Weather hazards and Climate change Flashcards
Homework
What’s the difference between weather and climate?
Weather is on a daily, short-term scale. Climate is measured over a long period of time and it records the average temperature and weather of the area.
Name the three cells
Ferrel, Hadley and Polar cells
What do the cells do?
They circulate warm air around the troposphere
What happens in the troposphere?
It’s the part of the atmosphere where the most weather takes place
What are the main ocean currents?
The Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Drift
Name some theories of how the earth’s climate has changed over the years.
Eruption theory, impact theory, greenhouse gas emission, Milankovich cycles, solar variation.
How does axial tilt affect the earth’s climate?
When the earth tilts in a different direction different parts of the earth become colder for longer, or shorter amounts of time.
How do sunspots affect the earth’s climate?
They are colder parts of the sun, they cause the earth to become colder.
How can volcanic activity cause global cooling?
The gases emitted from the volcano’s eruption can block some of the sun’s rays. This stops as much heat entering the earth’s atmosphere.
What are some of the ways to record previous climate?
Reading tree rings, the thicker the ring of the tree, the more sun it got that year, recording sun spots. Ice cores, You can see which year produced more ice, this shows which year had more rainfall/melting of ice.
Historical records, if the year was recorded as hotter, chances are it was hotter.
Explain the greenhouse effect
The sun emits rays. These rays bounce out of the earth’s atmosphere, but some are trapped inside the atmosphere, like the same affect as a greenhouse.
Explain the enhanced greenhouse effect
Smoke emitted from burning of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, these gases can trap more heat in the atmosphere. Therefore, speeding up the greenhouse effect.
Name some sources of greenhouse gas emission
Cars, fossil fuel burning, logging prevents conversion of co2 to oxygen. Farming cattle produces methane.
Name some negative effects of climate change
It can prevent certain crops growing in some areas. It can make some areas uninhabitable, such as low lying islands. It can make some species go extinct due to to harsh conditions.
How will food production be affected by climate change?
If it gets hotter, different produce could be made in different areas, for example you could produce grapes in England like has been done in the Medieval era. However in hotter countries land could become completely infertile, leading to widespread famine.
