Climate Flashcards
What is the name given for a cooling period?
Glacial period.
What are the four natural causes of climate change?
Orbital theory, solar activity, volcanic activity and asteroid collisions.
How has volcanic activity impacted upon the earths climate in the past?
Causes global temperatures to drop as ash fills the atmosphere and blocks the suns rays.
What are three pieces of evidence for natural climate change?
Tree ring analysis, ice core analysis, historical sources.
How do historical records provide evidence of past climate change?
Historical records such as paintings, newspaper articles and religious records may provide us with information about pass Climate Change, e.g. forest fairs on the River Thames
What is the greenhouse effect?
It is a natural process, which helps to keep the Earth warm - greenhouse gases in the atmosphere act like a blanket and trap some of the heat, which would otherwise be reflected back out into space.
Give an example of a greenhouse gas.
Carbon dioxide or methane.
Name at least three human activities that produce greenhouse gases and hunts the greenhouse affect.
Electricity production, transport, industry and agriculture.
What are three pieces of evidence for human-induced climate change?
Global temperature records, rising sea levels, decline of the Arctic sea ice, increased extreme weather events.
What are two reasons for global sea level rise?
Sea level rise is caused by melting, glaciers and ice caps (there’s physically more water in our oceans) and thermal expansion (as water get warmer, it expands).
Identify at least 3 consequences of climate change.
Coastal flooding - loss of homes and agriculture land; longer and more frequent droughts; disease and more food and water supply problems.
Why is it difficult to make projections for how much sea levels could rise by?
We can’t say for certain what the world population will be in 50-100 years time. This makes it difficult to predict things like how much energy we will be consuming, how many greenhouse gases we will be producing, how long it will take to impact upon the glaciers and ice caps.
