Climate change Part 2 Flashcards
(261 cards)
what are heat waves
small changes in mean/variance of temp lead to large chgs in extremes
are single heat waves caused by global warming
no, not directly
caused by sationary high pressure in tropsphere
- downward motion of air, causing clear skies + lack of precipitation
how will climate change affect heat waves
frequency and intensity
what are some impacts associated with extreme heat
heat stress - human health
droughts - crop damage and water supply issues
air quality - poor air quality with heat waves bc temp inversion + lgithw inds trap pollutants
what part of the world is the most vulnerable to human health affects from climate change
under developed world
- malnutrition, deaths, disease, injury from heat waves, floods, storms, fires, droughts
- infections
with rising temps and increasing precicpiation, what disease is expected to increase as well
malaria
what regions is malaria usually restricted to?
tropical and subtropics
what is the Zika virus1
bite of ifected aedes mosquito
passed from pregnant women to fetus
no vaccina / treatment
about 8 million deaths globally per year are attributed to outdoor and indoor…
air pollution
what is lyme disease
spreading in eastern canada because of warming climate
tick bite
Arctic sea ice loss will impact..
inuit way of life
ecosystem stress
warming positive feedback
increased transportation + development
does melting sea ice increase sea level
nope, doesn’t affect it
multi-year ice is thicker and more stable. It’s found only close to Canadian Arctic Islands and Greenland. What does the loss of this ice mean?
icnreases chances of irreversible tipping point
ice free summers
what measures the freeboard height of the sea ice above mean sea level, estimating sea ice thickness?
Cryo-Sat2
What is the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) ?
2 satellites fly in formation
precise measurements of earth’s gravity
measures gravity anomalies
as sea ice removed, greenland’s gravity is reduced
what is the main trend with sea level rise and mass loss of greenland ice sheet?
sea level rising
about 0.77 mm per year
why is the greenland ice albedo becoming darker/lowering?
black carbon deposits
- comes from soot aerosols being transported from the south, deposited on ice sheet
- increases amount of solar E absorbed by ice sheet surface
accelerates melting
when is the black carbon aerosols (from soot, dust) being deposited on the greenland ice sheet
in the summer
why is the west antarctic ice sheet unstable
grounded below sea level, so warmer ocean water can intrude below ice sheet
increases melt
why is the east antarctic ice sheet more stable than the west
east - solidly locked on continent, above sea level mostly
west - below sea level, water can come up and erode it
what is permafrost
permanently frozen ground
what is stored in permafrost
methane
if permafrost melts.. what could cause the huge positive feedback?
methane release
what layer of permafrost is methane released from?
the extra active layer thickness
thicker active layer