The greenhouse effect Flashcards
What is the greenhouse effect?
A natural process that warms the earth’s surface using the atmosphere’s greenhouse gases
What is the enhanced greenhouse effect?
A disruption to the natural process caused by humans increasing the power of the greenhouse effect.
How do greenhouse gases trap heat within the Earth’s atmosphere?
They do this by re-reflecting heat back down to Earth as they absorb it.
State 3 negative impacts of climate change
A shortage in food production
Sea levels rising
Glacial retreat
How is foot production an impact of climate changes?
Higher temperatures lead to droughts / floods; plants are unable to adapt and crop yields begin to fail- malnutrition becomes common
How is rising sea levels an impact of climate change?
Both Thermal expansion (swelling of the waters/ warmer water takes a large volume than what cooler water does) and melting ice caps contributed to rising sea levels.
How is glacial retreat an impact to climate change?
Land-based ice is retreating faster and thinning out as a response to increasing global temperature.
What are the four greenhouse gases
Carbon dioxide, methane, Nitrous oxides, CFC’s
What produces methane and state its properties
Livestock animals like cows produce methane. It is 24x more potent a greenhouse has than carbon dioxide. These levels have risen due to increased demand for meat.
What produces carbon dioxide and state its growth over the years and how countries have attempted to reduce it.
Burning of fossil fuels and trees produced more carbon dioxide. Emissions of it have been increasing due to population growth. As countries become more developed eco-friendly industries are being set up as well as limitations on fossil fuel cars.
What produces CFC’s and state its effectivity, relation to CO2 and how countries plan to reduce it,
These are found in fridges, air conditioners, aerosols etc.
They are extremely effective greenhouse gases which trap more heat despite the fewer concentrations in the atmosphere compared to CO2 . Many countries plan to ban CFC’s in aerosols.
What produces nitrous oxides and and what are the sources man has influenced which represent about 45% of output to the atmosphere?
Burning fossil fuels. The sources are mainly: fossil fuel combustion in power stations, use of nitrogenous fertilisers; burning rain forests and human / animal waste.
