Climate Change Flashcards
What is the Natural Greenhouse Effect?
The sun emits heat energy that is passed through the earths atmosphere. The earth heats up and some of it’s heat energy is radiated back into the atmosphere. The greenhouse gases in the atmospher absorb this heat enrgy and store it in the atmosphere rather than leting it escape into space.
What does the term ‘climate change’ mean?
Means a significant change in global weather patterns over a long period of time.
How can we collect information about long-term changes of climate change?
Ice core analysis- Drill holes through the ice and take samples to find records of temperatures and atmospheric gases that have been built up over the thousands of years. These contain dust, ash, gases, air bubbles, radioactive substances.
How can we collect information about medium-term changes of climate change?
Tree Ring Analysis- Trees make 1 growth ring each year. Wide ring shows it was warm and wet because the tree had a long growing season and adequate moisture - dry or cold year = very narrow ring.
Glaciers- Temps low- glaciers will consistently advance
Temps high- glacier will retreat. Evidence is left of where it used to be.
How can we collect information about short-term changes of climate change?
Recording changes in biodiversity- By recording the change in the number of plants/animals in different areas we can tell how the climate is changing there.
Ice extent- Keeping a record annually of the ice extent globally is a good way of measuring climate change.
Measuring air and sea temperatures- To compare with previous years.
What are the physical/natural factors of climate change?
Changes in solar radiation Changes in oceanic circulation Volcanic eruptions The Earth's movement The Movement of crustal plates
Explain how changes in solar radiation impact the climate.
We don’t always receive the same amount of heat from the sun as the number of sunspots change every year (peaking on average every 11). More sunspots- more heat we receive from the sun.
Explain how the Earth’s movement impacts the climate.
The earth spins on an axis tilted 23 degrees to the vertical and it moes round the sun on an orbit. It takes earth 24 hours to spin on its axis and 365 days for it to orbit the sun. Over thousands of years the earths tilt changes, it’s orbit changes and it wobbles on its axis. All of which affect the climate.
Explain how changes to oceanic currents impact the climate.
The ocean currents flowing from the tropics to the poles transfer warm water and currents flowing from the poles to the tropics transfer cold water which affects the climate of countries all over the world. In the UK we benefit from the North Atlantic drift. It affects the west coast and makes winters 5 degrees warmer. Over time the currents change direction and can become stronger or weaker, changing the climates of the places they flow past.
Explain how volcanic eruptions impact on the climate.
When a volcano erupts, lava ash and gases are ejected from the volcano and sent into the atmosphere where they absorb heat energy from the sun and prevent it from reaching earth’s surface. This lowers temperatures.
Explain how plate tectonics impact on the climate.
The further you are from the equator, the cooler the summer and winter temperatures are likely to be . However, every country, continent, and ocean is sitting on top of huge, constantly moving tectonic plates. As the continents move they affect the world’s climate, i.e- when there are many continents near the poles, ice sheets form quickly and the whole world cools down. When there are more continents near the equator the whole world heats up. When the continents break up there is lots of volcanic activity.
What is the enhanced greenhouse effect?
When human activities release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
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