Coasts EQ 32B.9c Flashcards
Where is Kiribati?
East of Asia, North - East of Australia
How does height affect local flood risk?
Low lying land is more likely to be inundated with storms that can trigger storm surges.
What does vegetation removal mean for countries at flood risk?
Means that protective natural barriers cannot help destructive wave energy from being dissipated.
What are the two types of sea level rise?
Eustatic and Isostatic.
Is eustatic sea level rise on a local or global scale?
Global scale.
What is thermal expansion of the sea?
When water particles are heated (typically by the sun during summer time) and so gain energy, beginning to vibrate. This kinetic energy is then transferred to surrounding particles, causing the particles to collectively as a whole expand.
What is a low pressure weather system?
A depression, where a low pressure causes clouds to rise and condensate, creating thunderstorms and rain clouds.
What are the problems with trying to measure climate change?
There are poor global data statistics on the measurements of average wind speed and wave height.
Can you name some human factors that affect climate change?
Amount of vehicles/automobiles that run off fossil fuels are ever increasing. Factory production lines use fossil fuels which pollute the atmosphere, leading to global warming and therefore causing eustatic sea level rise.
How is Kiribati affected by sea level rise?
Sea level rise will cause Kiribati to become submerged within the next century.
What are the causes of seal level rise?
Thermal expansion and melting of ice caps.
What is eustatic rise?
Eustatic change is a global sea level change.
What is isostatic rise?
Changes in the level of the land relative to a fixed point in the earth, possibly due to thermal buoyancy or tectonic effects; it implies no change in the volume of water in the oceans.
What is the predicted SLR by 2100?
Another 0.5 m by 2100.
How does El Nino or La Nina events effect sea level rise for Kiribati?
The exposure of Kiribati to changes in sea levels is exacerbated by the Pacific decadal oscillation, which is a climate switch phenomenon that results in changes from periods of La Niña to periods of El Niño. This has an effect on sea levels. For example, in 2000 there was a switch from periods of downward pressure of El Niño on sea levels to an upward pressure of La Niña on sea levels, which upward pressure causes more frequent and higher high tide levels.
