Natural climate change

Question 1

What is the movement of warm water throughout the ocean called?

Answer 1

The gulf stream

Question 2

What percentage of the earths global heat budget is transferred by the sea?

Answer 2

25%

Question 3

What is the Coriolis effect?

Answer 3

As the earth rotates the wind bends
.In the northen hemisphere it deflects it to the right
.In the southern hemisphere It deflects to to the left

Question 4

What are the westerlies?

Answer 4

Prevailing winds from the west to the east in the mid latitudes (30-60)

Question 5

What are the trade winds?

Answer 5

Air that flows back to the equator

Question 6

What are the three circulation cells called?

Answer 6

polar
Ferrell
Hadley

Question 7

Why is the equator hotter?

Answer 7

As it has a higher concentration of sun rays.
The curve of the earth means the further you move from the equator the further the sunlight is spread

Question 8

4 different techniques for analysing natural climate change

Answer 8

Ice cores
Tree ring analysis
Historical sources
Pollen analysis

Question 9

How do ice cores work?

Answer 9

.Ice is drilled from antartica and greenland
.Air bubbles from these cores are analysed for c02 and oxygen levels
.

Question 10

How does tree ring analysis work?

Answer 10

One ring of a tree represents one year
.The thicker the ring the warmer the climate as trees grow better in warmer climates
.Analysing the rings can tell us the trees history

Question 11

How do historical sources work?

Answer 11

.Climate change recorded in paintings and diaries/journals
.These however aren’t a reliable source

Question 12

How does pollen analysis work?

Answer 12

.Scientists drill sediment cores from peat bogs
.Pollen grains are preserved in waterlogged sediment
.Different pollen comes from different plants/trees some of which live in colder or warmer conditions

Question 13

Does rain occur in high or low pressure?

Answer 13

Low

Question 15

What causes the convection current?

Answer 15

north Atlantic, cold, salty water is heavy and sinks. The current then draws up warmer salty water over the oceans surface from near the equator, This water then cools and sinks, which then flows south again to be heated

Question 16

What’s eccentricity?

Answer 16

.The orbit of the earth changes every 100,00 years
.This means the earth’s orbit is sometimes more circular, this makes the earth slightly cooler
.Or oval shaped/elliptical making the earth slightly warmer

Question 17

What’s obliquity?

Answer 17

.The earth is tilted at the poles, at approximately 23 degrees from a vertical position. This creates our season
.The greater the tilt of the axis, the more extreme the seasons
.This cycle occurs approximately every 41,000 years

Question 18

What’s precession?

Answer 18

.As the earth rotates on it’s axis it wobbles. .Axis happens the direction of the axis changes
.This effects our seasons and creates either greater or smaller differences in our seasons
.This happens every 24,000 years

Question 19

What’s solar variation?

Answer 19

.The amount of radiation the sun produces varies over time
.This is due to sun spots, sun spots are dark spots on the sun that reduce solar radiation
.Periods of high sunspot activity lead to less solar radiation and glacial periods.

Question 20

What the impacts of volcanic activity

Answer 20

.Large eruptions can launch huge amounts of dust and ash into the atmosphere
.This can block out the suns radiation and cause a decrease in temperature

Question 21

What are the effects of surface impacts ?(meteor strikes)

Answer 21

.As a large impact is produced when it hits the earth, it instead launches sand and dust particles into the atmosphere
.This blocks out the suns radiation and leads to a drop in temperature