Climate change

Question 1

IPCC

Answer 1

intergovernmental panel on climate change

Question 2

evidence of climate change

Answer 2

extreme weather events (floods/droughts) but they are local so cant be used as evidence, mountain trees (at some altitudes some trees cant grow as too cold, growing further up mountains meaning getting warmer), glaciers (retreating as warmer)

Question 3

how to obtain previous climate data

Answer 3

ice cores/fossils/tree rings/paintings

Question 4

greenhouse effect

Answer 4

natural, always been around (volcanoes)

Question 5

what happens

Answer 5

solar radiation comes in from sun some is reflected by earth but some is kept in by absorption of greenhouse gases and warms planet

Question 6

humans and greenhouse effect

Answer 6

humans have released lots of GHG (co2/methane) which has increased warming of the planet, far more than naturally

Question 7

Factors influencing climate change

Answer 7

sunspots, Milankovitch cycle, cryosphere feedback, volcanoes, mountain building/continental drift, humans

Question 8

sunspots

Answer 8

parts of sun is cooler (sunspots), around this is a really sunspot, more sunspots means more hot hotspots which increases amount of radiation from sun, sunspots can vary each year, also sun maybe be hotter some years or have more solar storms but not main influence as climate doesn’t follow 11 year solar cycle and records of sunspots aren’t reliable as we haven’t got technology to see them

Question 9

Milankovitch cycles

Answer 9

earth’s orbit around sun, 3 things change (tilt/whether orbit is circular or elliptical/position of earth, one year might be closer to sun in winter than next), but total radiation through year remains constant so maybe it doesn’t affect

Question 10

cryosphere feedback

Answer 10

if most radiation lands on ice it’ll reflect due to albedo so temperature will be cool, creates imbalance as more snow in northern hemisphere

Question 11

volcanoes

Answer 11

eject co2 into atmosphere, more volcanoes at equator so equator holds more radiation as more gases released to hold radiation as well as receives more radiation anyway so warmer

Question 12

mountain building/continental drift

Answer 12

land pushed up and ice forms so more land to hold snow to cool, more land at equator which means it warms up

Question 13

humans

Answer 13

deforestation (trees cool climate as provide shade, evaporates water which forms clouds/rain), urbanisation (urban areas warmer due to less trees/tarmac which absorbs sun), fossil fuels

Question 14

emissions

Answer 14

increase, projected to get between 1.5C-2C warming, increased frequency/intensity of weather

Question 15

what will happen

Answer 15

land warm more than sea, Mediterranean will get drier, wet areas get wetter, most warming in cold areas as ice melts meaning temperature difference between equator decreased so storms decrease but jet stream will make storms more intense as it might be breaking down