Paper 1- Climate change Flashcards
Tropical revolving stroms
Intense low pressure weather system that can last for weeks in the tropical regions of earth. Coriolis force
Storm surge
tsunami like phenomenon of rising water associated with low pressure weather systems
Pyroclastic flow
Fast movement of hot gas and rock with speeds of 700km/h
Lahar
A type of mud flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rock + water.
Flows down from a volcanoe
Volcanic activity
A rupture in the crust of the earth
Epicentre
Point on the earths surface that is directly above the hypocenter or focus
Plate movement
Scientific theory describing the large scale motion of 7 large plates and a number of smaller plates on the earths lithosphere
Subduction
Geological proccess that takes place at convergant boundarys of tectonic plates, where one moves under the other
How old is the earth
4.55 Billion years old
Geological timescale
Eons, Eras, Periods, Epochs
When did complex, multicellular life with hard parts emerge from?
The Phanerozoic eon, representing the most recent 113% of earths history
Greenhouse times…
No permanent ice on the planet + more green house gasses in an atmosphere + higher sea level
Icehouse times…
Permanent ice on the planet, lower green hopuse gasses + lower sea level
Quaternary period
The last 2.6 million years of geological time. Relatively cold time in Earths history, distinguished by cycles of ice sheet expansion and retreat.
The time which humans have evolved and spread accross the planet
Glacials
colder times with more ice (lasts around 90,000 years
Interglacials
warmer times lasting around 10,000 years
INterglacials and Glacials range temp
Ranges from 5 to 6 degrees
Holocene
the most recent interglacial, the epoch we are living in now
Pleistocene
panning the world’s most recent period of repeated glaciations
Proxy data refers to:
sources of evidence through the study of natural features that can be related to climate, rather than direct recording using instruments
Examples of proxy data
Tree wing widths,
Layers of glacial ice,
Fossil algae preserved in ocean sediments
How has the earths climate been changing over the past two million years
Not stable
Quite regular- cyclic
The cycles are becoming bigger and more pronounced,
5-6 degrees average global temp between both spikes
How to notice changes from ice core samples
when temp is low there is more dust and lower CO2 in the air
What are the causes for changes in the ocean sediments and ice cores?
over long timescales, there is cyclic variation in the way the earth orbits round the sun.
This gradually changes the amount of insolation received in the mid to high northern hemisphere latitudes, which in turn affects whether the glaciers and ice sheets expand or retreat.
these orbital changes are called Milankovitch cycles
