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Environmental Science > Global Climate Change > Flashcards

Global Climate Change Flashcards

Module 2: The Physical Environment

1
Q

List 5 major anthropogenic sources of greenhouse gases:

A

Carbon Dioxide
Methane
Oxides of Nitrogen
CFC’s
Tropospheric Ozone

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2
Q

The Natural Greenhouse effect

A

the atmospheric processes than warm the troposphere, with visible light passing through the atmosphere easily and is absorbed by the Earth’s surface which warms up.

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3
Q

What human activities increase atmospheric concentration of the following:
Carbon Dioxide:
Methane:
Oxides of Nitrogen:
CFC’s:
Tropospheric Ozone:

A
  1. Carbon Dioxide:
    Combustion of fossil fuels, ploughing of soils, draining of marshes and bogs.
  2. Methane:
    Anaerobic respiration by microbes in padi fields, landfill sites, and the intestines of livestock. Methane is also produced during the formation of fossil fuels and released by the ventilation of coalmines, leaks from natural gas fields, and pipelines.

Oxides of Nitrogen:
Oxygen and nitrogen from the air react at high temperatures in locations such as vehicle engines and power stations. They are then released into the atmosphere in exhaust gases. Fertiliser use can increase N0x emissions, including nitrous oxide.

CFC’s:
CFCs were used as aerosol propellants, fire extinguishers, refrigerants, solvents, and in expanded foam plastics.

Tropospheric Ozone:
Produced by photochemical breakdown of N02 and subsequent reactions with oxygen.

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4
Q

What are the relative effects (per molecule)
1. Carbon Dioxide
2. Methane
3. Oxides of Nitrogen
4. CFCs
5. Tropospheric Ozone

A
  1. Carbon Dioxide - 1
  2. Methane - 25
  3. Oxides of Nitrogen - 160 (nitrous oxide)
  4. CFCs - 25,000 (typical value)
  5. Tropospheric Ozone - 2,000
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5
Q

How have atmospheric concentrations of C02 changed

A

From 320ppm in 1960 to 410ppm in 2020.

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6
Q

What are the residence times of these GHG sources
1. Carbon Dioxide
2. Methane
3. Oxides of Nitrogen
4. CFCs
5. Tropospheric Ozone

A
  1. Carbon Dioxide: 5-200 years
  2. Methane: 12 years
  3. Oxides of Nitrogen: 115 years
  4. CFCs: 50 < several hundred years
  5. Tropospheric Ozone: 2-8 weeks
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7
Q

Ocean currents are complex systems, largely driven by the atmosphere. List examples of processes…

A
  1. Winds cause surface water to move
  2. Evaporation caused by warming causes water to flow in to replace the water that has evaporated.
  3. Heating or cooling changes the density of water which affects the ease which surface water sinks.
  4. Changes in salinity caused by evaporation, or inflow of freshwater from melted land ice, affect water density.
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8
Q

Explain the ‘Gulf Stream’

A

The North Atlantic Conveyor involves the movement of layers of surface and deep water in the North Atlantic Ocean which distribute heat energy and control the climate.
Warm water from the tropical Atlantic Ocean travels north-eastwards towards North West Europe.

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9
Q

What drives the Gulf Stream

A
  1. Friction with prevailing winds blowing over the ocean surface from the south west to north east causes surface water to flow in the same direction.
  2. Water in the North East Atlantic sinks as it cools and becomes denser, drawing water in to replace it.
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10
Q

What changes to the North Atlantic Conveyor have been caused by global climate change.

A

Flow rate of water could decrease & cause NW Europe to become colder.

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11
Q

What causes the reduction of flow rate in North Atlantic Conveyor?

A

Ice melts making seawater salt concentration go down. This less saline water is less dense than normal seawater so is less likely to sink.

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12
Q

How do rising temperatures cause an increase in sea levels?

A

Thermal Expansion of Water
Melting land ice

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13
Q

Define El Nino and La Nina

A

Change of Weather Patterns with prevailing winds to influence whole weather across the interconnected system.

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14
Q

What changes in the cryosphere happen from climate change?

A
  1. Reductions in snow & ice cover
  2. Changes in extent and speed of movement of land ice
  3. Loss of ice shelves
  4. Changes in ice thickness
  5. Lakes from ice-melts
  6. Ice and snow-fed rivers
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15
Q

What are the 7 different categories of ice formations?

A
  1. Ice Sheet
  2. Ice Cap
  3. Ice Field
  4. Glacier
  5. Ice Shelf
  6. Iceberg
  7. Sea ice
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16
Q

What are the two existing ice sheets, and what defines an ice sheet?

A

Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets, and it is ice covering an area over 50,000 km^2.

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17
Q

Define an ice cap

A

Ice covering an area less than 50,000km^2. The ice is thick enough to have its own topography.

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18
Q

Define an ice field

A

Ice covering an area less than 50,000km^2. The topography of the ice follows the underlying ground.

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19
Q

Define a glacier

A

A large body of dense ice moving over the land under its own weight.

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20
Q

Define an ice shelf

A

A floating mass of ice attached to ice on land. Ice shelves are formed when glacial ice flows of the land onto the sea.

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21
Q

Define an Iceberg

A

A large piece of ice floating in the sea that broke off a glacier or ice shelf.

22
Q

Define sea ice

A

Relatively thin ice that forms on the sea as water freezes. It forms from sea water, but the ice crystalises as fresh water.

23
Q

What changes have happened in wind patterns?

A

Jet streams in the Northern Hemisphere are moving nearer to the pole, are moving more slowly and are following a more meandering path.

24
Q

What are Jet streams

A

winds that blow west to east along a meandering path in the upper troposphere. They are caused by the different in temperature and density between two air masses (e.g. warm air in mid latitudes, and cold air in polar regions).

25
Q

What changes have occurred in rainfall

A

Increased temperatures cause more evaporation, which eventually causes more precipitation, in the same area or elsewhere.
With higher temperatures, the air may have to move further towards a cold area before the water vapour cools enough to condense and fall as rain or snow.

26
Q

How to wind patterns and rainfall changes interconnect with each other

A

Changes in wind direction and velocity may also affect precipitation by carrying the humid air to new areas causing increased rainfall in one area but reduced in another.

27
Q

Interconnected Systems definition

A

The natural processes that control the atmosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere or the interconnections that exist between them.

28
Q

Natural fluctuations

A

Climatic factors fluctuate because they are influenced by variability in solar output.

29
Q

What 5 different factors make climate change monitoring & prediction hard to predict?

A
  1. Time Scale
  2. Spatial Scales
  3. Interconnected Systems
  4. Natural Fluctuations
  5. Time delay between cause and impact.
30
Q

Explain a negative feedback mechanism

A

Takes place when an environmental change causes other changes which decrease the rate of the initial change or the level of its impact (to re-establish the original equilibrium).

31
Q

Name examples of negative feedback mechanisms

A

Increased Low Level Cloud
Increased Photosynthesis

32
Q

Explain a positive feedback mechanism

A

When an environmental change causes other changes which increase the rate of the initial change or the level of its impact and to increase the original change

33
Q

what natural systems do positive feedback mechanisms commonly increase?

A
  1. Temperature increases
  2. Increased conc. of gases
34
Q

Define a tipping point

A

human actions that cause climate change may cause natural processes than themselves reach the extent where human actions are no longer required for climate change.

35
Q

List 7 impacts of positive feedback mechamisms

A
  1. Melting Permafrost
  2. Ocean acidification
  3. Reduced Albedo
  4. Melting Methane Hydrate
  5. Increased Forest and Peat fires
  6. Increasing cirrus clouds
  7. More rapid decomposition of DOM in soil
36
Q

What are 4 uncertainties in the ecological impacts of climate change:

A
  1. changes in species survival caused by changes in abiotic factors
  2. changes in species survival caused by changes in biotic factors
  3. changes in species distribution
  4. population fragmentation.
37
Q

How may species rely be affected by temperature

A
  1. Directly by the temperature, by changes of other species they rely on, or by changes to natural processes that affect them.
  2. Temp rises may cause plants to grow faster, providing more food for herbivores. This may mean toxins however build up in the plants.
38
Q

How may species rely be affected by water availability

A
  1. Precipitation changes will either cause wetlands to decrease or increase in size.
  2. Also Oak Trees have deep roots unlike beech trees, meaning these oak areas will be more likely to survive droughts.
  3. Dormouse hibernation will be distributed by warmer winters, causing them to use up stored fat. They then may starve by the spring…
39
Q

How may species distribution be affected by ecological changes

A
  1. Events such as Flowing, migration, and nesting will change. E.g. if pollinating insects emerge earlier or later than normal and are not present when flowers are produced.
  2. Distribution of species may change as conditions change and they colonise areas that have now become more suitable.
40
Q

Why may species not be able to adapt to changing habitats

A
  1. Cannot colonise a new area
  2. May not be suitable new areas.
  3. Human land use may block movement
  4. Species with interdependent communities cannot all move together at the same speed.
41
Q

Population Fragmentation

A

where large breeding populations are broken up into two or more smaller new breeding populations.

42
Q

What natural processes may become unstoppable if temperatures rise too much?

A
  1. Faster Soil decomposition
  2. Release of C02 by increased forest and peat fires
  3. Snow on land melting, caused by increased temperatures reduces the Earth’s albedo so more sunlight is absorbed, which raises temperatures further.
43
Q

What methods may be used to control Carbon Dioxide

A
  1. Reducing fossil fuel use, via energy conservation.
  2. Use of energy resources with low carbon emissions.
  3. Carbon sequestration, for example, by planting more trees or storage of carbon dioxide from power stations in underground geological structures.
44
Q

What methods may be used to control Methane?

A
  1. Reduction in landfill waste, for example through increased recycling, reducing packing, and reducing food waste.
45
Q

What methods may be used to control Oxides of Nitrogen

A
  1. Reduced use of international combustion engines, e.g. more use of public transport.
  2. Catalytic converters in vehicle exhausts so that harmful gases are removed and converted into nitrogen and oxygen. Carbon Dioxide and hydrocarbons may be broken down and converted into carbon dioxide and water.
  3. Addition of urea to power station effluents or diesel engine exhausts to reduce N0x concentration and convert exhaust gases into nitrogen and steam.
46
Q

What methods may be used to control CFCs

A
  1. Use of alternate materials in manufacture and appliance operation, for example:
    - Butane and propane in aerosol cans
    - HFCs and HCFCs in refrigerators
    - Alcohol as solvents for cleaning electronic equipment.
  2. Use of alternative operational processes:
    - Trigger and pump action sprays cleaners instead of aerosol cans
    - stick & roll on deodorants instead of aerosols.
47
Q

What methods may be used to control Tropospheric Ozone

A

Controls and processes which reduce N0x emissions also reduce the formation of ozone in the troposphere.

48
Q

List 2 ways of storing more carbon:

A
  1. Carbon Sequestration - planting more trees would sequester carbon in wood through photosynthesis.
  2. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) - a developmental technology that may remove carbon dioxide produced by industrial processes such as fossils fuel power stations.
49
Q

What are the main stages of CCS:

A
  1. Capturing c02, or removal of carbon from the fuel.
  2. Transport by road tanker, ship, or pipeline.
  3. C02 storage in depleted oilfields, gas-fields, aquifers, or its use in secondary oil recovery.
50
Q

What is geoengineering

A

Largely untried technologies that might control natural processes to reduce the anthropogenic greenhouse effect, examples include:
1. Painting roofs which increase their albedo and reflect more sunlight
2. Adding nutrients to the sea to stimulate plankton growth. The shells of the dead animals would take carbon to the seabed.
3. Putting solar shades in orbit to reduce sunlight reaching the Earth.

Note: some of these strategies could have unpredictable consequences that could cause environmental damage.

51
Q

List some adaptive methods to climate change:

A
  1. Flood controls: e.g. higher river banks or coastal defences.
  2. Coastal Erosion Control: managed shorelines e.g. managed retreat.
  3. Urban Drainage Control: sudden or increased rainfall can be dealt with by…
    - Permeable Urban Surfaces (using gravel & soil instead of concrete & tarmac)
    - River flow management (retaining water in tributaries or slowly flow of water.

Environmental Science (11 decks)

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