EQ3 6.9 Flashcards
1
Q
What natural forcings are built into climate models?
A
- Milankovitch cycles
- Sun cycles
- El Nino
- Jet streams
2
Q
What human factors are built into climate models?
A
- Population growth
- Economic growth
- Land-use change
- Energy profiles
3
Q
What CO2 movements are built into climate models?
A
- Ocean acidification
- Carbon uptake from vegetation
- Fire
- Albedo
- Thermohaline
- Biological pump
4
Q
What feedback mechanisms create uncertainty for climate models?
A
- Carbon release from peatlands
- Carbon release from melting permafrost
5
Q
What are some adaptation strategies?
A
- Water conservation and management
- Resilient agricultural systems
- Land-use planning
- Flood-risk management
- Solar radiation management
6
Q
Costs and risks of water conservation management
A
- Requires high tech
- Requires strong government leadership + changes in attitude + stable government
7
Q
Costs and risks of resilient agricultural systems?
A
- Could include higher-tech drought-resistant crops/promotion of sustainable practices (e.g. water storage, selective irrigation, crop rotation etc.)
- Unlikey to be available to poor substinence farmers
- High energy costs
- Genetic modification controversial/unknown impacts
- Food insecurity could increase if pressure for quick fixes leads to long term unsustainability
8
Q
Costs and risks of land-use planning?
A
- Might be too late in coastal megacities
- Political ‘hot potato’ (e.g. no gov has the guts to enforce it)
- Public antipathy (against it)
- Needs strong gov leadership + enforcement + compensation schemes for resettling
9
Q
Costs and risks of flood-risk management?
A
- Fall in property values
- Relocation of people will require compensation
- Technological fixes may interfere with natural processes
- Maintenance needed - could be costly
10
Q
How does solar radiation management work?
A
- Geo-engineering - quick solution to mitigate climate change by trying to increase solar radiation reflection
- Spray seawater into atmosphere to increase condensation nuclei
- Add sulfur particles to stratosphere - aerosols increase reflectivity
- Put trillions of wafer-thin discs into stationary orbit between Earth + Sun to reduce solar radiation reaching planet
11
Q
Costs and risks of solar radiation?
A
- Untried/untested
- Potential +ve feedback cycles not fully understood
- May cause unpredictable weather changes
- May affect stability of ozone layer, Earth’s heat budget + acid rainfall
- Extremely expensive ($5trn for discs) - could cause political instability
12
Q
What are examples of local-scale mitigation strategies?
A
- Carbon taxation
- Renewable switching
- Energy efficiency
- Afforestation
- Carbon capture + storage
13
Q
What are examples of international-scale mitigation strategies?
A
- Agreements (e.g. Paris Agreement)
- Systems (e.g. carbon trading)
- Debt relief
- Development of GM crops
