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GCSE Geography > Global Hazards > Flashcards

Global Hazards Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the 3 cells of air?

A

Hadley, Ferrel, Polar

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2
Q

What do the circulations of air do?

A

they transport heat from the equator to the poles

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3
Q

What happens at the ferrel cell?

A

air joins the sinking air of the Hadley cell and travels at low heights to mid latitudes where it rises along the border of the polar cell.
the air then flows back towards lower latitudes, in the direction of the equator.

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4
Q

What happens at the Hadley cell?

A

Trade winds blow from the tropical regions to wards the euator, when they meet they rise and thunderstorms are created.
From the top of theses storms the air circulates to higher latitudes as it cool and sinks.

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5
Q

What happens at the polar cell?

A

The warm air rises along the broder of the ferrel cell and circulates towards the poles. The air cools and sinks and travels back toward lower latitudes.

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6
Q

What is the troposphere?

A

An area of the atmosphere about 10-15 km high, where the Earth’s weather takes place

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7
Q

Where are each of the cells located?

A

hadley - equator to 30-40o
ferrel - edge of hadley to 60-70o
polar - edge of ferrel to poles

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8
Q

Which is the largest and smallest cell?

A

hadley and polar

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9
Q

What causes high pressure?

A

cold air sinking

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10
Q

Where can you find high pressure?

A

the air sinking at 30 north and south of the equator

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11
Q

What causes low pressure?

A

warm air rising

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12
Q

Where can you find low pressure

A

at the equator

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13
Q

What does the climate tend to look like at low pressure?

A

high winds and warm rising air. lots of precipitation.

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14
Q

What does the climate tend to look like at high pressure?

A

cold sinking air, subject to warming. usually associated with clear skies and dry, calm weather

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15
Q

what are 4 types of climate?

A

temperate, tropical, sub-tropical, polar

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16
Q

What does temperate climate look like?

A

low pressure, rising air, causes lots of precipitation.

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17
Q

What does tropical climate look like?

A

low pressure, heavy rainfall and thunderstorms

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18
Q

What does sub-tropical climate look like?

A

desert conditions, with very high temps during the day and very low temps during the night due to lack of cloud cover

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19
Q

What does polar climate look like?

A

high pressure, dry and icy winds. very cold, windy and dry.

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20
Q

What is El Nino

A

it is a weather phenomenon in which the water and air currents reverse between Australia and south America

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21
Q

What are normal conditions between australia and south america?

A

trade winds blow towards australia from south america causing warm surface water by the coast of australia. Strong surface currents towards australia cause cold deep water by the coast of south america.

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22
Q

What happens during El Nino?

A

trade winds weaken, stop or even reverse. Warm water around australia goes back towards to south america, increasing the sea level. water becomes 6-8 celsius warmer by peru. Peru experiences more rainfall and australia experiences drier conditions.

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23
Q

What happens during la nina?

A

la nina is a more exaggerated version of normal conditions in the south pacific. Australia will have warmer waters with more chances of flooding, whereas south america will have colder waters with more chances of drought.

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24
Q

What is a tropical storm?

A

starts as a low pressure system originating in the tropics known as a tropical depression, which can develop into a hurricane.

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25
Q

When does a storm become a hurricane?

A

when its wind speeds become faster than 119 km/h

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26
Q

Where are tropical storms found?

A

between the tropics

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27
Q

what is the most dangerous part of the storm?

A

the eyewall

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28
Q

Which months do tropical storms occur in?

A

june to november in the northern hemisphere, and november to april in the southern hemisphere.

29
Q

How frequently do storms occur?

A

approximately 80 storms annually

30
Q

energy released by the average hurricane has _____ by __% in the past 30 years.

A

increased, 70

31
Q

What is a drought?

A

a period of below average rainfall with abnormally dry weather leading to a shortage of water.

32
Q

What are some of the causes of drought?

A

disturbed weather patterns
global temperature increase
intertropical convergence zone

33
Q

What is the intertropical convergence zone?

A

the ITCZ is a low pressure belt which circles the globe around the equator.

34
Q

What are 3 human activities that have made droughts worse?

A

excessive irrigation
dam building
over-grazing
over-farming
soil erosion
deforestation

35
Q

What was the big dry?

A

the driest period in Australia since 125 years between 2002-2009

36
Q

Why does Australia not get much rainfall?

A

it is located in a sub-tropical part of the world that experiences dry, sinking air leading to clear skies and little rain

37
Q

How did El Nino play a part in causing the Big Dry?

A

when el nino is present, the country becomes drier and the chances of rainfall decrease. The reversal of the trade winds leads to the water cool and less evaporation for precipitation.

38
Q

How did overpopulation play a part in causing the Big Dry?

A

cannot maintain current population to growth in relation to access to water.

39
Q

What is a super typhoon and give an example?

A

a typhoon that has sustained wind speeds of over 150mph for over a minute.
typhoon haiyan

40
Q

What are the 4 layers of the Earth?

A

inner core, outer core, mantle, crust

41
Q

What is magma?

A

hot, dense, liquid rock that churns around

42
Q

What are the 2 types of tectonic plates?

A

oceanic and continental

42
Q

What is an example of an oceanic plate?

A

pacific plate

42
Q

What causes the magma to move?

A

convection currents

42
Q

How to convection currents move the magma?

A

the magma closest to the core gets heated up and rises as it is less dense. Once it reaches the crust, it cools and sinks as it is more dense again. This process continuously repeats.

42
Q

What are the differences between the 2 types of tectonic plates?

A

oceanic found beneath ocean, continental found beneath land
oceanic 5-15km and continental 25-100km

42
Q

What is an example of a continental plate?

A

North American plate

43
Q

What are the 3 plate margins and what happens in them?

A

destructive - denser plate subducts under the other plate. Volcanoes (composite) and earthquakes

Constructive - two plates moves apart and magma fills the gap. Shield volcanoes form

Conservative - two plates slide past each other causing earthquakes

44
Q

What is subduction?

A

the sinking of the denser plate under the other plate at destructive plate margins

45
Q

What are the 2 types of volcanoes?

A

shield and composite

46
Q

What are characteristics of shield volcanoes?

A

made of basaltic rock
form gently sloping cones from layers of runny lava
gentle and predictable eruptions

47
Q

What are characteristics of composite volcanoes?

A

most common type found on land
created by alternating layers of ash and lava
explosive and unpredictable eruptions

48
Q

What is a volcanic case study?

A

E-16 Icelandic eruption 2010

49
Q

What are causes of earthquakes?

A

when 2 plates get locked causing friction to build up. from this stress, the pressure eventually gets released, triggering the plates to move into new positions. the movement causes seismic waves and an earthquake

50
Q

What is epicentre and focus of an earthquake?

A

epicentre - the point directly above the focus (seismic waves reach first)
focus - the point at which pressure is released

51
Q

What are the differences between shallow and deep focuses?

A

shallow:
usually small and common
seismic waves spread and damage wide area

deep:
occur on destructive plate margins
damage is localised

52
Q

How do we measure Earthquakes?

A

Mercalli scale
Richter scale

53
Q

What are characteristics of the Mercalli scale?

A

measure how much damage is done by observation
instrument, weak, extreme, cataclysmic
limitation is that it is subjective

54
Q

What are the characteristics of the Richter scale?

A

scientific measurement of energy released
measured by seismometer from 1-10
each point up the scale is 10 times greater

55
Q

What are the 5 volcanic hazards?

A

ash cloud, gas, lahar, pyroclastic flow, volcanic bomb

56
Q

What is ash cloud?

A

small pieces of pulverised rock and glass which are thrown into the atmosphere

57
Q

What is volcanic gas?

A

sulphur dioxide, water vapour and carbon dioxide (greenhouse gases)

58
Q

What is lahar?

A

a volcanic mudflow which runs down a volcano

59
Q

What is pyroclastic flow?

A

a fast moving current of super-heated gas and ash moving at 450mph

60
Q

What is a volcanic bomb?

A

a thick lava fragment that is ejected from the volcano

61
Q

How do you predict volcanic eruptions?

A

small earthquakes are caused
temperature around the volcano increases as activity increases
when volcano is close to erupting it starts releasing gases

62
Q

What are some preparations for volcanic eruptions?

A

creating exclusion zone around the volcano
being ready and able to evacuate residents
having emergency supply of provisions
trained emergency services

63
Q

How do you predict earthquakes?

A

satellite surveying
laser reflector (surveys movement across fault lines)
seismometer
seismic record to predict

64
Q

How do you protect against earthquakes?

A

building earthquake resistant infrastructure
raising public awareness
improving earthquake prediction

GCSE Geography (7 decks)

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