Glaciated Landscapes EQ 4

Question 1

What roles does Greenland a glaciated have on water and carbon cycle

Answer 1

• Plays a important role in the global water cycle as it contains 10% of the total global ice mass
• If the whole of Greenland’s ice sheets melted sea levels would rise by 7m, flooding many cities and countries
• From 1992 to 2001 there was ice loss from 34 giga-tonnes to 215 giga-tonnes per year, contributing 0.33m in sea level rise per year.
• Plays a role in regulating global temperatures via feed back cycles with the albedo affect.

Question 2

What roles do periglacial landscapes have in the water cycle and carbon cycle

Answer 2

• Permafrost is a weak carbon sink storing carbon dioxide and methane in immense amounts
• There are positive feedback cycles which worsen climate change, with increases global warming there is an increase in global temperatures and leads to more melting of permafrost.
• An example would be western Siberia storing billions of tonnes of methane and greenhouse gases.