impacts of GCC on human society and monitoring GCC

Question 1

list the impacts that GCC can have on human society

Answer 1

1) health
2) water supplies
3) food supplies
4) impacts on infrastructure

Question 2

how does GCC affect human health

Answer 2

• some parts of the world are at the upper end of the human range of tolerance, therefore if temperatures were to rise the heatwave would cause health issues
• urban areas will heat up more due to heat emissions being absorbed by dark surfaces
• people with existing health issues ie respiratory difficulty may be more vulnerable to changes
• disease vectors may change distribution if temps rise
• pathogens grow more readily increasing cases of food poisoning

Question 3

how are water supplies impacted by GCC

Answer 3

• changes in evaporation, precipitation and river flow may create water supply issues ranging from droughts to floods

Question 4

how are food supplies impacted by GCC

Answer 4

• changes in temp and water availability may change crop species which can be grown
• decreased water makes irrigation more important
• warmer winters allow more pest species to survive causing more crop damage in the following season

Question 5

what are the impacts to infrastructure from GCC

Answer 5

1) road heat stress- high temp causes the melting of tar causing the roads to deform
2) track buckling- high temps cause rail tracks to expand and buckle- rising temps may require the track to be relaid with pre-stretching for higher temps
3) drainage= higher rainfall or periods of heavy rain increase flooding risk
4) landslides- heavy rainwater logs ground and lubricates soil increasing likelihood of landslides
5) bridge damage- heavy water flow can put pressure on the bridge supports

Question 6

why is it difficult to monitor global climate change

Answer 6

1) time scales
2) spatial scales
3) interconnected systems - don’t fully understand natural processes therefore interactions between these processes may be acting over different scales making it hard to monitor
4) natural fluctuations - the global climate is never constant, these natural changes may either hide or exaggerate human changes
5) time delay between cause and effect
6) lack of historic data- unreliable recording due to poor tech and collection at a global scale

Question 7

how can data be collected about global climate change

Answer 7

1) ice core data
2) satellite data
3) monitoring ocean currents
4) proxy data ie dendrochronology