Climate change Flashcards

1
Q

What is climate change?

A

A long term shift in the planets weather pattern or average temperatures

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2
Q

What is the quaternary period?

A

The last 2.6 million years of earth’s history

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3
Q

What is the Holocene period?

A

11,700 years ago to today

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4
Q

What is Pleistocene?

A

26 million years ago to 11,700 years ago

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5
Q

What were the colder periods called?

A

Glacial

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6
Q

What were the warmer periods called?

A

Interglacial

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7
Q

What is an ice age?

A

A period of long term reduction or increase of the temperate in the earth’s surface and atmosphere creating polar ice sheets

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8
Q

Where can we find evidence of an ice age?

A
  • Northern & southern hemisphere
  • Antarctica, North of North America, North of Europe, North of Asia
  • Chile = Andes, Nepal, Himalayans
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9
Q

Name the evidence of climate change.

A
  • Fossil Evidence
  • Ice cores
  • Historical records
  • Ocean sediment
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10
Q

What does fossil evidence show us?

A

Climate from millions of years ago

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11
Q

What is the disadvantage of fossil evidence?

A

It is difficult to be precise

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12
Q

Give an example of fossil evidence.

A

Crocodile from 60 million years ago in North Dakota

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13
Q

What does ocean sediment show us?

A

The sediment has oxygen isotopes in them and scientist use them to calculate the change in atmospheric temperature

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14
Q

What do ice cores show us?

A

The temperature of the atmosphere from the past 400,000 years

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15
Q

What’s a disadvantage of ice cores?

A

Cannot look at older dates because there’s no ice old enough on the planet

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16
Q

Give an example of ice cores.

A

In Antarctica, the ice sheets are 5km deep in some places and the ice dates back to 800,000 years ago

17
Q

What do historical records show us?

A

The climate at the time

18
Q

What’s a disadvantage of historical records?

A

Can be very inaccurate because we can’t tell if it was consistent or for one day

19
Q

Give an example of historical records.

A

cave paintings from 4000 years ago
Diaries
Records

20
Q

Give some recent evidence of climate change.

A
  • Global temperature data
  • Ice sheets and glaciers
  • Sea level change
21
Q

How much has global temperature increases since 1950?

A

0.6°C

22
Q

What evidence shows glaciers and ice sheets are melting?

A

Maps and photos

23
Q

How much has the arctic sea declines in the last 30 years?

A

10%

24
Q

What effects have happened because of shrinking glaciers and ice sheets?

A
  • Increasing wildfires
  • species going extinct
  • effects habitats causing food changes
25
Q

How much have sea levels rising over the last 100 years?

A

10 -20 cms

26
Q

What cause seas levels rise?

A

The additional water from fresh ice and thermal expansion of the ocean due to higher temperatures

27
Q

Name the 3 natural climate change theories

A
  • eruption
  • sunspot
  • orbital
28
Q

How does the eruption theory change the earth’s climate?

A

Big eruption

29
Q

Describe the eruptional theory.

A

Volcanic eruptions produce ash, sulphur and dioxide gas.
High winds spread them around the earth’s stratosphere.
The ash and gases will stop sunlight from reaching the earth’s surface.
It’s reflected back into space.
This lowers the average temperature

30
Q

How long does the effect of the eruption last?

A

1 year

31
Q

Give an example of an eruption?

A
Mount Pinatubo 
Released 17 million tonnes of sulphur dioxide 
Decreased sunlight by 10%
For about a year
Decreased planets temperature by 0.5°C
Decrease rainfall by 3% in Indonesia
32
Q

What is the sunspot theory?

A

Black areas on the sun’s surface indicate the sun is more active than usual.
Lots of spots indicate lots of solar energy fired towards the earth.

33
Q

How long does the effect of the sunspots last?

A

11 years

34
Q

What is the orbital theory?

A

When the earth tilts on its orbit it also wobbles changing the way the sun hits the earth

35
Q

How long is the effect of the orbital theory?

A

Thousands of years