climate belts (movement of ITCZ/shifts can cause droughts)

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13
Q

What are the implications for human wellbeing from the degradation of the carbon and water cycles?

A
  • forest loss has implications for human health and wellbeing
  • altered precipitation patterns/hydrological cycle
  • threats to ocean health pose threats to human wellbeing due to the importance of marine food sources and tourism
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14
Q

What is the role of forests in climate regulation?

A

Help control climate at local, regional and global scales - absorb and store rainfall, add to atmospheric humidity through transpiration.

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15
Q

What are the ecosystem services provided by forests?

A
  • supporting functions: nutrient cycling, soil formation, primary production
  • provision of goods: food, freshwater and fuel
  • regulation of Earth’s systems: water purification, regulating climate and floods
  • cultural value: spiritual, aesthetic, educational, recreational
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16
Q

What is the environment Kuznets curve?

A

Suggests that societies reach a tipping point, where exploitation changes to more protection

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17
Q

What factors affect the timing of the attitudinal change in Kuznets curve?

A
  • wealth of countries
  • rising knowledge of role environment plays in human wellbeing
  • aid given to help choices over exploitation
  • political systems and enforcement of environmental laws
  • participation of locals
  • power of TNCs
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18
Q

What does the environmental Kuznets curve look like?

A

Rising environmental degradation with rising income in development from pre industrial to industrial conditions
Tipping point where rising income reduces environmental impacts due to movement towards a post industrial service economy

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19
Q

What is sustainable management?

A

The environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable use of ecosystems for present and future generations

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20
Q

How do increased temperatures impact evaporation rates?

A

Increase in evaporation rates, storing more water in the atmosphere
This has implications for precipitation patterns, river regimes and cryosphere and drainage basin water stores

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21
Q

What is the Arctic barometer?

A

A barometer measures pressure - the Arctic is already showing pressure on its natural systems from anthropogenic influences

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22
Q

What is the Arctic barometer?

A

A barometer measures pressure - the Arctic is already showing pressure on its natural systems from anthropogenic influences

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23
Q

What are the impacts of global warming on the Arctic water cycle?

A

Rising local air temperatures leads to shrinkage of sea ice.
Leading to run off of fresh, cold water which will alter marine ecosystems and food chains dependent on saline waters.
More cold water in oceanic conveyor belt.

24
Q

How has global warming impacted Arctic albedo?

A

Loss of reflective albedo due to less summer sea ice, replacement of lighter tundra with darker forests as they advance north with improving temperatures due to climate shift.

25
Q

What is albedo flip?

A

When the sunlight reflected by white ice is suddenly absorbed as ice melts, creating a dark surface of open water

26
Q

What are the short term implications of global warming for the Arctic carbon cycle?

A

Increase in CO2 uptake predicted, but only due to loss of sea ice allowing limited net increase via more phytoplankton in Arctic surface waters.
Carbon uptake from terrestrial plants increases due to longer growing seasons, and the slow northward migration of boreal forests.

27
Q

What are the long term implications of global warming for the Arctic carbon cycle?

A

Net outward flux of carbon expected due to rivers bringing carbon from thawing permafrost stores, and loss of methane hydrate from destabilised sea floor deposits. Increased CO2 emissions from tundra soils, forest growth absorbs more of the sun’s energy.

28
Q

What are the main threats to ocean health?

A
  • bleaching
  • acidification
  • rising sea levels
  • loss of sea ice
29
Q

How do threats to ocean health pose a risk to human wellbeing?

A
  • all countries eat and either sell or buy fish/shellfish: marine fishing industry very globalised
  • fishing supports 500 million people, 90% of whom are in developing nations
  • countries dependent on exports of fish become affected by depleted/stunted stocks
  • tourism from coral reefs and marine life becomes at risk
  • coral reefs provide protection from waves (e.g. Hawaii)
30
Q

What are the natural factors causing uncertainty over future emissions, atmospheric concentrations and climate warming?

A

Terrestrial sinks increase but eventually become saturated to become sources.
Oceanic sink reduction due to slowing of biological pump and warming oceans unable to dissolve as much CO2

31
Q

What are the human factors causing uncertainty over future emissions, atmospheric concentrations and climate warming?

A
  • economic growth: urbanisation, industrialisation, globalisation and movement of goods
  • population growth (demographic)
  • energy sources used: looking into renewable sources
32
Q

What are the feedback mechanisms causing uncertainty over future emissions, atmospheric concentrations and climate warming?

A
  • carbon release from peatlands and permafrost
  • forest die back
  • alterations to thermohaline circulation
33
Q

What is forest die back?

A

Drought causes the nutrient and hydrological cycle in forests to stop so that regrowth is not possible.
Water stress - reduction in CO2 sequestration

34
Q

How can thermohaline circulation be changed (positive feedback)?

A

Melting of northern ice sheets releases significant quantities of freshwater into ocean (lighter and less salty) - blocks and slows the oceanic conveyer belt.
Susceptible to critical tipping point, potential impacts on global temps and nutrient distribution (food webs etc)

35
Q

What is climate forcing?

A

The physical process of affecting the climate on the Earth through a number of forcing factors.
Changes to the climate have several causes and feedback models

36
Q

What is climate change adaptation?

A

Any passive reactive or anticipatory action taken to adjust to changing climatic conditions

37
Q

What is the difference between hard and soft strategies for climate adaptation?

A

Hard strategies = strategies requiring technology like wind farms
Soft strategies = strategies involving legislation like land use zones

38
Q

What is water conservation and management, what are the benefits and costs?

A

Conserving water supplies and managing them sustainably
Benefits - less resources used, less groundwater over abstraction
Costs - conservation cannot match increased water demands, must be government promoted to work on a large scale

39
Q

What are resilient agricultural systems, what are the costs and benefits?

A

Variety of measures taken to increase capacity to cope of agricultural systems
Benefits - increased resistance to climate change/diseases, low tech measures and better practices generate healthier soils to aid CO2 sequestration
Costs - more expensive technology unavailable especially to poor subsistence farmers, high energy costs from indoor farming, genetic modification controversy

40
Q

What is land use planning, what are the costs and benefits?

A

Careful management and planning of land use catered to specific climatic changes
Benefits - soft management, aids protection of landscapes at risk e.g. low lying coasts
Costs - public antipathy, abandoning high risk areas often unfeasible

41
Q

What is flood risk management, what are the costs and benefits?

A

Range of management strategies to reduce flood risk
Benefits - simple changes can reduce flood risk
Costs - hard engineering strategies commonly used, require constant maintenance, engrained culture of technocentric fixes

42
Q

What is solar radiation management, what are the costs and benefits?

A

Climate geoengineering to reflect inward radiation back to space
Benefits - cool the Earth on quick time scale, relatively cheap
Costs - untried and untested, no impacts on GHG emissions, complex system which would need to be continued for decades

43
Q

What is mitigation?

A

The reduction or prevention of GHG emissions by new technologies and low carbon energies becoming more energy efficient, or changing attitudes and behaviour

44
Q

What is carbon taxation? What are the costs and benefits?

A

Where a minimum price is set for companies to pay for CO2 emissions.
Benefits - internalises negative externalities of GHGs, incentive to use alternative energy sources
Costs - unpopular with industry and environmental groups, policy scrapped eventually

45
Q

What is the long term solution to the global warming crisis?

A

Rebalancing the carbon cycle, particularly the atmospheric concentrations of GHGs

46
Q

What is renewable switching? What are the benefits and costs?

A

Switch from fossil fuels to renewables and nuclear power
Benefits - reduced CO2 emissions
Costs - renewables only provide intermittent electricity, fossil fuels are currently still relied on

47
Q

What is energy efficiency? What are the benefits and costs?

A

Encouraging the use of energy saving improvements to homes such as efficient boilers, lighting and insulation
Benefits - small scale and implementable, helps lower energy bills
Costs - eco friendly appliances more expensive

48
Q

What is afforestation? What are the benefits and costs?

A

Afforestation is the replanting of trees to increase their productivity as a carbon sink
Benefits - increases carbon sequestration as well as improving biodiversity
Costs - cannot match rate of deforestation

49
Q

What is carbon capture storage? What are the benefits and costs?

A

Capture of CO2 emissions from industrial processes
Benefits - zero emissions at point of use, can be transported and used as a fuel
Costs - few projects exist globally, uncertainty over future of carbon stored in the ground

50
Q

What are the issues with mitigation strategies?

A

Requires global scale agreement and national actions, which is often problematic due to the varying priorities of different governments
Expense of mitigation strategies means they are often deemed unfavourable (governments not willing to sacrifice economic success/productivity for climate)

51
Q

What are the main adaptation strategies?

A
  • water conservation and management
  • resilient agricultural systems
  • land use planning
  • flood risk management
  • solar radiation management
52
Q

What are the main mitigation strategies?

A
  • carbon taxation
  • renewable switching
  • energy efficiency
  • afforestation
  • carbon capture and storage
53
Q

What is the Kyoto Protocol?

A

Entered into force in 2005 - first legally binding climate treaty.
It required developed countries to reduce emissions by an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels, and established a system to monitor countries’ progress. However, did not compel developing countries like China and India to take action.

54
Q

What is the Paris Agreement?

A

The most significant global climate agreement to date. Requires all countries to set emissions-reduction pledge and aims to reach global net zero emissions by the second half of the century. However, many say countries’ pledges are not ambitious enough.

55
Q

What poses more threats to humans, changes to the carbon or water cycle?

A

Changes to the carbon cycle cause changes to the water cycle - therefore the threats by changes in the carbon cycle are greater than changes to the water cycle

Edexcel A Level Geography (27 decks)

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