Climate change
- Created by: holleeviney
- Created on: 04-12-14 17:29
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- Climate change
- Causes
- Atmospheric Forcing
- Enhancement of the greenhouse effect due to human induced pollution
- Solar Output
- Amount of energy emitted by the sun varies due to sun spots
- Global dimming
- Pollutants reflect solar energy back into space, having a net cooling effect
- Volcanic activity
- Major eruptions eject material into the atmosphere - high winds distribute it
- Climate forcing
- Milutin Milankovitch (1924)
- The earths surface temperature changes over time due to orbit and tilt of axis
- Milutin Milankovitch (1924)
- Atmospheric Forcing
- Case Study
- Arctic
- Vegetation shifts - destabilize existing food webs
- Thawing of Permafrost (40%) - large amounts of methane released and will effect species dramatically
- Increasing fires and insects
- Ultra violet impacts - effects freshwater systems, so will destroy phytoplankton
- Carbon cycle change
- Many marine species will decline in numbers - polar bears, walrus. Geese will have to migrate to different areas
- Loss of hunting culture
- Decline in northern freshwater fisheries
- More accessible and vulnerable to exploitation for oil, gas and fish
- Arctic
- Evidence
- Medium term
- Tree rings
- Wider rings reflect good growing conditions, narrower rings show stress
- Historical records
- Indicate past events, showing past periods of climate change
- Retreating glaciers
- They grow and shrink in response to the climate - shows retreat since 1850
- Tree rings
- Long term
- CO2 Levels
- Levels average between 180ppm and 280ppm but 2007 - 383ppm
- Oxygen isotope levels
- sampled from ice and ocean sediment cores - show sea level rise of 130m
- Pollen
- Extracted from sediment cores, compared with records from the past - show ecosystems have changed
- CO2 Levels
- Recent
- Instrumental record
- They showed that near-surface air temperature rose by 0.74 degrees between 1900 and 2000
- Also show sea level rise - between 1961 and 2003 rise of 1.8mm per year
- Ice response
- Key indicator to show earth temperature rise
- Instrumental record
- Medium term
- The future
- Problems
- Water shortages - 50% rise in demand
- Food insecurity - stressed crops due to higher temperatures and rainfall
- Solutions
- Sustainable development
- Green strategies - planting trees, renewable energy
- Energy efficiency - redesigning houses, green transport
- Sustainable development
- Problems
- Strategies
- The Kyoto Protocol
- Redcuction taregst : USA - 6%, EU - 8%, Iceland - 10%
- Aim - "Stabilize of greenhouse concentration and prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference"
- 1992 Earth - summit Rio - UNFCC
- Allow carbon sinks - planting forests - helps countries to offset emissions
- Signed by 190 Countries
- Adaption
- Developing drought resistance crops
- Changing our lifestyles to cope with a new enviroment
- Enlarging conservation areas to allow for shifting habitat zones
- Managed retreat of coastlines
- Mitigation
- Reducing output of greenhouse gases / increasing sinks
- Capturing carbon emissions and stroing them
- Switching to renewable energy
- Setting targets to reduce CO2
- The Kyoto Protocol
- Causes
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