Evidence for climate change

Question 1

How does ice cores show evidence of climate change?

Answer 1

• ice sheets contain layers of ice made up of bubbles, these contain CO2
• CO2 levels and temperature have a close relationship. If CO2 is high, temperatures would have been high meaning we can predict what the temperatures would have been quite accurately

Question 2

How reliable are ice cores?

Answer 2

Highly skilled scientists and high technology used to test CO2 levels.

Question 3

How does tree rings (dendrochronology) show evidence of climate change?

Answer 3

• tree rings thickness represents 1 year of growth. Wider rings mean more growth has taken place
• thicker rings show high growth so temperature must have been high.

Question 4

How reliable are tree rings

Answer 4

Some trees may not grow as they have been surrounded by larger trees so they received less sunlight.
Not all areas in the world have trees to test

Question 5

How does historical records show evidence of climate change?

Answer 5

• use variety of sources e.g. diaries, paintings/drawing
• provide understanding on how society coped with changes in climate
• show how landscape were affected e.g. u-shaped valleys occur

Question 6

How reliable are historical records?

Answer 6

• inaccurate paintings/drawings-people’s imagination

- inaccurate/unreliable temperature as technology was limited