Unit 4 - Climate Change Flashcards
What is the difference between weather and climate?
Weather refers to short-term changes in the atmosphere, climate describes what the weather is like over a long period of time in a specific area.
What are the different types of biomes? What type of biome is Canada?
A biome is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate.
The five main biomes are: Tundra, Forest, Desert, Grassland, and Aquatic.
Canada is a temperate deciduous forest biome.
What does anthropogenic mean? What are some anthropogenic greenhouse gases?
Man-made/created
- carbon dioxide
- nitrous oxide
- methane
What is a positive feedback loop?
A positive feedback may accelerate a temperature rise, whereas negative feedback slows it down.
a lot of CO2 in air –> we cut down trees –> more CO2 (continues growing)
What is a negative feedback loop?
Negative climate feedback is any process where climate feedback decreases the severity of some initial change. Some initial change causes a secondary change that reduces the effect of the initial change. This
feedback keeps the climate system stable.
CO2 in air –> we use more bikes and less cars –> less CO2 (reduces amount)
What are the layers of the atmosphere?
- Troposphere
- Stratosphere (ozone layer)
- Mesosphere
- Thermosphere
- Exosphere
What are the 4 spheres?
- hydrosphere (water)
- lithosphere (land)
- biosphere (living things)
- atmosphere (air)
What are the effects of heat on Earth with white snow? What about dark soil?
White snow melting means less light is reflected and sea levels increase. Dark soil means more absorption which causes the earth to heat up.
What is the Albedo Effect?
The ability of light (sun rays) to be reflected back into space (away from earth).
Higher AE = more light reflected (light colours)
Lower AE = less light reflected (dark colours)
What are some ways to reduce climate change?
- Reduce your emissions through transportation. Use a bike or walk instead of a car.
- Conserve energy/electricity at home. Turn of lights, unplug unused devices, use cold water for laundry.
- Reduce waste. Food, clothes, toys etc. Reuse or donate unwanted things.
- Eat less meat and dairy.
What are some contributors to climate change?
Urban development - creates a loss of nature/vegetation and natural habitat for animals. Urban centres produce lots of emissions which cause climate change.
Melting ice caps - expose more dark soil which means more light is absorbed and more heat is absorbed. It also increases sea levels.
Deforestation - stored carbon in the trees can be released as CO2 back into the atmosphere. It also reduces the amount of trees to absorb the CO2 in the atmosphere.
What are some effects of climate change on human health?
(smog, asthma, skin cancer … ) or animal life (fish, bears …
What are proxy records?
- Ice cores (CO2 concentration) provide direct information about how greenhouse gas concentrations have changed in the past, and they also provide direct evidence that the climate can change abruptly under some
circumstances.
—> Measures past climate
—> CO2 in the extracted air is analyzed using gas chromatography
—> More CO2 = higher temperature - Tree rings ( precipitation) tell us how old a tree is, but also how much precipitation.
Thicker rings – more precipitation
Thinner rings – less precipitation
What is a heat sink?
Anything that absorbs thermal energy without becoming much warmer is called a heat sink. - water (has high heat capacity) like the oceans can absorb a lot of energy from the sun without evaporation.
