Climate Flashcards
Weather
Atmospheric conditions that change over short period of time
Climate
Weather patterns in a region over long periods of time
Climate zones
-Discovered in early 1900s
-Includes temp., precipitation, plant communities, etc.
-13 worldwide
Ecoregions/zones
-Climate of region/landforms/soil/plants
-Can include human factors
-867 worldwide
Factors that create climate zones
-Distance from equator
-Presence of large bodies of water
-Presence of ocean/air currents
-Land formation
-Height above sea level (Altitude)
Proxi records
Stores info. that can be measured to give clues about past climate
Albedo
Measure of how much of the sun’s radiation is reflected by a surface
Albedo effect
Positive feedback loop in which an increase in Earth’s temp. causes ice to melt, causing more radiation to be absorbed by Earth’s surface, leading to more increase of Earth’s temp.
El Nino
Recurring change in the pacific winds and ocean currents that brings moist air to west coast of South America
Interglacial period
Time between ice ages where Earth warms up
Plate tectonics
Theory explaining slow movement of large plates of Earth’s crust
Continental drift
Theory that all of Earth’s continents used to be one supercontinent called Pangea
Ice age
Time in history when Earth was colder/mostly covered in ice
Thermohaline Circulation
Continuous flow of water around world’s oceans driven by difference of water’s temp./salinity
Convection current
Circular current in air/other fluids caused by rising of warm fluids as cold sinks
Heat sink
Reservoir that absorbs/stores thermal energy
Feedback loops
Process where result affects process
Carbon sink
Reservoir that absorbs CO2 from atmo./stores carbon in diff. form
Greenhouse gas
Any gas in atmo. that absorb lower energy infrared radiattion
Greenhouse effect
Natural process whereby gases/clouds absorb infrared radiation emitted by Earth’s surface and radiate it, heating earth’s surface/atmo.
Litho.
Climate system made of rock/soil/minerals in earth’s crust
Hydro.
Part of climate including all water on/around earth
Atmo.
Layers of gas that surround the earth
Thermal energy
Energy present in the motion of particles at particular temp.
Infrared radiation
Invisible, lower energy radiation
UV Radiation
Invisible, higher-energy radiation
Climate system
Complex set of components that interact w/ ea. other to produce earth’s climate
Bioclimate profile
Set of variables that describe the climate of a region
Climate projection
Scientific forecast of future climate based on observations/computer models
What do scientists use to determine earth’s temp. in past?
Ice cores — Proxi record
What are the bubbles in isolated ice and what do they tell us
Bubbles = air
-Record of the gas concentration in the atmo. at the time/temp.
Level of ppm today
360
Greenhouse gases
Water vapors, CFC, CO2, CH4
How many ice ages happened in past
20
Largest source of methane
Land fills
North-West passage
Trip from Europe to Asia
-Now possible with melting of ice
How much emissions are american
25%
What is Kyoto Protocol
Countries to reduce thier emissions by 2012
What causes most flooding
Thermal expansion
Most damaging aspect of climate change for animals
The rate of change
Species already affected by global warming
Spring back antelope
Anthropogenic
Human caused/Man made
Symptoms of climate change - ecosystems
-Animals breed early
-Earlier flowering
-Migration
-Loss of biodiversity
-Shifting patterns/ranges
Ice/Glaciers
-Less thick sea ice
-Glaciers melting
-Permafrost melting
Growing seasons
-Unstable temps.
-Extended/shortened
Sea level
-Sea level rising
–melting
–thermal expansion
Hurricanes
More, larger, hurricanes
Precipitation
-More frequent
-Less snow
-Storms
-Some, more
-Some, less
IPCC
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change
-1988
-Evaluate risks of human caused climate change
Biocapacity
The ability of an ecosystem to produce useful material and to absorb waste is referred to as
