L3- Perma'nently Chilly

Question 1

Name three human adaptations to buildings.

Answer 1

• high pitched steep roofs to allow snow to slide off
• triple glazed buildings to keep heat indoors
• house on stilts to prevent heat melting the frozen ground (permafrost)

Question 2

Name three human adaptations to clothing.

Answer 2

• Caribou skin (double lining)
• Seal skin boots
• Goose down as lining, now Gore-tex

(Wearing layers, wool, fur etc. to keep warm)

Question 3

What are roads made out of to prevent them cracking with solifluction?

Answer 3

Gravel

Question 4

How will an extreme environment affect energy use?

Answer 4

• Geothermal power, and sometimes volcanic is likely to be use
• Energy use will be high in high latitudes/polar environments, particularly in long winters with less sunlight

Question 5

How can tundra biomes be identified?

Answer 5

Cold and treeless with very little precipitation. The landscape is quite bare with vegetation specially adapted to low temperatures.

Question 6

Name a tundra area.

Answer 6

• Northern parts of Canada
• Russia
• Alaska

Question 7

What can ‘summer’ be described as?

Answer 7

Many hours of continuous daylight.

Question 8

What can ‘winter’ be described as?

Answer 8

Long, dark periods.

Question 9

What are the key characteristics of a tundra region?

Answer 9

• temperatures stay below 0 degrees Celsius most of the year
• the ground remains frozen, apart from a few centimetres of thaw in the summer
• the precipitation is gentle, mainly falling as snow
• the winds can be very strong

Question 10

What is solifluction?

Answer 10

The movement downhill of soggy soil (thawed soil and rocks) when the ground layer beneath is frozen and impermeable.

Question 11

What is causing the decline of polar bears and seals?

Answer 11

The Arctic and Antarctica sea ice is melting and low levels are being recorded.

Question 12

Who else are the sea cover changes disadvantageous for, and why?

Answer 12

Yupik, as they cannot take dog teams out into the Bering Sea Pack Ice- it is unsafe.

Question 13

What is happening to glaciers due to climate change? Who is to blame for this?

Answer 13

Glaciers are shrinking in size (glacial retreat), and scientists are blaming climate change.

Question 14

Why are climate shifts getting faster and faster?

Answer 14

Due to albedo changes.

Question 15

What causes LT flooding in the tundra?

Answer 15

Permanent, rather than seasonal melting of permafrost.

Question 16

What is happening to the tree line as temperature gets warmer?

Answer 16

It is moving further North.

Question 17

What are pingos?

Answer 17

Mounds of Earth covered ice (dome shaped hills) that are commonly up to 500m in diameter and up to 50 meters in height.