Paper 1 - Climate Change

Question 1

What is climate change?

Answer 1

It’s any significant change in the earths climate over a long period.

Question 2

What is meant by the quaternary period?

Answer 2

It’s the most recent geological time period spanning from about 2.6 million years ago to the present day.

Question 3

What are the different source of evidence for climate change?

Answer 3

1. Ice and sediment cores
2. Tree rings
3. Pollen analysis
4. Temperature records

Question 4

How are ice and sediment cores evidence for climate change?

Answer 4

1. Ice sheets are made up of layers of ice - one layer is formed each year.
2. Scientists drill into ice sheets to get long cores of ice.
3. By analysing the gases trapped in the layers of ice, they can tell what the temperature was each year.
4. One ice core form Antarctica shows the temperature changes over the last 400,000 years.
5. The remains of organisms found in cores taken from oceans sediment can also be analysed.

Question 5

How are tree rings evidence for climate change?

Answer 5

1. As a tree grows it forms a new ring each year - the tree rings are thicker in warm, wet conditions.
2. Scientists take cores and count the rings to find the age of a tree. The thickness of each ring shows what the climate was like.
3. Tree rings are a reliable source of evidence of climate change for the past 10,000 years.

Question 6

How is pollen analysis evidence for climate change?

Answer 6

1. Pollen from plants gets preserved in sediment - e.g - at the bottom of lakes.
2. Scientists can identify and date the preserved pollen to show which species were living at that time.
3. Scientists know the conditions that plants live in now, so preserved pollen from similar plants shows that climate conditions were similar.

Question 7

How are temperature records evidence for climate change?

Answer 7

1. Since the 1850’s global temperatures have been measured accurately using thermometers. This gives a reliable but short-term record of temperature change.
2. Historical records (e.g - harvest dates, newspaper weather reports) can extend the record climate change a bit further back.

Question 8

What are the natural factors that are possible causes of climate change?

Answer 8

1. Orbital changes
2. Volcanic activity
3. Solar output

Question 9

What is meant by orbital changes?

Answer 9

1. The way the earth moves round the sun changes. Fro example, the path of the earths orbit around the sun changes from almost perfect circle to an ellipse (oval) and back again about every 96,000 years.
2. These changes affect the amount of solar radiation the earth receives. If the earth receives more energy, it get warmer.

Question 10

What is meant by volcanic activity?

Answer 10

1. Major volcanic eruptions eject large quantities of material into the atmosphere.
2. Some of these particles reflect the suns rays back out to space, so the earths surface cools.
3. Volcanoes also release CO2 but not enough to cause warming.
4. Volcanic activity may cause short-term changes in climate.

Question 11

What is meant by solar output?

Answer 11

1. The suns output of energy isn’t constant - it changes in short cycles of about 11 years, and possibly also in longer cycles of several hundred years.
2. Periods when solar output is reduced may cause the earths climate to become cooler in some areas.
3. Most scientists think that changes in solar output don’t have a major effect on global climate change.

Question 12

What are the human activities that are possible causes of climate change?

Answer 12

1. Burning fossil fuels
2. Farming
3. Cement production
4. Deforestation

Question 13

How is burning fossil fuel increasing climate change?

Answer 13

1. CO2, is released into the atmosphere when fossil fuels like coal, oil, natural gas and petrol are burnt, e.g - in cars.

Question 14

How is farming increasing climate change?

Answer 14

1. Farming of livestock produces a lot of methane.

2. Rice paddies contribute to global warming, because flooded fields emit methane.

Question 15

How is cement production increasing climate change?

Answer 15

1. Cement is made from limestone, which contains carbon. When cement is produced lots of CO2 is released into the atmosphere.

Question 16

How is deforestation increasing climate change?

Answer 16

1. Plants remove CO2 from the atmosphere and convert it into organic matter using photosynthesis.
2. When trees and plants are chopped down, they stop taking in CO2.
3. CO2 is also released into the atmosphere when trees are burnt as fuel or to make way for agriculture.

Question 17

How does climate change effect the environment?

Answer 17

1. Warmer temperatures are causing glaciers to shrink and ice sheets like Greenland to melt. This causes sea levels to rise.
2. Sea ice is also shrinking, leading to the loss of polar habitats.
3. Rising sea levels means low lying coastal areas, like the Maldives, will be flooded more regularly.
4. Other species are declining due to warming. E.g - some coral reefs are suffering from bleaching.
5. precipitation patterns are changing.
6. Some species are one found in higher latitudes due to warning temperatures.
7. Some habitats are being destroyed or damaged.

Question 18

How does climate change effect people?

Answer 18

1. In some places deaths due to heat have increased - but deaths due to the cold have decreased.
2. Some areas could become so hot and dry they’re impossible to inhabit, low-lying coastal areas could be lost to the sea, this could lead to migration and overcrowding.
3. Some areas are struggling to supply enough water for their residents.
4. Climate change is affecting farmers - some and benefits from warmer conditions, where as others aren’t.
5. Lower crop yields could increase malnutrition, ill health and death.
6. Weather is getting more extreme - money has to be spent.

Question 19

What are the two strategies aimed to manage climate change?

Answer 19

1. Mitigation

2. Adaptation

Question 20

What do mitigation strategies do?

Answer 20

1. They aim to reduce the causes of climate change.

Question 21

What does adaptation mean?

Answer 21

Responding to changes caused by climate change.

Question 22

What are the mitigation strategies?

Answer 22

1. Planting trees - increase the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed form the atmosphere through photosynthesis.
2. Carbon capture - carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a new technology designed to reduce climate change by reducing emissions from fossil fuel burning power stations. CCS involves capturing CO2 and transporting it to places where it can be stored safely (deep underground).
3. Alternate energy production - replacing fossil fuels with nuclear power and renewable energy can hep reduce climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power stations. (UK - offshore wind farms, tidal + wave power project, nuclear power plants).
4. International agreements - from 1997 most countries in the world agreed to monitor and cut greenhouse gas emissions by signing an international agreement called the Kyoto protocol. Each country was seta target ( UK agreed to reduce emissions by 12.5% by 2012 but actually averaged at 22%.

Question 23

What are the adaptation strategies?

Answer 23

1. Changing agricultural systems - new crop types might be planted that’s re more suitable to a counters changing conditions. In some regions, biotechnology is being used to create new crop varieties, which are more resistant to extreme weather events.
2. Managing water supply - water meters can be installed in peoples homes to discourage them from using a lot of water. Rainwater can be collected and waste water can be recycled to make more water available.
3. Coping with rising sea levels - physical defences (flood barriers) are being built and better flood warning systems are being put in place. Ina areas that can’t afford expensive flood defences (Bangladesh)people are building their houses on top of earth embankments and building raised flood shelters to use in emergencies.