Climate Change Flashcards
Chapter 12
How does climate change differ from weather?
think time
The weather changes day to day and throughout the seasons, whereas climate change takes over decades (centuries) to occur
What do we call gases that “trap” heat in the atmosphere?
Greenhouse Gases
Explain the greenhouse effect
Solar radiation passes through the atmosphere, most of which is absorbed by the earth’s surface (warming it). Infrared radiation is emitted by the earth’s surface, some of which is absorbed and re-emitted by greenhouse gas molecules (which warms the earths surface & the lower atmosphere).
What is the enhanced greenhouse effect?
The contribution of human activity towards the increased amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (and thus the warming of earth’s surface)
List Greenhouse Gases
4
- Carbon Dioxide
- Methane
- Nitrous Oxide
- Fluorinated Gases
What are the 2 ways greenhouse gases are released?
Broad categories
- Natural Activities
- Human Activities
What is the difficulty in measuring the natural variability of climate data historically?
We only really have data for the past 150 years
50% of the GHG emisssions that occurred between 1750 and 2010 occurred after when?
After 1970
How much higher were emission in 2013 than 2005?
43% higher
What are the top 2 sources of GHG?
- CO2 from fossil fuels
- Industrial processes
What happened to Canada’s GHG emisssions between 1990 and 2021?
They increassed by 13.9%
What happened to Canada’s GHG emissions between 2005 and 2021?
They decreased by 8.4%
What was Canada’s total GHG emissions in 2021?
670 Megatonnes
List some Earth System Changes due to climate change?
4
- Warming temp
- More severe weather events
- loss of arctic & antarctic ice
- rising sea levels
What are
