Weather Hazards And Climate Change Flashcards
What are the 3 types of weather cells
Hadley, polar and Ferrell cells
What is the UK’s weather driven by
The North Atlantic drift current
What causes the trade winds
Differences in pressure
What does low pressure mean
Cloudy and rising air which means rain.
What does high pressure mean
Clear sky’s falling air which means no rain and warm climate.
How can heat be redistributed around the world?
Trade winds and jet streams
What does the criollos effect do to jet streams
To curve like waves
Which way do storms spin in the northern hemisphere
Anti clockwise
Which way do storm spin in the Southern Hemisphere
Clockwise
What geological time frame are we in now
Inter glacial Holocene
What is a natural cause of climate change
The milankovitch cycles
Another natural cause of climate change
Meteor strikes- dust blocks the sunlight so photosynthesis can’t occur
Why is the earth warming up
Solar radiation getting trapped in by green house gases acting as a blanket
Why does the UK’s climate vary so much?
Because of maritime influences and altitude
Where do hurricanes form
Over warm waters along the equator
How do hurricanes move
They follow the prevailing winds
Why are hurricanes only a risk to coastal areas
They bring storm surges and they will lose they power when they go over land so won’t last long
Name a cases study on a hurricane
Hurricane sandy and typhoon haiyan
What human activities cause drought
Dams blocking flow of water, agriculture and deforestation
What are some meteorological characteristics
Level of dryness of an area, ocean currents, jet streams
What are some hydrological characteristics
Low precipitation, dry soil from no rain, low amount of dry water.
What are some consequences on global warming
Food production starts to decrease because of the temperatures rising which can effect the yield of crops
What is increasing the rate of global warming
Demand for: goods, food, energy and transport is getting higher. Which means more burning of fossil fuels.
How can we measure climate change.
Measuring ice cores, sea level and glacial features
What keeps the UK seas warmer.
The Gulf Stream
How do we categorise hurricanes
On the Saffir Simpson scale
How did Ethiopia respond to there drought situation?
They got help from charities which showed that they didn’t know what to do as a country. But where giving education to people on what to do
How did the Californian government respond to their drought situation?
They put limits on water, made strict rules and made people aware of the situation
What type of pressure is found in the eye of the storm
Very low pressure
What type of pressure is found on the outside of the storm
High pressure which is rushing to the centre
What does the coriolis effect mean
The area around the equator is spinning faster than places further north or south. So storms in the northern hemisphere spin to the right and oppositely in the south.
What number was typhoon hayian on the saffir simpson scale
5
How fast were the winds in typhoon haiyan
314km/h
How many people died in typhoon haiyan
600
How many people were made homeless in typhoon hayian
10,000
How much did it cost to rebuild the damage after typhoon haiyan
2 billion
How fast were the winds in hurricane sandy
129km/h
How many people died in hurricane sandy
150
How much did it cost to rebuild damage after hurricane sandy
65billion
What are the Milankovich cycles
Natural changes to the earths orbit and position that affect how much radiation we receive from the sun.
What is the Eccentricity cycle
The orbit of the earth changes shape every 100,000 years. This means the earths orbit around the sun is sometimes more circular making us warmer (interglacial) and sometimes the orbit becomes elliptical making the earth colder (glacial)
What is the axial tilt cycle
Approximately every 40,000 the angle of the earths tilt changes which means some areas of the earth are further away from the sun.
What is the precession cycle
The way the tilt is facing changes, this happens approximately every 24,000 years
How can we find evidence for climate change
We can look at tree rings and if the rings are thin that means that it has been colder and if the rings are thick it means it has been warmer
