Earths Life Support Systems Case Studies Flashcards
How much solar radiation do clouds reflect
1/5
What percentage of the earth’s water is stored in oceans
97%
How much water does the water cycle circulate annually
505,000 km3
Heavy rainfall
10-15mm per hour - will flow rapidly overland into rivers and streams
How much water is transpiration responsible for
10% of water in the atmosphere
Fast and slow carbon cycles rates of flux
10-1000 times faster - slow cycle takes 150 million years to complete full loop
Exchange of carbon in the oceans
C02 dissolves in ocean waters whilst the oceans ventilate co2 back into the atmosphere
Takes an average of 350 years
Slow Carbon cycle
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
Amazon Length
6,992 km long
Why are stores of water in the atmosphere so big in he amazon
high temperatures allow the atmosphere to hold more water (higher humidity)
Underground store in the amazon
Rio Hamza- flows what to east across the amazon 200-400 km wide, 600 km long
Amazon Precipitation
2200 mm of precipitation annually
Rates of evapotranspiration in the Amazon
10% of rainfall intercepted, 20-25% of all evaporation directly from trees
Rates of deforestation in the Amazon
17,500 km2 per year, one fifth of all primary forest
Date of flooding in Amazon
April 2014 Madiera river
Scale ion flooding in Amazon
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
Causes of flooding
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
Amazon Vegetation Carbon store
60% of above ground carbon in trees
40,000 species including 182 hyper dominants
75,000 trees per square km
Peat bog stores
90% of carbon stored in Peat Bogs - Naranon Basin contains 50% of the amazons carbon stock
Roots
Large numbers of roots in the Nauta area but this is as a result of poor soils
Amazon carbon flow
Net sink of 0.7 billion tonnes of carbon annually
Climate in the Amazon
25-30 degrees, 2000 mmm of rainfall - allows a rapid rate of flux
Difference between grasslands and rainforest in terms of carbon stores
180 tonnes per hectare vs 16.2 tonnes
Improvements to agricultural techniques in Amazon
Banana circles
Nitrogen fixing tree species
Terra Patral and Biochar - natural and synthetic equivalents - deemed “black gold agriculture”
Legislation of Primary forest
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
Reforesting
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
Water cycle in Tundra - flows and stores
Low precipitation (50-350mm)
Extensive ponds and wetlands
Accumulation of snow and ice during winter months
Permafrost acts as a barrier to infiltration
Permafrost store in the tundra
1627 Pt of organic carbon - 50% of the earth’s below ground pool
Management stratagies Tundra
Gravel Pads elevation of buildings on piles Lateral drilling Refrigerated supports Improved compute software in hydrocarbon discovery All managements for climate change!!
Long term changes to water and carbon cycle
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
Management to protect water and carbon cycles
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
Forest management
REDD 50 partner countries, financial incentives to protect forests but riddled with corruption
ARPA
Paria project - 1000km2 omercial timber plantation on deforested land
Water allocations
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
Drainage Basin planning
Pickering, Severn Thames and Humber, joint managed by DEFRA
