Lecture 14 Flashcards
What is a cryosphere?
Frozen ground, glacier, snow, sea ice, ice sheets, permafrost
What four aspects of the cryosphere impact climate change?
High surface reflectivity (albedo)
All three phases of water exist here
High latent heat exchange
Ocean circulation controls
What two factors does thermohaline circulation take into account?
Temperature and salt
What does the term eustatic refer to?
Volume of water
What is the steric effect?
Temperature volume
What gets released when permafrost melts?
Greenhouse gasses are released
Give an example of a positive feedback loop
Melting sea ice -> lower albedo -> warming water ->
What are paraglacial environments?
Cold environments where freeze thaw processes dominate
True or false:
50% of the earths surface is considered paraglacial
False, 25% of the earths surface is
What is permafrost?
Perennially frozen ground (year round) and it does not require water
What is the active layer?
The top layer of permafrost that melts seasonally
What is cryoturbation?
The freeze thaw mixing of soil.
What are the three types of permafrost distribution?
Continuous
Discontinuous
Sporadic
What are the four main paraglacial processes?
Ground ice
Frost action
Thermokarst
Mass wasting
What are ice wedges?
Ice growth in an active layer due to ground expansion seasonally. These form polygons on the surface
What is a pingo?
A large conical mound with a frozen core, typically there is exposed ice at the top that gets melted and forms a crater. This forms over a talik
What is patterned ground a result of?
Frost
What is a feature of termokarst?
Thaw lakes
What does periglacial mean?
A cold environment adjusting to modern post-glacial climate and geomorphic processes
