Water and carbon weaker cards Flashcards
State the three main flows in a drainage basin
River flow
Percolation
Vapour Transport
Define the falling limb
The period where discharge is decreasing and the level of the river is falling
State the climatic factors influencing a storm hydrograph
Precipitation type, amount, duration and intensity, temperature, evaporation, transpiration and antecedent conditions
What do basins with lots of streams and rivers do to the lag time?
basins with lots of streams and rivers have a short lag time and fairly steep falling limb because water drains out of them quickly
define overland flow
the flow of water over the ground surface
define throughflow
horizontal movement of water downslope through soil
Name the second condition after condensation nuclei required for precipitation to form
Cooling of the air below the dew point. The temperature at which condensation occurs is called the dew point and is dependant on the humidity of the air.
State the four physical factors which cause excess runoff
Prolonged rainfall (Feb 2020 UK)
Intense storms (Boscastle)
snowmelt (Red River of Fargo)
monsoon rain
How is a drought linked to meteorological causes of a water deficit?
a drought is linked extended periods of high pressure over a region
State the two meteorological causes of a water deficit
seasonal variations (1976 UK drought) and long term climate change (megadrought)
Describe decomposition as a carbon movement in the fast carbon cycle
plants and animals die and decompose. This process of decomposition carried out by organisms known as detritivores such as earthworms aid decomposition as they feed on dead organic matter. Decomposition releases co2 and methane back into the atmosphere.
What percentage do wildfires contribute to greenhouse gas emissions?
20%
Lincolnshire 2020
Australia 2019
Define a biome
a biome is an ecological community whose global distribution corresponds with climatic regions of the earth
Describe the distribution and climate of tropical rainforests?
Equatorial regions such as the Amazon and Malaysia
Wet and warm
Describe the distribution of temperate grasslands and their climate?
high altitude regions 30 - 60 degrees north and south of the equator. Predominantly to the north of the tropic of cancer. Chine, Argentina, Middle-East
Climate varies
State the size of the carbon stored in a tropical rainforest?
2kg carbon annually per metre squared.
Trees store twice as much as they release - 200% efficiency
Up to 5000 tonnes of carbon per hectare per year
How much carbon does a primary forest store per hectare?
300
How much carbon is stored in a temperate grassland compared to a tropical rainforest?
compared to tropical rainforests where NPP averages around 2kg per metre squared per year, temperature grasslands store around 600 grams per metre squared per year
State the three influences on a carbon store in either tropical rainforest or temperate grassland
temperature
precipitation
light
Describe the distribution of peat formation
Peat is mostly found in the northern hemisphere including parts of north America and northern Europe. countries include Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Russia.
What are the three main types of peatlands in the UK?
Fen Peatlands - where groundwater meets the surface
Blanket peatlands - occur on flat hill tops where rainfall is high
Raised Bogs - occurs in valley bottoms where soils saturated
(Whixhall Moss)
State the two ways the carbon store in peat is reduced
peat extraction and drainage
What are the causes of recent increases in the atmospheric carbon store. What did IPCC say?
According to the Inter-governmental panel on climate change (IPCC) in so23, ‘human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming, with global surface temperatures reaching 1.1 degrees above 1850-1900 in 2011-2020.
Give a specific cause for the increase in atmospheric carbon
linked to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases, namely carbon dioxide and methane. Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas. It is 25x more potent than CO2.
Define the energy budget
The balance between incoming radiation from the sun and outgoing radiated heat plus reflected radiation from the sun.
State the impacts of recent increases in the atmospheric carbon store on the water cycle and oceans
Collectively, we have had 8/10 of the warmest year since 2002 and 7/10 wettest years since 1998
Flooding (River Fargo)
Extreme rain (Boscastle)
Drought (1976 UK)
Forest fires (Lincolnshire 2020)
What’s a feedback system?
A feedback system is a series of responses that change the ‘steady-state equilibrium’ of a system.
Positive feedback - increases or amplifies the initial change
Negative feedback - stops or reverse the initial change
Name the four types of feedback loops
Methane feedback
Cryosphere feedback
Marine carbon feedback
Terrestrial ecosystem feedback
Describe the methane feedback loop (5 steps)
High levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere cause global temperatures to increase
Increasing temperatures cause permafrost to thaw
Thawing exposes previously frozen organic matter to decay
As organic matter decays it releases CO2 into the atmosphere
Atmospheric CO2 and methane levels increase
State the cryosphere feedback loop (4 steps)
Increase in atmospheric temps
Melting of sea ice and glaciers
Reduced albedo of earths surface
Increased insolation absorption
State a marine feedback loop (7 steps)
Warmer ocean water absorbs less atmospheric carbon by diffusion
There is less carbonate ions for shell production and for producers to survive on
Impacts entire food chain
Kills marine life
Decomposition
Releases CO2 and CH4
Greenhouse effect
Global warming
Define ocean acidification
As oceans absorb CO2 by diffusion, surface water becomes more acidic. Carbonic acid is created when water diffuses with carbon.
Terrestrial feedback loop
Deforestation of tropical rainforests (Borneo)
Deforested trees release CO2 - IPCC statement
Increaseses greenhouse conc
Does the carbon or water cycle affect the plant most?
Carbon cycle seen as most effects of the water cycle is a result of the carbon cycle.
