ELSS

Question 1

Importance of water to life on the planet

Answer 1

-clouds (made up of water droplets) reflect approx 20% of incoming solar radiation and lower surface temperatures.
-plants need water for photosynthesis, respiration and transpiration.

Question 2

Carbon as a building block for life

Answer 2

-Global stores are rocks, atmosphere, oceans.
-carbon is an economic resource as its contained in fossil fuels.
-agricultural crops and trees which are used by humans are also stores.

Question 3

Link between carbon cycle, water cycle and atmosphere

Answer 3

Co2 emitted by human activity and acts as a greenhouse gas- global temps increase- warms oceans- more evaporation - water evaporates from ocean surface- warm waters less able to dissolve co2 - dissolved co2 released into atmosphere - global temps heat tundra which emit co2 and methane- more co2, methane, water vapour and clouds in atmosphere = more greenhouse gases.

Question 4

Water stores and types

Answer 4

3 main stores
-atmosphere (water exists as water vapour)
-oceans
-land (terrestrial and cryospheric)
Types
Atmospheric water - most common form water vapour, absorbs and reflects solar radiation, warm air holds more water vapour therefore an increase in water Vapor leads to increase in atmospheric temperature.
Oceanic water store -ocean bodies cover 71% of earths surface largest being Pacific Ocean.
Terrestrial - rivers , largest Amazon and lakes.
Cryospheric -composed of sea ice ice caps ice sheets glaciers and permafrost.

Question 5

Carbon stores

Answer 5

Major stores of carbon
THAL
Terrestrial/bioshphere - organic matter in soils, plant litter and peat.
Hydrosphere - surface layer has photosynthesis by plankton , the intermediate and deep layer, carbon passes through marine food chains and sinks to ocean bed.
Atmosphere - co2 greenhouse gas which regulates earths surface temp.
Lithosphere - sedimentary rock despots is like limestone and fissil fuel deposits.

Question 6

Characteristics of water cycle

Answer 6

• evaporation (from oceans and lakes) and transpiration ( from plants) make up inputs of water up to the atmosphere. Together these processes are known as Eva port aspiration.
  -moisture leaves the atmosphere through precipation (rain or snow) and condensation (fog) . Water is relaxed from ice cover by abolition(loss of snow and ice through melting) and sublimation (change of water state from ice to vapour )
  -run off transfers water from land surfaces into rivers which flow into the sea. So,e infiltrate into soil and becomes groundwater flow.
  -some water may percolate deeper into rock pores known as aquifers.

Temporal- seasonality affects rainfall levels and temp therefore affects evaporation and run off levels.

Question 7

Water balanc e

Answer 7

P(precipation)= E(evapotrainsipraion ) + q (run off measured in river discharge) +- s (storage)

Positive balcne = surpluses where p exceeds E Q and storage

Question 8

Carbon cycle

Answer 8

Carbon an enters the atmosphere as co2 from combustion and respiration.
Carbon dioxide absorbed by producers from photosynthesis.
Animals feed on plants, passing carbon through food chains, the carbon consumed is exhaled as co2 during respiration until they die.
Dead organisms are Eaten by decomposes and the carbon is released back into the atmosphere.
-slow and fast

Question 9

Fast carbon cycle terrestrial

Answer 9

• uptake of co2 form atmosphere by plants during photosynthesis.
  -co2 released back into atmosphere through animal respiration.
  -co2 and methane relaxed back after decomposition of dead organic matter.

Question 10

Slow carbon cycle

Answer 10

• referee to carbon beteeen Rick stores , atmosphere and oceans through weathering over millions of years.
• weathering on rocks by carbonic acid create carbonate run off into oceans, where carbon sediment forms limestone and is a long term carbon store from dead organisms,which is then released into atmosphere through volcanic activity.

Question 11

Cloud formation

Answer 11

1. Conduction causes Mass of air warms faster than around. Rises due to convection, rises as less dense, atmosphere unstable.
   2.as the air rises it cools due to expanding therefore the air particles have more space between them, called Dry adiabatic lapse rate.
   3.sir reaches dew point and wv condenses into a cloud, the condensation realeses latent heat , saturated adianatic lapse rate.
   Air mass continues to rise till same temp as air around it - stable atmosphere.

Question 12

Drainage basin
Water cycle

Answer 12

-is an area of land drained by a river and its tributaries.
Input - condensation and precipitation
Stores- vegetation, soil moisture, surface
Output- evaporation leakage run off

Question 13

Water and carbon cycles plate in contrasting locations Amazon case study

Answer 13

Water cycle in Amazon rainforest
-precipitation , over 2000mm a year
-vegetation, all trees absorb sore and transfer water.
Run off , rapid due to intense rainfall.

Carbon cycle
-vegetation, biomass rnaisforss tree store 180 tonnes
Photosynthesis
, levels of co2 high

Question 14

Water and carbon cycle in the Alaskan tundra

Answer 14

Precipation - low average of 50 mom a year
Runoff - usually little flow however melting of active layer in summer.

Vegetation - low biomass
Low co2 levels

Question 16

How geology and temperature effctecs Amazon and tundra water and carbon cycles

Answer 16

Amazon
Geogooogy water and carbon - large parts impermeable meaning Hugh run off, little storage of carbon in Ingneaus rocks.
Temp- high temps so high evapotrnaspirtaion. High temps and guaranteed sunlight cause more photosynthesis.
Tundra
Geology - hard crystalline rocks add to low permeability, most carbon is stored in permafrost.
Temp- low temps keep water stored as permafrost, low temps slow photosynthesis so limited flow of co2 to atmosphere.

Question 17

Strategies to manage change in water and carbon cycle

Answer 17

Infrastructure built on gravel oafs to protect the per mast from melting.
And drilling for oil using newer techniques and further away protects vegetation.

Question 20

How human activity affect cloud formatio

Answer 20

Pollution - smoke particles block sun preventing moisture from evaporating, prevents clouds forming.

Question 21

How human activity affects water and carbon cycle

Answer 21

Urbanisation
WC- more runoff as less water storage capacity, as using less permeable surfaces such as concrete.
CC- urban growth means more consumption of energy and transpiration leading to higher CO2 emissions.
Forestry
WC- plantations of evergreen trees increase interception of rainfall so more evaporation from leaves into atmosphere leading to less runoff.
CC- more carbon stores, trees absorb for hundreds of years.
Farming
WC- hard machinery can compact soil making it less permeable.
CC- forest clearing for farming can decrease amount of carbon stores.
Water extraction
WC- taking water from above or below ground, leaving rivers more dry and damaging wetlands ecosystems.

Question 22

Postive and negative feedback loop for water and carbon cycle

Answer 22

Postive - warmer temps on WC- more evaporation more water vapour in atmosphere means more clouds and precipitation so further evaporation and absorbing long wave radiation so warmer temperatures.

Negative - excessive co2 in atmosphere, plants absorb co2 therefore less in atmosphere.

Question 23

How water and carbon cycle are interlinked

Answer 23

Atmosphere - co2 is absorbed by plants from the atmosphere for photosynthesis. These same plants absorb and extract water and transpire it through the water cycle between atmosphere and ocean. Co2 is exchanged between these two stores.
Ocean- solubility of co2 dependent on sea surface temp levels therefore temp affects thermal expansion and sea levels rising.
Vegetation - water availability affects photosynthesis rates therefore how much co2 is absorbed from atmosphere.

Question 24

Human activities affecting water and carbon availability

Answer 24

-demand for water increased for irrigation, industrial and domestic usage. Leading to water shortages especially in places such as Bangladesh, India.
-deforestation.
-urbanisation.

Question 25

Lactor long term changes of water and carbon cycles

Answer 25

WC- Global warming means more evaporation and amount of Water Vapournin atmosphere , positive feedback loop where increase temps increase evaporation and precipitation, more flooding on urbanised areas. CC- increased carbon stored in atmosphere, decrease in biosphere and decrease in oceans.

Question 26

Global management strategies to protect carbon cycle

Answer 26

-Internationla agreements. Kyoto protocol sets targets to reduce ghg emissions 192 countries involved. The EU-environmental leader, European climate change programme set 20% cut in ghg emission, 20% of electricity from renewables and 20%improvement in energy efficiency by 2050. The UK-uk climate chnage act reduction in ghgs of at least 80% by 2050 strategies include: Increasing energy efficient(building insulation and smart metres)investing in new renewables (solar and wind) India- argued that ACs were responsible in increase in ghg emissions and that they shouldn’t have to pay. They are 1.7tonnes under global eversge if co2 and priorities are reducing poverty.but do aim to lower ghg emissions by 20% by 2020. -afforestation , re planting trees.

Question 27

Management strategies of water cycle

Answer 27

Water allocations- places where water is scarce , separated and allocated between locations such as Colorado basin in USA. Forestry- forest carbon partnership fund projects in Africa.