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Geography > Section 5 - Weather, Climate and Ecosystem > Flashcards

Section 5 - Weather, Climate and Ecosystem Flashcards

1
Q

What is weather?

A

the atmospheric conditions at a particular place and time ; includes temperature, precipitation, wind and sunshine

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2
Q

What is climate?

A

the average weather over a long period (at least 30) of time

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3
Q

What is climate change?

A

a large-scale, long-term shift in the Earth’s weather patterns, especially in average temperature

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4
Q

What is the old evidence for climate change?

A
  • fossil of plants and animals found in places where they could not live today
  • ice cores from the Antarctic show that the amount of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere have changed over the past 420,000 years.
  • glaciation in places now free of ice
  • studies of tree rings, show that growing seasons have varied in length in the past.
  • historical records such as diary extracts, crop yields for local registers and paintings, such as of ice fairs on the River Thames during the Little Ice Age.
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5
Q

What is the new evidence for climate change?

A
  • increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere
  • shifting seasons leading to changes in the migration patterns of birds and insects.
  • glaciers and ice sheets melting and retreating
  • measurements by the Met Office show that average global temperatures have increased by 0.6 degrees in the past 100 years
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6
Q

What is glaciation ?

A

the process by which the land is covered by glaciers

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7
Q

What are the causes of climate change?

A
  • changes in the Earth’s orbit
  • changes in the tilt of the Earth
  • changes in the output of solar radiation
  • volcanic activity
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8
Q

What are carbon flow?

A

the movement of carbon between stores in the carbon cycle

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9
Q

What are carbon stores?

A

in the short term, carbon is kept or stored in the atmosphere, oceans and biosphere ; in the long term, carbon is stored in fossil fuels

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10
Q

What is the carbon cycle?

A

the process by which carbon moves from the atmosphere to the Earth and oceans, through various plants and animals. and then back into the atmosphere again

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11
Q

List how the carbon cycle occurs and what happens

A
  • in the atmosphere Carbon is stored at CO2.
  • plants use CO2 and sunlight to make food by photosynthesis.The carbon flows from the atmosphere and is stored in the plant.
  • plants and animals give out CO2 during respiration. the carbon flows back to the atmosphere.
  • when plants and animals die, carbon is recycled, decomposers return it to the atmosphere as CO2 or they may be buried and over millions of years turn into long-term stores as fossil fuels
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12
Q

What is the greenhouse effect?

A

the natural process that results in the warming of the Earth’s atmosphere

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13
Q

List what happens in the greenhouse effect

A
  • solar energy enters the atmosphere
  • as this short-wave energy passes through the atmosphere it may hit dust particles or water droplets and be reflected or scattered.
  • only a little short-wave radiation is absorbed in the atmosphere.
  • solar energy heats the Earth’s surface, which then radiates long-wave thermal energy into the atmosphere
  • long-wave energy is quite easily absorbed by naturally occurring greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
  • some long-wave energy escapes into space
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14
Q

How can human activity affect the carbon cycle?

A
  • burning fossil fuels which release CO2
  • deforestation, trees absorb CO2 during photosynthesis
  • dumping waste in landfill, when waste decomposes it produces methane
  • farming causes the release of methane e.g in the digestive process in cattle.
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15
Q

What is global warming?

A

the pattern of increasing global temperatures

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16
Q

How do volcanoes cause climate change?

A

large eruptions eject Sulphur Dioxide and dust into the lower stratosphere. The mixture of ash and Sulphur Dioxide forms an aerosol. This then reduces the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth’s surface, causing global cooling effect

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17
Q

What’s the stratosphere?

A

the second major layer of the Earth’s atmosphere

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18
Q

What an aerosol?

A

tiny droplets that scatter sunlight back into space

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19
Q

What is the global circulation of the atmosphere?

A

is a worldwide system of winds which transports heat from tropical to polar latitudes

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20
Q

What is latitude?

A

a measure of position north or south of the equator

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21
Q

Explain Global Circulation of Earth and what happens?

A
  • at the equator insolation heats the earth which in turn heats the air above
  • hot air rises, creating low pressure. The air then travels north and south.
  • this air becomes colder and heavier, and it then falls creating high pressure
  • air from the north and south then returns to the equator and means in the area called intertropical convergence zone.
  • a large circulation of air is created.
  • air rises again at north and south and descends again .
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22
Q

What is insolation ?

A

solar radiation that reaches the Earth’s surface

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23
Q

What is low pressure?

A

rising air leads to low pressure at the Earth’s surface

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24
Q

What is high pressure?

A

descending air leads to high pressure at the Earth’s surface

25
Q

What is the Intertropical Convergence Zone ?

A

a zone of convergence at the equator where trade winds meet

26
Q

What is a tropical storm?

A

a severe low-pressure weather system which develops over tropical maritime areas

27
Q

What is a storm surge?

A

the pushing of water against a coastline to abnormally high levels.

28
Q

How do low-pressure systems lead to weather hazards?

A

cause tropical storms e.g hurricanes, typhoons or cyclones, they cause heavy rainfall and the low pressure generates large waves and storm surges which causes flooding.

29
Q

When and where do tropical storms form?

A

over tropical seas and when the sea temperature are over 27 degrees.

30
Q

What is a heatwave?

A

an extended period of hot weather relative to the expected conditions at that time of year

31
Q

What is drought?

A

a lack of precipitation in a area for a long period time

32
Q

What pressure are heatwaves and drought associated with?

A

High pressure

33
Q

What is drought the result of ?

A
  • lack of rainfall
  • an environment, soil or bedrock which is poor at storing and retaining water
  • hot weather which increases evaporation of water
34
Q

What factors affect climate in the UK?

A

the UK has a temperate maritime climate which is influenced by the sea and latitude.

  • the prevailing wind direction in the UK is from the south-west. This brings the moisture and rainfall
  • Ocean current : North Atlantic Drift brings warmer water to UK and keeps the climate mild in winter and cool in summer
35
Q

What is a temperate maritime climate?

A

characterised by the absence of extreme climatic conditions, with mild winter temperatures and warm summers. Rainfall is frequent but not extreme

36
Q

How does maritime and continental climates affect the UK?

A

wind directions bring different air masses to the UK.

  • north-westerly brings polar maritime air : cool and showery
  • south-westerly brings tropical maritime air : mild and wet
  • south-easterly brings tropical continental air : hot and dry
  • easterly brings polar continental air : hot in the summer cold in the winter
  • northerly brings Arctic air : cold with snow in winter
37
Q

What is the North Atlantic Drift?

A

an ocean current which stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to north-western Europe (also known as the Gulf Stream)

38
Q

What are air masses?

A

large volumes of air with the same temperature and humidity throughout

39
Q

What do low pressure (depression) systems bring (weather) ?

A

cloudy, rainy and windy weather

40
Q

Within the low pressure there are usually fronts where one air mass rises above another …

A

as air rises and cool, water vapour condenses to form clouds and precipitation

41
Q

What do high pressure systems (anticyclones) bring (weather)?

A

low wind speeds and stable conditions with no clouds

In the summer - hot and dry. Rapidly rising warm air may result in convectional rainfall and thunderstorms
In the winter - clear skies bring cold nights and fog and ice

42
Q

What is convectional rainfall?

A

where the land warms up and heats the air above it, causing the air to expand and rise. As the air rises it cools and condenses and clouds are formed, leading to rainfall

43
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

the links between plants, animals and the non-living things around them

44
Q

What is a biome?

A

a large-scale ecosystem

45
Q

What is the water cycle?

A

is the journey water takes as it moves from land to the sky and back again. It follows the cycle of evaporation, condensation and precipitation. On this journey it is absorbed by plants and consumed by animals

46
Q

What is the nutrient cycle?

A

the movement of nutrients in the ecosystem.

47
Q

What are the 6 steps of the nutrient cycle?

A
  • weathered rock releases nutrients into soil
  • water is added to the soil by rainfall
  • plants absorb the nutrients through their roots and leaves
  • herbivores gain nutrients by eating plants
  • plants and animals die and are decomposed by bacteria and fungi
  • nutrients return to the soil
48
Q

How could nutrients be lost?

A

leaching

and by being washed away in surface runoff

49
Q

What is leaching ?

A

the process of washing out from soils of soluble nutrients

50
Q

What is biodiversity?

A

is a measure of the variety of plants and animals that live in an ecosystem.

51
Q

Give an example of small ecosystem

A

sand dunes

52
Q

Give a list of the different names along the sand dunes course

A 
1 - embryo dunes
2 - fore dunes
3 - yellow dune
4 - grey dune
5 - dune slack
53
Q

What’s an embryo dune?

A

the youngest dune at the front of the dunes nearest to the sea

54
Q

What’s a fore dune?

A

older and slightly higher dunes just shorewards of embryo dunes

55
Q

What’s a grey dune?

A

found further inland where conditions for plant growth improve

56
Q

How can human activity affect the sand dunes negatively?

A
  • used for leisure. Marram grass is trampled and is killed. Bare sand is then exposed to the wind and without the roots of the marram grass securing it, sand is blown away which leaves blow outs. So the rich habitat is destroyed and biodiversity is reduced
  • intensive farming uses fertilisers, plant and animal biodiversity is reduced through soil compaction and nutrient enrichment.
  • sand dunes are also in demand from landowners who want to develop the land for tourists developments.Direct removal of the sand from the dunes and beach reduces the sand available to create and expand existing dunes
  • introduction of rabbits
57
Q

How can human activity affect the sand dunes positvely?

A
  • farmers use sand dunes for grazing animals. Cow dung enriches the soil and affects natural processes and nutrient cycles.
  • management methods like fencing stops people walking over the dunes
58
Q

What is desertification ?

A

the spread of a desert, or desert conditions, from an established desert area into the surrounding area

Geography (6 decks)

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