Climate and Change

Question 1

Name 3 proofs to show that the climate was different in the past

Answer 1

Fossilised animals, plants and pollen that no longer live in the UK
Land forms, like the U-shaped valleys left by retreating glaciers
Samples from ice sheets from Greenland + Antarctica which contain trapped CO2 to identify the temperature at that time

Question 2

What are interglacials?

Answer 2

Warm periods

Question 3

What are glacials?

Answer 3

Cold periods

Question 4

Name 3 types of proofs to show that the climate was different in the more recent past

Answer 4

Old photographs, drawings and paintings
Written records (diaries, books and newspapers)
Recorded dates of harvest, migrating birds and tree blossom

Question 5

What are the three theories of natural climate change and how do they affect it?

Answer 5

The eruption theory, the sunspot theory, the orbital theory. These 3 theories alter the amount of sunlight the Earth receives and where it falls on its surface

Question 6

What is the eruption theory?

Answer 6

With a big volcanic eruption, if the ash and gas rise high enough they can create a blanket reflecting the suns rays and stopping them from reaching Earth

Question 7

What is the sunspot theory?

Answer 7

Dark spots on the sun tell us that it is more active than usual. Lots of spots mean that more solar energy is being directed at the Earth

Question 8

What is the orbital (Milankovitch cycles) theory?

Answer 8

The Earth’s orbit is sometimes circular and sometimes more of an oval

• the Earth’s axis tilts
• the Earth’s axis wobbles

Question 9

What did the Medieval warm period mean for Viking Greenland?

Answer 9

By 1100, Greenland had

• over 200 farms
• a population of 3000 - 4000 Vikings
• trade links with Iceland + Norway
• summer hunting north of Arctic circle

Question 10

What were the effects of the Little Ice Age?

Answer 10

Frost fairs held on River Thames from 1608 to 1814
Cold and rain lashed Europe in spring and summer of 1315
Wheat and oats did not ripen and harvest failed
The Great Famine from 1317 to 1325
10-20% of peasant farmers died of hunger

Question 11

How did people adapt to the Little Ice Age?

Answer 11

People learned to farm new crops

Abandoned farms high on hillsides

Question 12

What are Megafauna?

Answer 12

Big animals mostly weighing over 40kg than included the woolly mammoth

Question 13

What happened to the Megafauna?

Answer 13

They migrated and tried to find new areas to live in, where the climate suited them
However finding the right plants to eat in new areas would have been difficult
This would have disrupted food chains

Question 14

What is the radiation coming from the sun called?

Answer 14

Short-wave radiation

Question 15

What is the radiation that is reflected off the land called?

Answer 15

Long-wave radiation

Question 16

Does all the long wave radiation get back through?

Answer 16

No - some long-wave radiation is reflected by greenhouse gases, heating the earth up

Question 17

What is causing the enhanced greenhouse effect?

Answer 17

The enhanced greenhouse effect has caused the earth’s temperature to rise more quickly than it otherwise would do naturally due to humans polluting the atmosphere with carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases

Question 18

Give 3 examples of extreme UK weather

Answer 18

Heatwaves like summer 2003 when temperatures reached 38 degrees
Flooding like summer 2007 in the Midlands
Storms like the great gales in 1987 and 1990

Question 19

What is the Kyoto Agreement?

Answer 19

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Some countries like the UK and Germany have reduced their emissions, others like China and the USA have not

Question 20

How will global warming impact Egypt?

Answer 20

The River Nile is a very important water supply and Egypt’s only reliable source
If sea levels rise by 50cm over a third of the city of Alexandria will be under water and 7 million people would have to ind somewhere else to live
Loss of land would hit farming so less food could be produced, leading to famine