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climate change Flashcards

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1
Q

marine sediments

A

shells and sediments have isotopic signatures of the h2o in which they were found.
o16 is lighter than 018 - snow contains 016 and sits on top of the water and makes the ocean higher in 018. ocean sediments high in 018 indicates that they were formed during a colder period. finding the ratio between 016:018 indicates climate at the time.

eval - limited to ocean climates - oldest way.

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2
Q

ice cores

A

longest ice core is 3km -8 glacial periods
300,000 years back
snow and ice fill cores during the colder periods which have a higher concentration of 016.
ice cores preserve ash + bubbles of atmospheric gas.

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3
Q

fossils

A

coral fossils - need specific environment to survive - 1*C and water depth.
eval - very specific to local area - doesnt demonstrate wide scale climate change.

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4
Q

dendrochronology

A

oldest tree - 5000 years old
trees form a cambium layer anually that depends on the temprature and the moisture of the conditions of that time.

eval - only specific to local reigon - needs to be used alongside other analytical technologies becuase not all trees develop a cambium layer or cambium layers are irregular.

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5
Q

lake sediments

A

pollen has tiny spores - produced in millions - which are scattered and preserved in mud + sediments . these can be found in fossils along with bettles and enables identification of the differnt plant and beetle species in the area and the climate that allows survival

eval - specific to small scale areas

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6
Q

continental drift

A

sig. changes to global climate and long term changes to glaciation
230 million years go panama formed 1 single land mass

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7
Q

eccentricity

milankovich cysles

A
  • orbit
  • every 100,000 years
  • ice ages correspond to when the orbit causes the earth to be the furthest from thr sun (apehelion) rather than closest (perihelion).
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8
Q

obliquity

milankovich trials

A
  • tilt
  • every 41,000 years (between 22-24.5*c)
  • effects the intensity of the seasons e.g. smaller tilt means warmer in winter + cooler in summer
  • ice doesnt melt which means a positive feedback loop begins and causes ice sheet expansion and triggers a galcial period becuase of the albedo effects
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9
Q

precession

milankovich trials

A
  • wobble
  • every 22,000 years
  • precession of the equinox
  • influences intensity of the seasons and feeback loops which can trigger a glacial period.
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10
Q

what do the milankovich cycles represent

A
  • spacial and temporal
  • all describe long-term, wide scale changes like glacials and inter-glacials
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11
Q

solar output (sun spots)

A

the maunder minimum (when number of sun spots reduce to 0)
occured during the little ice age - end of 20th century
caused the river thames to freeze over

eval - short-term variations and effects the amount of energy (heat) transferred into the earths atmosphere

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12
Q

natural greenhouse gasses

A

plays an important role in ensuring solar radiation doesnt immediately escape the atmosphere
changes in atmospheric gasses triggers global climate temp change
greenhouse effect triggers positive feedback loop
can cause glacials and interglacials
greenhouse gasses - water vapour, co2, 02, methane

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13
Q

volcanic activity

A

eruptions cause volcanic ash and sulfur dioxide pollute the air
as a reuslt incoming solar radiattion is reflected which decreases temp in the troposphere.
example - mount pinatubo - phillipines 1991 - releasing 20 million tonnes of sulfur dioxide - cause a 1.3*c drop in temp over a 3 year period.

eval - localised changes - short term

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14
Q

long term

how has the climate changed

A

geological
millions of years

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15
Q

medium term

how has the climate changed

A

historical
last 1000nd years

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16
Q

short term

how has the climate changed

A

recent
last few decades

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17
Q

greenhouse/ice house

A

millions of years worth of change - caused by internal feedback loops

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18
Q

glacial/intergalcial

A

500,000 cycle
hot / cold house period
smaller / short-term change
cyclical change

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19
Q

younger dryas period

A

cold snap - maming rapid change before start of the holocene
shows planet is capable of rapid change when the flandrian transgression took place

20
Q

quaternary period

A

100 million years ago

21
Q

glaciation of antarctica

A

35 million years ago

22
Q

increases in surface, atmospheric and ocean temp

A

1*c rise in all surface temp since 1970

23
Q

shrinking of valley glaciers and ice sheets

A

e.g. athsbasca glacier - increaseearly rate of glacier melting
in the alps, glaciers may reduce by 80-96% by the end of the century
flash flooding and avalanches will increase

24
Q

rising sea level

shown by sattelites

A

since 1990 = 1-2.3mm/year - recently 3mm/year
due to rapid melting of ice caps and glaciers + thermal expansion
melting causes a positive feedback loops to occur which amplifies change and leads to a higher rate of global warming.

25
Q

increasing atmospheric water vapour

A

global dimming - can be dangerous to air quality
water vapour has risen from 2% to 17% in the last 40 years

26
Q

decreasing snow cover and sea ice

A

less snow and ice = less albedo = higher warming
for every 1*c rise in temp caused by increased co2, there is a doubling warming rate due to the water vapour amplifying

27
Q

land use changes

A

around 1/3 of carbon comes from land use change + loss of forests + emmisions used for this.
since 1970 - 40% of the earths surface = agriculture and 25% of forests lost

28
Q

wealth /standard of living change

A

increased standard of living = incread GHG consumption
USA = largest carbon footprint - the US average household producing more co2 than the global average / year

29
Q

population growth

A

from 1 billion in 1800 to 8 billion in 2022
increased use of land and GHG emmisions

30
Q

demand for energy

A

increased fossil fuels from manufacturing industrys power stations + transport - 87% of GHG emmisions in the atmosphere
more globalised world + more flights + more transportation of food and goods = 29x greater carbon emmisions than a high speed train.

31
Q

why is permafrost melting dangerous

A

25% more damaging for environment due to release of methane trapped in ice - 27x more potent than co2 - exponential imapcts - global scale

32
Q

what was the change in ppm 35 million years ago due to permenant icehouse state?

A

1000-1200ppm - 600-700ppm
this is becuase npp is low

33
Q

what was the temp during the little ice age (medevil warm period)

A

-1C - 0.0C

34
Q

how can air bubbles in ice cores reconstruct climates?

A

we can smaple the gasous composition of the atmosphere at the time. measuring ratio between hydrogen and oxygen atoms.

35
Q

how does el nino impact the accuracy of ice cores

A

events like this cause wide scale melting of surface ice - causing ice bubble to dissolve and bubbles to be released - to access bubbles, you have to drill deeper and this is time consuming and costly.

36
Q

what is the steric effect

A

thermal expansion due to glacial melting and higher ocean temp

37
Q

perihelion meaning

A

when the earth is closest to the sun

38
Q

how much has the rate of glacial retreat of the athabasca glcier increased over the past 55 years

A

3x

39
Q

what is the percentage of global energy production from burning fossil feuls?

A

87%

40
Q

why is demand for coal falling?

A
  • cheaper gas
  • hike in taxes for carbon
  • expansion for renewables
  • lower economic activity
  • 1980s recession
  • shift away from coal as a primary source of energy
  • energy efficient homes - better insulation
41
Q

what was the percentage of reduction in GHG emmisions caused by the economic recession of 2010

A

3.1%

42
Q

what did the kyoto protocol target emmision reductio to be by 2020

A

35% - so far only 23%

43
Q

when was the exinction rebellion established

A

2018

44
Q

examples of pressure groups

A

extinction rebellion, camp for climate action, greenpeave, friends of the earth and waste watch

45
Q

what is the main goal of the pressure groups

A

enforce public policy
reach net zero carbon emmisions by 2025
enforce legislation on co2 emmissions.

46
Q

what is the eval of pressure groups in shaping the climate debate

A

only really useful in high income countries as they have access to social media and news. (stable government)

geography (3 decks)

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