Climate Change

Question 1

what are the natural greenhouse gases?

Answer 1

CO2 - produced from living things
water vapour - produced during evaporation of the water cycle
methane - produced by decaying organisms or things like cow farts
nitrous oxide - produced through the natural nitrogen cycle

Question 2

what are the anthropogenic greenhouse gases?

Answer 2

CO2 - factories and stuff
methane - oil, gas, etc
nitrous oxide - fertilizers
chloroflouroplasts (CFCs) - leaks from fridges + air conditioning

Question 3

albedo effect

Answer 3

albedo - measure of how much of the sun’s radiation is reflected off of a surface
albedo effect = positive feedback loop
i.e. higher temps lead to more ice melting, which lead to more radiation being absorbed into the earth, which leads to more warming and in turn more melting

Question 4

convection and regulating currents

Answer 4

convection is a circular current which moves air and water through the rising of warm and the sinking of cold
flowing fluid (liquid/gas) moving because there is a temperature or density difference
warm - creates low pressure below it
cold - creates an area of high pressure

Question 5

prevailing winds

Answer 5

the high and low pressure + earth’s rotation causes winds to curve around the globe ALMOST ALWAYS IN THE SAME DIRECTION

Question 6

heat capacity

Answer 6

how much heat it can hold

Question 7

keeling curve

Answer 7

graph of observations of the accumulation of CO2 in earth’s atmosphere over the years

Question 8

thermal expansion

Answer 8

tendency of matter to change shape because of heat

Question 9

milankovitch cycles

Answer 9

eccentricity - length of earth’s orbit
tilt - how much the earth is tilted from the axis
precession - direction earth’s axis is pointed

Question 10

hydrocarbon combustions

Answer 10

when a hydrocarbon (hydrogen and carbon) reacts with oxygen to create co2, water and heat

Question 11

land ice

Answer 11

mountain glaciers and ice sheets

Question 12

weather vs climate

Answer 12

weather - short term events

climate - long term average weather of an area

Question 13

carbon sink

Answer 13

absorbs carbon from atmosphere

Question 14

heat sink

Answer 14

anything that absorbs heat without becoming warmer - high heat capacities

Question 15

ozone layer

Answer 15

protects from sun radiation

Question 16

greenhouse gases

Answer 16

any gas in atmosphere that absorbs lower energy infrared radiation

Question 17

proxy records

Answer 17

natural climate records

i.e. tree rings, coral, ice cores

Question 18

greenhouse effect

Answer 18

the way in which heat is trapped in earth’s atmosphere

has been happening for millions of years, without it we would be much colder

Question 19

+ and - feedback loops

Answer 19

+ more a = more b

- self regulating system which works to achieve stability

Question 20

fossil fuels

Answer 20

hydrocarbon materials which release carbon into the atmosphere when burned for fuel
i.e. oil, coal, natural gas

Question 21

transmission

Answer 21

distribution of heat from warmer -> colder areas

Question 22

anthropogenic greenhouse effect

Answer 22

creating more greenhouse gases - caused by humans

prevents more heat radiation from escaping the atmosphere and therefore making the earth warmer

Question 23

infrared radiation

Answer 23

anything that has a temp emits infrared, things which emit it lose it to cool down, whereas things like greenhouse gases absorb it and increase in temp

Question 24

sea ice

Answer 24

ice bergs, glaciers, etc