The Carbon Cycle EQ3 Flashcards
What are the benefits of grasslands?
-Maintain natural habitats
-Terrestrial carbon store
-Carbon sink (lung effect)
What are the disadvantages of converting grasslands?
-Reduces lung effect
-Removal releases CO2 from soils
-Natural habitat reduced
What are the benefits of afforestation?
-Carbon sequestering
-Provides habitat
-Reduces flood risk due to interception
What are the negatives of afforestation?
-Modifies biomes so may introduce non native species
-Reduced revenue due to loss of agricultural space
What is radical technology?
Exciting, new methods of providing energy which may be currently underdeveloped but could be explored in the future on a large scale
What is carbon capture and storage (CCS)?
-Capturing CO2 from the source
-Gas is compressed and liquified
-Transported into permanent storage
What are the problems of CCS?
-Expensive
-May not be many sustainable sites
-Ocean acidification if CO2 is released into deep ocean
What are the benefits of CCS?
-Cut global emissions by 19%
-Create thousands of skilled jobs in the UK
What are hydrogen fuel cells?
Combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, heat and water
What are the benefits and problems of hydrogen fuel cells?
Benefits:
-Will never lose charge if hydrogen is always supplied
Problems:
-Requires large amounts of energy to get the hydrogen
What are the benefits and problems of electric vehicles?
Benefits:
-Reduce air pollution levels
-Zero carbon emissions
-Reduce noise pollution
Problems:
-Expensive to buy
-Safety concerns over no noise
-Not enough places to charge
What are the impacts of rising temperatures on the water cycle?
-Warm water flowing into arctic
-Shrinkage of sea ice
-Rising local air temperatures
What are the impacts of rising temperatures on the carbon cycle?
-Methane emissions from thawing permafrost
-CO2 emissions from forest fires due to dried out forests
What are the natural factors of climate change?
-Sun spots
-Milakovitch cycles
-Volcanic eruptions
-El nino years
What are the human factors of climate change?
-Burning fossil fuels
-Deforestation
-Industrialisation
-Population growth
What is a tipping point?
An abrupt, possibly irreversible large scale change over a few decades or less
What are the examples of tipping points?
-Increased number of pests and fires in boreal forests
-Complex forests can become drought and fire adapted
-Thinner ice may increase albido
What is positive feedback?
Changes taking place which amplify the original process
What is negative feedback?
Changes taking place to reduce or dampen the original process
Why is climate change so uncertain?
-Physical factors and sinks (oceans and terrestrial)
-Human factors
-Peatland
-Permafrost
Why is permafrost uncertain?
-Uncertainty over how much the temperature of permafrost has risen
-When permafrost melts it releases trapped carbon into the atmosphere
Why are human factors uncertain?
-Future population growth uncertain
-International agreements/governments may take long time to implement
