Climate Change

Question 1

What is the Quaternary Period?

Answer 1

The most recent geological time period covering the last 2.6 million years

Question 2

What is Climate Change?

Answer 2

Changes in long-term temperatures and rainfall patterns due to either natural causes, human causes or a combination of both

Question 3

What are Sunspots?

Answer 3

Dark spots on the sun which increase and decrease in 11 year cycles. The more sun spots, the more energy we receive

Question 4

What is an Ice age?

Answer 4

A glacial period where the Earth has permanent Ice Sheets (we are still in one)

Question 5

What is Global Warming?

Answer 5

The current increase in average global temperatures

Question 6

What are the Milankovitch Cycles?

Answer 6

3 cycles of the Earth’s orbit around the sun. Obliquity (TILT), Precession (WOBBLE), and Eccentricity (ORBIT)

Question 7

What is Inter-glacial?

Answer 7

A period between ice ages, with warmer temperatures.

Ours (the Holocene) began around 11,700 years ago

Question 8

What is the Greenhouse Effect?

Answer 8

The warming of the planet due to liquids & gases in the atmosphere absorbing the sun’s heat once the Earth’s surface has reflected it. This is natural. The enhanced effect is caused by human activities

Question 9

What is Anthropocene?

Answer 9

The term for a new geological age (currently being considered) to recognise the time when human activity started to influence the climate & environment