Earths Life Support Systems Case Studies

Question 1

How much solar radiation do clouds reflect

Answer 1

1/5

Question 2

What percentage of the earth’s water is stored in oceans

Answer 2

97%

Question 3

How much water does the water cycle circulate annually

Answer 3

505,000 km3

Question 4

Heavy rainfall

Answer 4

10-15mm per hour - will flow rapidly overland into rivers and streams

Question 5

How much water is transpiration responsible for

Answer 5

10% of water in the atmosphere

Question 6

Fast and slow carbon cycles rates of flux

Answer 6

10-1000 times faster - slow cycle takes 150 million years to complete full loop

Question 7

Exchange of carbon in the oceans

Answer 7

C02 dissolves in ocean waters whilst the oceans ventilate co2 back into the atmosphere
Takes an average of 350 years

Question 8

Slow Carbon cycle

Answer 8

10-100 million tonnes circulated annually
Co2 diffuses into the oceans where it is fixed into calcium carbonate by coccolithophores
They die forming sedimentary rock
held in rocks for 150 million years before being released through weathering or volcanism into the atmosphere

Question 9

Amazon Length

Answer 9

6,992 km long

Question 10

Why are stores of water in the atmosphere so big in he amazon

Answer 10

high temperatures allow the atmosphere to hold more water (higher humidity)

Question 11

Underground store in the amazon

Answer 11

Rio Hamza- flows what to east across the amazon 200-400 km wide, 600 km long

Question 12

Amazon Precipitation

Answer 12

2200 mm of precipitation annually

Question 13

Rates of evapotranspiration in the Amazon

Answer 13

10% of rainfall intercepted, 20-25% of all evaporation directly from trees

Question 14

Rates of deforestation in the Amazon

Answer 14

17,500 km2 per year, one fifth of all primary forest

Question 15

Date of flooding in Amazon

Answer 15

April 2014 Madiera river

Question 16

Scale ion flooding in Amazon

Answer 16

Porto Velho - river levels reached record heights of 19.68 metres above sea level - caused the deaths of 60 and the evacuation of 68,000

Question 17

Causes of flooding

Answer 17

Torrential rains but also deforestation in Bolivia and Peru - 30,000 km2 of forest cleared in 12 years increasing the runoff factor by 27 - exacerbated by steep relief

Question 18

Amazon Vegetation Carbon store

Answer 18

60% of above ground carbon in trees
40,000 species including 182 hyper dominants
75,000 trees per square km

Question 19

Peat bog stores

Answer 19

90% of carbon stored in Peat Bogs - Naranon Basin contains 50% of the amazons carbon stock

Question 20

Roots

Answer 20

Large numbers of roots in the Nauta area but this is as a result of poor soils

Question 21

Amazon carbon flow

Answer 21

Net sink of 0.7 billion tonnes of carbon annually

Question 22

Climate in the Amazon

Answer 22

25-30 degrees, 2000 mmm of rainfall - allows a rapid rate of flux

Question 23

Difference between grasslands and rainforest in terms of carbon stores

Answer 23

180 tonnes per hectare vs 16.2 tonnes

Question 24

Improvements to agricultural techniques in Amazon

Answer 24

Banana circles
Nitrogen fixing tree species
Terra Patral and Biochar - natural and synthetic equivalents - deemed “black gold agriculture”

Question 25

Legislation of Primary forest

Answer 25

ARAP since 1998
2015 - 44% of the Brazilian amazon comprised of wildlife reserves
200,000 square miles of forest protected
Parica Project in Rondonia - local Sure tribes men standing up against deforestation

Question 26

Reforesting

Answer 26

Three North Forest - aimed to halt desertification
70 arial seeding aircraft, 18 of North china now forested
25% of Amazon damaged or destroyed, only can be restored by reforesting

Question 27

Water cycle in Tundra - flows and stores

Answer 27

Low precipitation (50-350mm)
Extensive ponds and wetlands
Accumulation of snow and ice during winter months
Permafrost acts as a barrier to infiltration

Question 28

Permafrost store in the tundra

Answer 28

1627 Pt of organic carbon - 50% of the earth’s below ground pool

Question 29

Management stratagies Tundra

Answer 29

Gravel Pads
elevation of buildings on piles
Lateral drilling
Refrigerated supports
Improved compute software in hydrocarbon discovery
All managements for climate change!!

Question 30

Long term changes to water and carbon cycle

Answer 30

4 major facial cycles in the last 100,000 years
Ice - huge impact, far less vegetation]Fall of sea levels by 100-130m
Ice sheets cover 1/3 of continental land mass
Ice ages coincide with far lower c02 concentrations - 180ppm compared to around 280ppm
Caused as a result of natural feedback etc
Carbon making its way into the deep ocean as a result of phytoplankton

Question 31

Management to protect water and carbon cycles

Answer 31

Forest management REDD
Agricultural practises - crops, deforestation and methane from manure and paid fields
International agreements to reduce Carbon emissions
Cap and Trade systems - annual quotas such as the EU emissions trading system

Question 32

Forest management

Answer 32

REDD 50 partner countries, financial incentives to protect forests but riddled with corruption
ARPA
Paria project - 1000km2 omercial timber plantation on deforested land

Question 33

Water allocations

Answer 33

1981 Water markets in Chile
Schemes in Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales
Kielder water project -transfer of water from areas of deficit to areas of surplus - 1991 140 million m3 transferred in New South Wales

Question 34

Drainage Basin planning

Answer 34

Pickering, Severn Thames and Humber, joint managed by DEFRA