Some Westher Fcs Flashcards
Enhanced greenhouse effect steps 6
- Human activities -> incr amt of agh gases in Atmos
- Incoming shortwave radiation passed thru GH gases in Atmos
- Some shortwave rad reflected by earth and Atmos
- Most shortwave rad adsorbed by earth surface -> heats up
- Warmed earth surface emits long wave rad to Atmos
- Incr conc of GH gases in Atmos -> absorb more heat
Impacts of climate change: sea level rise dexa
D
Global warming, ice caps melting -> adds volume to sea, levels rise. Higher temp -> sea water expand
Ex
Mean sea levels in Straits of Sg incr at rate of 1.2mm-1.7mm per year, 1975-2009
A
Low lying areas/ coastal areas threatened by floods -> destruction, loss of lives
Impacts of climate change; frequent extreme weather events
D
Incr Atmos temp incr chances of natural disasters like heatwaves and droughts. Incr heat -> incr chance of cyclones
Ex
Summer 2003, heatwave across Europe, above avg temp. Heat killed >70k ppl, 13 bil euros financial damage
A
Destruction, loss of lives in unprepared
Impacts of climate change: Lengthening of certain growing seasons
D
Incr temps -> more conducive for certain crops. Many weeds pests fungi thrive in warmer temps -> problems
Ex
Europe could have incr in yield of >5% corn, potatoes, rice, wheat in 2050
A
Pos: more food worldwide, incr farmer income
Neg: crop req colder temps decr eg some medicinal plants
Impacts of climate change: Spread of infectious insect borne diseases
D
Incr global temps, more places conducive for growth and repro of mosquitoes (thrive hot and humid)
Ex
Study estimated >2bil more ppl at risk of dengue in 2050 compared to 2015
A
Incr spread -> incr fall ill -> loss of lives
International response to climate change: Kyoto protocol
Ex
Agreement linked to UNFCCC (United Nations framework convention on climate change) -> int convention to decr lvl of Gh gases in Atmos. Many counties came tgt to sign KP, come up w measures and put into prac.
A
Many counties met or exceed targets eg Finland Greece Ireland. Countries req to monitor and report their emissions
L
Some countries unable to meet emission targets: Austria Spain Denmark
National response to climate change: plant-a-tree program
Ex
Started 1971 as tree planting day
by garden city fund
Residents encouraged to donate money to buy a tree/ take part in tree planting events that take place monthly
A
Contributed to est 60k trees yearly by national parks board. Remove Co2 from environment
L
Trees take many years to mature -> pos effects need time to appear. Even fast growing trees like rain trees planted by NParks took 25 years for full height
Variation in solar output 4
Varying amt of solar rad due to magnetic field changes
Sunspots:
1. Periods of intense solar activity ->
2. more sunspots ->
3. areas around sun sports rad more e to compensate for lower temps of sunspots ->
4. incr total solar output -> higher global temps
Volcanic eruptions, global warming
D
Eruption, large vol of CO2, wv, sulfuric dioxide, dust and ash into Atmos -> reflect solar energy back -> cooling
Ex
Mount Pinatubo Ph 1991 -> 17 mil tonnes of SO2 -> sulfur based particles, spread around earth in two weeks
A
Decr temps in northern hemi by up to 0.6 C (temp)
Temp global cooling until ash and dust settle
Deforestation ex
52000 km^2 of forest lost every year between 2000 and 2010
Changing land uses: agriculture exa
Cattle farming -> methane as waste gas
Millions of tonnes every year
Use of machinery, livestock (methane), decomp/fertilisers
Changing land uses: industries exa
Largest carbon emissions by China and India due to rapid industrialisation
Burning of FFs for e : high carbon content
GH gases as by-products of goods prod
Changing land uses: urbanisation dexa
Incr ppl in urban areas
East Timor
25-35% of urbanisation between 2005-2020
Burning FFs for e
Transport
Construction and mat prod
Diurnal temp
Difference between max and min temps in ONE DAY
Dew point temp
When humidity 100% at max WV (saturated)