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Environmental Hazards > Exam 3 > Flashcards

Exam 3 Flashcards

1
Q

What are the consequences of climate change?

A
  • Extreme wx events: expected to become more frequent
  • Agricultural production and water supplies expected to be more limited
  • Spread of insect-borne diseases
  • Likely economic disruption, population migration, political upheaval, and conflicts over resources
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2
Q

Who was the first person to document glaciation in Europe?

A

Louis Agassig (Naturalist)
- 1837
- First to propose that evidence of much colder temperatures in the past-prehistoric Ice Ages
- Saw evidence of past glaciation

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3
Q

What was the last glaciated epoch in geological time ending about 12,000 years ago?

A

The Pleistocene

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4
Q

What impacts did glaciation have?

A
  • 28 climatic episodes
  • Temperatures varied as much as 18 F
  • Temps tended to reach two extremes: very cold—major glacial advance; warm with rise sea level
  • During Pleistocene Peak, large freshwater lakes (500 ft deep) throughout intermountain west
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5
Q

What were the tests that reveal past climates?

A

o Radio-Carbon Dating: measuring decay of radioactive elements
o Oxygen Isotope Analysis: sea water contains two oxygen isotopes and can be related to ocean temperature

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6
Q

What are the key causes of climate change?

A
  • Astronomical Variations (Milankovitch Theory: Eccentricity (change in Earth’s orbit); Obliquity (change in Earth’s tilt); Precession (wobble))
  • Changes in the Earth’s oceanic circulation (changes in temperature or circulation)
  • Changes in distribution land masses (Isthmus of Panama)
  • Asteroid or comets impacts (Yucatan in Gulf)
  • Changes in the earth’s atmosphere (Volcanic eruption; greenhouse impact –> most SIGNIFICANT is CO2)
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7
Q

What is the estimated amount of temperature change during the 21st century (2000-2100)?

A

+1.5 C

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8
Q

What is the IPCC?

A

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: “provides regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation” – Limiting warming to 1.5 C implied reaching net zero CO2 emissions globally around 2050

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9
Q

What are some ways to mitigate climate change? (Open ended)

A

Different energies, less fossil fuels, converting power plants, carbon sequestration, urban structures, public transport, changes in industrial manufacturing

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10
Q

What is a watershed/ drainage basin?

A

Area of land that drains or “sheds” water into a specific waterbody

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11
Q

What is discharge? What is the object that measures discharge?

A

Discharge: Water volume flowing per unit of time

Acoustic Doppler Current Profile: measures discharge

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12
Q

What is a hydrograph?

A

A graph showing the rate of slow (discharge) versus time past a specific point in a river or channel

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13
Q

What has the highest likelihood of rapid flooding: urban or rural?

A

Urban (lots of concrete, less places for water to be absorbed into the ground)

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14
Q

What are some consequences of building a dam over a river system?

A

o Landslides along reservoir upstream
o Erosion of river levees
o Resettlement of 1.4 million residents of 13 cities flooded by the dam
o Siltation of port facilities up-stream
o Still some downstream flooding

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15
Q

What is a graded stream?

A

When it maintains a dynamic equilibrium – inflow and outflow of sediment is in balance

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16
Q

What is runoff?

A

Movement of water over land

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17
Q

What are the different drainage patterns?

A
  • Dendrite (Looks like a tree)
  • Radial (Moves down a steep slope in all directions)
  • Rectangular (Flat, kinda in the same)
  • Trellis (Main river in valley, other streams merge from ridges)
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18
Q

What are braided streams?

A

Increase sediment load in a stream where it gets plugged up

19
Q

Name of an intermittent stream in very arid areas

A

Royal

20
Q

What is flood frequency, and what is it meant by a “100 year flood”?

A

Flood frequency is the average time between floods of a given sizes. A 100 year flood has a 1 percent chance of happening in any given year

21
Q

What are levees and what are their points of failure?

A

Barriers that raise the riverbank that are man-made, and are almost always built on top of a natural levee. Points of failure may exist if not properly designed.

22
Q

What are ways the levees fail?

A

Overtopping (breach). When flood water breaches levee, water is clear and below sediment-load capacity. This leads to erosion

23
Q

What are ways the levees fail?

A

Overtopping (breach). When flood water breaches levee, water is clear and below sediment-load capacity. This leads to erosion.

River sides may also lead to erosion under the levee.

Piping (points of weakness)

24
Q

How much has flooding costed in damage globally? In the US?

A

Globally: $40 billion

US: $8 billion

25
Q

What are some federal strategies for land use in floodplains?

A
  • FEMA began buying up floodplain land
  • Fema provided disaster relief funds only if residents moved out of the floodplain
  • FEMA prohibited new structures on floodplains, with some exceptions being made
26
Q

What is the National flood insurance program?

A
  • The national flood insurance program NFIP) is a program created by the Congress of the United States in 1968 through the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968
  • The US congress has the twofold purposes of the NFIP to share the risk of flood losses through flood insurance and to reduce flood damages by restricted floodplain development
27
Q

What is wave morphology?

A
  • Oscillatory pattern
  • Includes wave length, height, period
  • Breaker: Collapse of wave crest as wave approaches a shoreline
  • Wave refraction
    o Occurs as wave begin to drag on the bottom of an irregularly shaped coastline
    o Creates beach drift—transport of sediment in a zig-zag pattern
  • Longshore drift: the movement of material along a coast by waves which approach at an angle to the shore but recede directly away from it.
28
Q

What are a few human influences on beach erosion?

A
  • Artificial nourishment
  • Jetties
  • Plantings of grass on foredunes
  • Building protective walls
29
Q

What are some features of costal depostion?

A

o Beach
o Spit
o Bay mouth bar
o Tombolo

30
Q

What are the major types of coastlines?

A
  • Ria coast
  • Fiord coast
  • Barrier island coast
  • Delta coast
  • Volcanic coast
  • Coral reef coast
31
Q

What are some tidal impacts?

A
  • 2 high tides and 2 low tides per 24 hours
  • Ebb current: seaward
  • Flood current: landward
  • Spring tide: strongest tides. 2 times/month caused by alignment sun, moon with gravity
  • Neap tides: lowest tides. When sun and moon are at right angles. 2 times per month
32
Q

What are some tidal variations?

A
  • Depends on ocean size, coastline shape, orientation relative to sun and moon
  • Examples variation: Hawaii – 0.5m; Seattle 3m; Bay of fundy 14 m
33
Q

What is the Costal zone management act?

A
  • National coastal zone management program ( protect, restore, and responsibly develop our nation’s coastal communities and resources)
  • National estuarine research reserve
34
Q

What is the differences between tropical cyclones vs hurricanes vs typhoons?

A
  • Hurricanes in N Atlantic and Eastern Pacific
  • Typhoons in western pacific, Japan, and SE Asia
  • Cyclones in the Indian ocean
35
Q

What’s the scale used to measure intensity of hurricanes?

A

The Saffir-Simpson scale

36
Q

What are some techniques used to monitor hurricanes?

A
  • ## SatellitesBuoys
  • Aircraft (flying into the storm)
  • Radar
37
Q

What was the most significant hurricane in American history, damage-wise?

A

Katrina

38
Q

What was the longest lived hurricane?

A

Feddy

39
Q

How are hurricanes structured?

A
  • Begin to develop over warm seawater
    o Commonly between 5 and 10 degrees N and S latitude
    o Rising air and condensation can build into convective chimney or thunderstorms
    o Warm air is rising, expanding, and colliding, releasing latent heat
  • Eye of the storm is a low pressure zone
  • Winds rotate counterclockwise in NH and clockwise in SH
  • Highest wind speeds tend to occur along the edge of the eye
40
Q

What causes the most deaths in hurricanes?

A

Storm surge –> 90%

41
Q

What is the NHC’s mission?

A

Save lives, mitigate property loss, and improve economic efficiency by issuing the best watches, warnings, forecasts, and analyses of hazardous tropical weather and by increasing understanding of these hazards

42
Q

What are some mitigation tactics for hurricanes?

A
  • Stock up on prescription medications, food, and water
  • Fill vehicles gas
  • Turn fridge to coldest setting
  • Turn off other appliances
43
Q

What is the difference between watch and warning?

A

Watch: conditions are favorable for something

Warning: event is currently happening

Environmental Hazards (3 decks)

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