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Climate Emergency > Urgency > Flashcards

Urgency Flashcards

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1
Q

The Cryosphere

A
  • Where ‘permanent’ snow and ice is possible
  • Majority near poles
  • 2 great continental scale glaciers:
    Greenland, Antarctica
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2
Q

Ice sheets

A

Covers a landmass

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3
Q

Ice shelves

A

Fixed to land but over a sea
Antarctica has many

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4
Q

Increasing instability of shelves

A

Iceberg size of London breaks off Antarctica
7.5 tonnes since 1997

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5
Q

East Antarctica climate change

A

Only major land area without clear evidence of warming over past ~50 years
(intensifying winds, more storms and snow)

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6
Q

West Antarctica climate change

A

Significant warming, and major ‘break up events’ of several ice shelves

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7
Q

Antarctica

A
  • 90% of world ice and millions of years accumulated ice melting very quickly
  • Rapid biological changes
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8
Q

Sea Ice

A
  • Expands in the winter
  • Contracts in the summer
  • Melting of sea ice don’t not contribute to global water levels
  • Sea level rises from sheets and ice fall into the sea
  • Warm water expands more then cold water
  • Freezing later in year
  • Polar bear and Walrus affected by lack of sea ice
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9
Q

Permafrost

A
  • Permanently frozen layer of mostly soil, gravel and sand, bound together by ice
  • Contains more carbon than atmosphere
  • With thawing, communities of microbes emerge and decompose long-frozen organic matter
  • CO2 + Methane
  • Canada Permafrost retreat 130km in 50 years
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10
Q

2 great continental-scale glaciers

A
  • ## Antarctica + Greenland
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11
Q

If all melts

A
  • Antarctica 58 m sea level rise (centuries away)
  • Greenland 7 m sea level rise
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12
Q

Last time earth 4C warmer

A

no ice at either pole and sea level >70 m higher

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13
Q

Glacier loss on Kilimanjaro

A

1912-2008: 85% decline in ice cover + acceleration 1990→

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14
Q

Perito Moreno Glacier (advancing across Argentino Lake)

A
  • Rare exception: glacier increased in mass
  • Uncertainty why winter accumulation of ice and snow greater than summer melt
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15
Q

annual ‘pulse’

A
  • Acts as the engine of deep ocean currents
  • Dense cold salty water from sea ice formation
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16
Q

Ocean Currents

A
  • Most volume in deep slow current
  • Surface movement is different
  • Transfers heat around Earth
  • Ex. Gulf Stream
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17
Q

Eastern Africa: Kilimanjaro glacier

A
  • 1912-2008: 85% decline in ice cover
    + acceleration 1990→
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18
Q

South America:
Bolivia + Argentina

A
  • Bolivia 2nd largest lake dries up
  • Perito Moreno Glacier (Argentino Lake)
  • glacier increased in mass
  • Uncertainty why winter accumulation of ice and snow greater than summer melt
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19
Q

North America:
Alaska + Montana

A
  • Alaska seeing very fast glacier melting
  • Montana (Glacier N.P.)
  • 1850 = 150 glaciers
  • 26 remain
20
Q

Asia: Nepal

A
  • Everest has seen fast decline in its glaciers
21
Q

Europe: Alps

A
  • Alps glaciers will be 2/3 melted by 2100
  • Skiing on decline
22
Q

Jeremy Jones

A
  • Snowboarder
  • President of “Protect Our Winters”
  • Climate education
23
Q

Deforestation Double Whammy

A
  • One time burst of CO2
  • Reduced C sequestration
24
Q

Tropical rainforests

A

~6% of land; ~50% of plant & animal species
- ¼ of carbon absorbed by world’s forests
- 1-2% decrease yearly

25
Q

Amazonia

A
  • regional average rainfall ~2 m/yr
  • ½ is from the Atlantic ocean via trade winds
  • ½ is ‘recycled’ from forest
  • Western Amazonia: up to ¾
26
Q

Amazonia tipping point

A
  • less evaporation
  • drier (more fires)
  • point of no return 1-2 decades
  • warming above global average
27
Q

temperate deforestation

A
  • increase in wildfire and severity
  • total wildfires in US burned twice as much land/year in 2010s as in 1970s
  • positive feedback: more wildfires  more CO2 emissions from major carbon sink to atmosphere
  • more warming
28
Q

Australia

A
  • tropical and temperate forests
  • hot and dry conditions limiting ability to use hazard reduction burns
29
Q

Peatlands

A
  • northern peatlands contain ~15-20% of all terrestrial biological carbon
  • most northern peatlands are small sinks for atmospheric CO2 and small to significant sources of atmospheric methane
  • hotter and drier conditions threaten sink function
30
Q

Coral Reefs

A
  • Warming slower than land
  • Rainforests of ocean
  • 14% decrease in decade
  • 3/4 reefs at severe risk
  • 1/4 ocean species use reefs at some point
31
Q

algae (zooxanthellae)

A
  • Photosynthesis gives color
  • Foundation of food web
32
Q

Coral Polyps

A

Tiny animals that can live in huge colonies

33
Q

coral ‘bleaching’

A
  • thermal stress or pollution (algae, whitening)
  • effectively starves food web + heightened disease risk
  • survivable: initially at risk, not necessarily dead
  • destabilizes whole food web
34
Q

Acidification

A
  • additional CO2 absorbed is changing the chemistry of the ocean (increasing carbonic acid)
  • pH = ~30% lower than pre-Industrial level
  • threatens plankton
  • reduces calcium carbonate
35
Q

calcium carbonite

A

key physiological ‘building block’ for skeletal and shell construction for a range of marine organisms
- (e.g. coral, oysters, clams)

36
Q

Some uncertainties on acidification

A
  • Precisely when rising level of carbonic acid corrodes shells and there will be too few carbonite ions for shell and skeletal growth
  • when does rate of ocean warming drive major decline in dissolved CO2 intake?
37
Q

Some warming + sea level rise will continue even if all emissions massively reduced tomorrow Key Reasons

A
  • momentum from positive feedbacks
  • ‘thermal lag’
  • ‘sluggish’ but ‘battery effect’
  • CO2 emitted into atmosphere 100 year residence time
38
Q

Battery Effect

A

capable of absorbing and releasing a much larger quantity of heat than land

39
Q

What is a safe level of warming

A
  • 1.5 C political target 2015
  • If the world does nothing, heading to average projections of 2-4 (more around 3)
  • ## Way to hot to deem safe
40
Q

Too make the 1.5 max average warming

A
  • Radically and rapidly change emissions
  • Only attainable for huge cuts
  • 350 ppm in atmosphere of CO2
  • Today is 420
  • Current course for 500 by 2050
41
Q

Last time ppm CO2 was 500

A
  • Surface temps of 5 warmer
  • Sea level of 40 M higher
42
Q

Cambrian Explosion Extinction

A

5 mass extinction events or spasms in the fossil record

43
Q

Background rate extinction

A

very slow pace of species evolving and dying off

44
Q

Spasm extinction

A

large % of species die off over relatively short period

45
Q

6th Extinction spasm

A

“Virtually all students of the extinction process agree that biological diversity is in
the midst of its 6th great crisis, this time precipitated entirely by man [sic].”

Climate Emergency (4 decks)

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