Humans and cold environments Flashcards
What human activities impact glaciated landforms, landscapes and processes?
- Tourism: mass
- Tourism: remote areas
- Mining/quarrying
- Agriculture
- HEP/water supply
- oil/gas pipelines
- fishing
How does mass tourism affect glacial areas? Give an example
e.g. European Alps, Verbier, Switzerland
ACTIVITIES
- ski resorts/summer sports
- glacial walks, etc
- damage landscape
- cause erosion
- increase traffic/littering - POLLUTION
- fake snow/snow cannons - high energy - POLLUTION
- deforestation for resort = weaken snowpack, decrease carbon sink
- disrupt habitats and wildlife
How does tourism to remote places affect glacial areas? Give an example
e.g. Antarctica, 170,000 visitors in 2020
- become more popular due to decreased cost, increased affluence, and better transport
- fragile landscapes are easier to impact and damage because they are not able to cope with intrusion, and are slow to recover
- cruise ships and people increase pollution
- non-native seeds caught on peoples clothing invade and grow in non frozen coastal areas, threatening biodiversity
How does mining/quarrying affect glacial areas? Give an example
e.g. rocks/minerals/ores/aggregates/leoss
e.g. gold, silver, copper, iron ore, diamonds
e.g. until 1990, Maarmrilik in Greenland, lead and zinc. Nearby fjords still polluted
- ground and surface water contamination e.g. lead, zinc
- habitats damaged
- vehicle and machinery damage
(pollution, noise, erosion) - landscape change and damage
- waste disposal doesn’t always comply with laws, damaging environment
How does agriculture affect glacial areas? Give an example
e.g. LDNP (post glacial, sheep farming, low nutrient tree plantations e.g. conifers)
- marginalised land is very difficult to farm, due to steep slopes, etc, so if commonly used for grazing. This changes the veg and ecosystem
- U shaped valleys are flatland and very fertile due to deposition, so are used for crop/pastoral farming
How does HEP/water supply affect glacial areas? Give an example
e.g. Búrfell station, Iceland
- high areas, ribbon lakes and U shaped valleys are easy to dam
- caused ecosystem/landscape/hydrology change and damage by construction etc
- pollution from high energy
- affects fish migration
How do oil/gas pipelines affect glacial areas? Give an example
e.g. Prudhoe Bay, Alaska
- heat from production causes permafrost melt and subsidence, affecting fragile landscape
- oil spills cause pollution of habitats and contamination of soil, affecting flora and fauna
e.g. the Trans-Alaska pipeline runs the length of Alaska and on average suffered 30-40 oil spills a year between 1977 and 1994
How do fishing affect glacial areas? Give an example
e.g. Chilean Sea Bass (predatory, large, and hard to catch) in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica
- deep, cold waters provide rare varieties of fish that are expensive round the globe, especially if exotic or hard to catch
- pollution from boats
- overfishing - depleted fish stocks affect animals as well as humans.
(e.g. over 3 billion people rely on fish as their main protein/food source, King Penguins rely on krill) - bottom trawling disrupts ecosystem, reducing light levels due to displaced sediment, harming animals and ecosystems, and indiscriminately catching everything, e.g. fry cannot now grow, breed, and sustain pops
Give human impact stats
- 75% world’s glaciers mass balance been impacted by CC
- UK building industry uses 250m tonnes sand and gravel aggregates each year e.g. outwash deposits from Pleistocene in lowland areas
- Norway and NZ derive 90% electricity from HEP sourced by glacial meltwater e.g. ribbon lakes
- Switzerland has more than 500 HEP sources producing 70% of electricity
- 105,300 tourists visited Antarctica in 2023 (The Pleasure Periphery - process where more tourists are able to visit more remote glacial env)
Why is Trump so interested in Greenland?
- Military position, strategic maritime route
- fisheries
- abundant natural resources
- oil and gas
- rare earth minerals (for building elec.
vehicles, wind turbines, military equip) - combatting China (who already have lotrs of these minerals)
What is subsidence?
When the ground sinks due to melting of the permafrost
What impacts does subsidence have on humans?
sinking roads, buildings, forests…
What impact does human activity have on the permafrost?
Melting - anything that removes the insulating snow/vegetation cover results in increased thawing
What kind of landscape does a melting permafrost create?
A thermokarst landscape: depressions and hummocks
What are the human induced causes of melting permafrost?
deforestation
agriculture
construction
global warming
What does melting permafrost cause?
Coastal erosion
Changing landscape: lake drainage
Socioeconomic impacts: food supply (fish), freshwater supply
How does melting permafrost cause coastal erosion?
Increased soil decohesion, instability and slumping makes it easier for wave and storm energy to erode the coast
How does melting permafrost cause lake drainage?
The impermeable frozen layer beneath the lake prevents drainage. If it melts, it becomes permeable, and the water can escape
How does melting permafrost cause socioeconomic issues?
FOOD SUPPLY (FISH)
- melting ice lets microorganisms and pollutants move freely: causes disease
- changes thermal properties of surrounding water: too cold for fish
- changes water quality: old carbon dissolves in streams, affecting water clarity, acidity, and trace metal (e.g. mercury) transport
- food chain: changing nutrient levels can cause food to fluctuate/decline, and thermokarst causes incresed sediment transport, negatively affecting important food source (invertebrates)
FRESHWATER SUPPLY
- permafrost stores large amounts of mercury, (plus other sediments etc), which is then released into drinking water supplies, e.g. those of the indigenous communities of Alaska (Kivalina?)
How do human activities affect indigenous peoples?
exploitation of natural areas and resources causes negative long term effects put their ways of life at risk, e.g.
- subsistence hunting and gathering, only taking sufficiently (like whaling)
- cultural and social customs
- areas where they can live
Why are cold environments fragile?
- flora and fauna adaptations/specialism have occurred over a long period to cope with harsh conditions
e.g. lack of sunlight, climatic variations, short growing season - limited species numbers
- sensitivity to changes
- slow development
- long term stores of carbon and methane
- high albedo, 90% reflection of insolation
What is the social value of glaciated areas?
- wilderness recreation e.g. snow sports
- scientific research:
1. best for researching CC as worst affected
2. atmos is purer, thinner and easier to research - spiritual and religious associations, e.g. Tibetan Buddhists prayer flags, indigenous peoples: Arctic Inuit myths and culture associated with landscape
What is the economic value of glaciated areas?
e.g. SNOWDONIA, WALES
- agriculture: upland sheep farming
- coniferous tree plantations: recreation and timber, they need poor soils
- tourism: landscape, hiking, m.biking
e.g. ICELAND
- fishing (farming hindered by cold)
- HEP and geothermal power: provides elec for aluminium smelters
- tourism: TV and Film e.g. Game of Thrones
- mineral resources e.g. gold
- animal resources e.g. whale blubber, seal fur
- energy sources e.g. oil, gas, uranium
What is the environmental value of glaciated areas?
- low biodiversity, but rare/specially adapted species
- migrations: birds (geese/ducks), mammals (caribou)
- tundra vegetation e.g. dwarf shrubs, mosses
- water cycle: store and release freshwater which can be used as a drinking supply
- carbon cycle: albedo 90% reflection insolation, huge global cooling. Permafrost, peat and wetlands are carbon sinks, especially for methane. CC impacts
Give stats of cold environment problems due to climate change
- Since 1960, Arctic average air temps have increased by over 2 degrees
- Extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice has declined by around 12.6% every decade for the past 40 years (2023)
- Far north Canadian polar bears are at risk of starvation and reproductive failure by 2050
- Ice dependent animals at risk by increased seasonal ice melt
