Geography Paper 1 Section A: Climate Change

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  • Created by: Davina1st
  • Created on: 24-03-19 20:35
What is climate change?
A long term changer in the weather patterns- temperature and or precipitation
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Describe the quaternary period. Is it warm/cold?
This period is often called an ice age because there are still permanent ice sheets in Antarctica.
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What does the quaternary period consist of?
2 epochs, pleistocene (2.6 million years ago to 12 000 years ago), holocene epoch (12 000 years ago to present day)
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Describe the pleistocene epoch
2.6 million years ago to 12 000 years ago. This epoch had cold glacial ePisces that lasted 100,000 years. Also has warm interglacial episodes that lasted 10 000 years.
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Describe the holocene epoch
12 000 years ago to present day. This is a warm interglacial episode and started at the end of the last glacial episode in the pleistocene epoch
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How do we know that climate has changed in the long term? (Ice cores)
Ice cores have air bubbles from the past. Up to 900 000 years of data in the cores. Shows how much co2 there was in the past, more co2=higher temperature. Shows what type of O2 isotopes there were in that time, 018=warmer as it is harder to evaporate
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How do we know that climate has changed in the medium term? (Proxy records)
Paintings-Thames frost fair 1677- must have been colder then as no frost fairs anymore. Paintings/photos of Grinnel Glacuier, warmer as the glacier is retreating. Width of tree rings, wide tree rings= warmer climate and good growing conditions.
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What is a proxy record?
They didn't set out to record climate, they just happen to help.
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How do we know that climate has changed in the short term/ recently?
Weather stations use scientific instruments to record temp and precipitation for the last 100 years. Neat surface air temp, increased byou 0.85. Oceans have warmed to depths of 3000m kill organisms. Sea level risen 19 cm. Arctic sea ice 8.5% decrease
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Name the three causes of natural climate change
Volcanic activity, solar output and orbital changes
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Describe how volcanic activity causes climate change
Mt Pinatubo erupted 1991, Philippines. 40 km high ash cloud carried for 3 weeks. CO2 and SO2 came out. Volcanic aerosol made, SO2 mixed with watervapour. Aerosol reduce heat enedgy coming into atmosphere. Global temp decreased by 0.5°c
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Describe how solar output causes climate change
Sunspots=dark patches on sun's surface. During 11 teat sunspot cycle, amount of Sunspots goes form min to max repeat. Solar flare=large explosion on surface of sun. When sunspot activity is low so is temperature. Example=little ice age 1645-1715
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Name the three cycles identified by Milankovitch
Axial tilt, precession, orbital eccentricity.
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What is a human cause of climate change?
ENHANCED greenhouse gas effect
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What is the difference between the enhanced greenhouse effect and the greenhouse effect?
Greenhouse: good, CO2 emissions absorbed by trees. Most infant red radiation sent back to space. Enhanced= bad, CO2 emissions constantly increasing, less and less heat escapes to space. More heat is trapped, gets hotter and hotter.
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Name 3 greenhouse gases
Carbon dI oxide, sulfur dioxide, methane, nitricks oxide
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How does agriculture lead to more greenhouse gases?
Cattle produces methane during digestion, cow farts, microbes produce it as the decay organic matter.
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How does deforestation lead to more greenhouse gases?
Trees absorb CO2 to photosynthesise, less trees=less CO2 being absorbed and more CO2 in the atmosphere. Slash and burn, produces CO2.
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How does burning fossil fuels lead to more greenhouse gases?
People might burn fossil fuels, e.g. oil, gas and coal, for industry and power stations. Burning fossil fu else produces CO2. CO2 accounts for estimated 60% of the enhanced greenhouse effect. Global concentration has increased by 30% since 1850
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One positive effect of global climate change - social (Europe and the UK)
Temp increase so milder winters so less winter related deaths.
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One negative effect of global climate change- social(Europe and the uk)
Temp increases so risk of diseases like skin cancer and sun stroke.
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One positive effect of global climate change- environmental (Asia and the Arctic)
Polar bears and seals will disappear with the loss of habitats as the ice melts.
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What does mitigation mean?
Mitigation strategies try to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
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How does alternative energy sources reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere?
87% of human produced CO2 is from burning fossil fuels, alternative energy sources include hydro electricity and solar/wind power. UK is aiming to produce 15% of it energy from renenable sources by 2020.
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What is an advantage of alternative energy sources?
It works, it reduce the amount of human produced co2
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What is a disadvantage of alternative energy sources?
It costs money to build renewable sources.
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How does carbon capture reduse the amount of greenhouse gas emissions?
Uses technology to capture CO2 produced by fossil fuels in electricity genegation and industrial processes. CO2 is captured compressed and injected underground, stored in geological resovoiurs. Up to 90% of co2 can be captured.
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What is an advantage of carbon capture?
Up to 90% of co2 emissions in the atmosphere are captured. Save UK more than 30 billion pounds a year.
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What is a disadvantage of carbon capture?
Costs money to build reservoirs, time consuming and unclear whether the co2 would stay underground forever.
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What does adaption mean?
These strategies try to make the population less vulnerable to the effect of climate change.
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How have people adapted to the rising sea level due to climate change?
The Maldives: sea level risen by 20cm sin 1900. Floods land, beaches ruined, freshwater contaminated. Adaption: built 3m sea walls around Male. Sandbags. Houses on stilts. Artificial islands are 3cm higher. Means houses are safer. Less deaths tourism
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What is an advantage of planting trees to reduce climate change?
The trees act as a sink, suckimg in the CO2 and giving out oxygen reduces the enhanced greenhouse effects and rates of climate change.
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What is a disadvantage of planting trees to reduce climate change?
This process takes a long time to start and isn't as effective as other processes.
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How have people adapted to water supply shortages a as result of climate change?
Himilayas - unreliable rainfall and shortgaes of water, artifical glaciers freeze in the winter and melt in the summer, there is a plentiful water supply in spring and more water for everyone. less deaths.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Describe the quaternary period. Is it warm/cold?

Back

This period is often called an ice age because there are still permanent ice sheets in Antarctica.

Card 3

Front

What does the quaternary period consist of?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Describe the pleistocene epoch

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Describe the holocene epoch

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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