Changing Climate

Question 1

How is the UKs climate changing

Answer 1

More rainfall over longer periods of time (due to the warmth causing more evaporation)

Harder and more intense rainfall, larger volumes falling

Temperatures increasing

Question 2

How might climate change impact the UK?

Answer 2

People’s homes - floods, droughts, businesses, more water supply

Health - drowning, heatwave

Transport

Agriculture - droughts cause crop failures, higher temperature means more crops can grow

Plants and animals might die from the heat

Water shortage

Question 3

Define Climate

Answer 3

Average weather conditions over the past 30 years

Question 4

How do we know that climate had changed in the past?

Answer 4

Fossils
Glaciation
The levels of carbon dioxide in ice cores long ago

Question 5

Explain the 3 causes of climate change

Answer 5

Volcanic eruptions - Releases sulphur dioxide that creates a layer over the stratosphere. This blocks out/absorbs the sun’s radiation so the earth cools.

Sunspots - Greater solar activity. Increases global temperatures. Happen every 11 years.

Orbital Theory - The earth wobbles on its axis (precession) towards and away from the sun warming and cooling it down.

Question 6

Explain the impacts of the little ice age

Answer 6

Seas froze over
Crop failure/ famine
Areas of land abandoned 
The price of grain increased 
Glaciers advanced, overrunning towns

Question 7

What happened to the mega-fauna?

Answer 7

After the ice age, temperatures rose again and this caused certain plants and animals to migrate or become extinct. They either died on the way to finding food or couldn’t adapt to the change. Humans also hunted them to extinction.

Question 8

Describe the UK’s current climate?

Answer 8

Temperate maritime - mild and wet

Cold winters (not freezing)
Warm summers (not hot)
Precipitation all year round, reduced in the summer months

Question 9

What causes the UK’s climate to be way it is?

Answer 9

Prevailing winds bring warm moist air from the Atlantic
Seas surrounding make the summers cooler
Gulf stream brings warm air

Far from the equator

Question 10

The greenhouse effect: Why are a certain amount of greenhouses gases good for the environment?

Answer 10

Retain heat from the sun, warming us up

Without a certain level of greenhouse gases the earth would be too cold to support life

Question 11

What’s different about the enhanced greenhouse effect?

Answer 11

This is where the greenhouse gases have become too high a level that it’s causing our earth to heat up.

Question 12

What are the main reasons for the increase in greenhouse gas emissions?

Answer 12

Industrial revolution
Energy
Transport
Cattle ranches

Question 13

How does deforestation effect greenhouse gas levels?

Answer 13

Burning forest to clear land releases CO2

Less photosynthesis, so less CO2 absorbed

Question 14

Why can’t we be certain about what future climate will be like?

Answer 14

Depends on:

• economic growth rate
• population growth rate
• renewable energy growth rate
• recycling

Question 15

Why have sea levels risen?

Answer 15

As temperatures rise, thermal expansion causes the water to expand. Melting ice caps and glaciers.

Question 16

List the environmental impacts of global warming in MEDC and LEDC (UK & Egypt)

Answer 16

MEDC: animals migrate, changes to fish species as temperatures rise, increased storms cause more erosion.

LEDC: Stronger cyclones, erode swamps, more prone to drought, river Nile flooding.

Question 17

List the economic impacts of global warming in MEDC and LEDC (UK & Egypt)

Answer 17

MEDC: Cost of protecting low lying land, cost for the NHS treating drought/flood issues, skiing industry fading, repairing damage, farmers might have to change crops.

LEDC: Himalayas melting cause more floods, land lost to rising sea levels people lose their homes/crops, water shortage and famine.