The Atmosphere (4.6,4.7,4.10)
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Changes in precipitation can be caused by climate change; what can this effect? 3x
More extreme weather Animals migrate to get water Causes wetlands to grow/shrink
Changes in feeding cycles and seasonality can be caused by climate change; what can this effect? 3x
Changes in food availability Change in migration patterns Oak trees have deep roots so can get nutrients all the time
Changes in ecological event timing can be caused by climate change; what can this effect? 2x
• Flowering, nesting and migration changes, survival of interdependent species is reduced • Pollinating insects aren’t present during flowering
Changes in species distribution can be caused by climate change; what can this effect? 3x
Animals colonise new areas slower than they disappear from old ones Increased competition in new areas Suitable areas may not be available
Changes in temperature can be caused by climate change; what can this effect? 2x
Increased wildfires Hibernation patterns are disrupted (hedgehogs)
What is ecological decoupling?
When an organism becomes out of sink with its environment
What is climate refuge?
when the population of a species declines in one area but it may replenish if it can travel to another area.
What is a biological corridor?
A natural / man made strip that connects fragmented habitats allowing wildlife to safely travel between them
What is a temporal scale?
A time scale
What is a spatial scale?
An area scale
Why is it difficult to protect climate change? 3x
• Complex issue containing many interconnected systems • Global climate change isn’t constant; there are natural fluctuations from earths orbit, variability and solar output • There is often a delay between cause and effect
Give 3 reasons why historical data isn’t very reliable?
• Some things like thermometers wearnt very sophisticates • Most records taken wearnt taken on a global scale • Many records from towns could show that warming is increased due to the heating island effect instead of global warming
What is proxy data?
Involves making an estimate about one factor such as temperature that annoy be directly measured in the past
How do climate models differ from weather models?
Weather models predict conditions of days/weeks while climate models consider conditions from many years
What is a limit to climate models?
The atmosphere is still so massive that the cells are still quite big, they struggle to capture cloud cover (which is important in estimating climate change)
How do atmospheric cells and stacks work in predicting climate change?
Scientists divide the atmosphere into many cells and stacks which measure how much; energy, air and water vapour move through each cell at each time
How have ice cores improved our understanding of climate change?
Providing direct evidence of past atmospheric temperature of composition through CO2 concentration, oxygen isotope analysis (16 and 18), layers of volcanic ash
Has has satellite imagery improved our understanding of climate change?
Sensors carried by satellites can retrieve data on; wind velocity, ocean currents, temperature, ice cover and vegetation cover
What are the 2 types satellites and where do they measure?
Low earth orbit satellites (LEO) - data of the whole surface Gestational orbit satellites - in a fixed position collecting data from around the equator
How do we measure surface and deep ocean currents?
Satellites or buoys and floats = surface ocean currents Argo floats sink to a particular depth = deeper ocean currents/.
Why was the Paris agreement not legally binding?
They didn’t do fines because they waned other countries to communicate and reduce CO2 emmisions as much as possible
What was the purpose of the emissions trading cap?
Every country receives a cap, an upper limit on their CO2 emmisions. After you reach your cap, you can buy carbon credits from other countries.
What was the clean development mechanism (CDM)?
Allows signatories to help any other country anywhere (even non signatory countries) to reduce emmisions and claim the reductions as their own
Give an advantage and disadvantage to the clean development mechanism?
Advantage - helps reduce CO2 emissions globally Disadvantage - doesn’t give an incentive to countries to find renewable energy options as they can just buy carbon credits from other countries.