Unit 3: Global Hazards

Question 1

What is high pressure?

Answer 1

Air is sinking, no clouds

Question 2

What is low pressure?

Answer 2

Air is rising, clouds

Question 3

What is the pressure between the two Hadley cells?

Answer 3

Low - rainforests

Question 4

What is the pressure between the Hadley and Ferrell cells?

Answer 4

High - hot desert

Question 5

What is the pressure between the Ferrell and polar cells?

Answer 5

Low - temperate

Question 6

What is the pressure between the two polar cells?

Answer 6

High - arctic / Antarctic

Question 7

Why does wind speed increase at higher altitudes

Answer 7

Less friction

Question 8

What are the three parts of the global circulation system?

Answer 8

Trade winds, westerlies, jet streams

Question 9

What are trade winds?

Answer 9

Winds blowing from east to west

Question 10

What are westerlies?

Answer 10

Winds blowing from west to east

Question 11

What speed to winds have to be to be classed as a category 5 hurricane?

Answer 11

254km/h

Question 12

What speed do winds have to be to be classed as a category 1 hurricane?

Answer 12

118 km/h

Question 13

What is the albedo effect?

Answer 13

Light surfaces reflect the radiation from the sun

Question 14

What are tropical storms?

Answer 14

Powerful, rotating storms caused by low pressure systems

Question 15

What are the requirements for a tropical storm to take place?

Answer 15

Sea at least 26.5°C
Sea at least 60m deep
Between 5° and 15° north / south of the equator
Late summer, early autumn

Question 16

What is the coriolis effect?

Answer 16

Spinning of the earth causes the tropical storm to spin

Question 17

What are the causes of hurricane Matthew?

Answer 17

Formed on 28th September 2016
Category 5 on 30th September
13.4°N - lowest latitude ever recorded for category 5
Northerly direction across Caribbean
Dissipated off the coast of the USA

Question 18

What are the effects of Hurricane Matthew?

Answer 18

546 deaths
175,500 people in shelters
1.4 million people required humanitarian assistance
$2.8 billion damage
200,000 houses severely damaged
90% of houses along southern coast destroyed

Question 19

What are the responses to hurricane Matthew?

Answer 19

Water & sanitation for 50,000 people
UN provided enough food to feed 300,000 for a month
USA provided $400,000 in aid
Red crocs programme to raise $9.6 million

Question 20

What is Haiti’s GNI per capita?

Answer 20

$2,930

Question 21

What is drought?

Answer 21

Extended period of time where a location receives below-normal rainfall

Question 22

What is El Niño?

Answer 22

Trade winds that typically move from east to west weaken or reverse
Occur every 3-4 years and last for 9-12 months
Causes dry conditions in Australia, Vietnam & Thailand
Causes wet conditions in South America

Question 23

What is La Niña?

Answer 23

Trade winds become more extreme
Occur every 2-7 years
Causes wet conditions in Australia, Vietnam & Thailand
Causes dry conditions in South America

Question 24

What were the causes of the uk drought?

Answer 24

Less than 85% of average rainfall
Rainfall between January and June was lowest since 1976
Driest start to year for 46 years
Tropical continental winds blowing from Europe bringing high pressure
Temperatures 5°C above average

Question 25

What were the impacts of the UK drought?

Answer 25

40.3ºC on 19th July 3,000 excess deaths in July (people over the age of 65 heat stroke related illnesses) Reservoirs reaching a 25 year low Hosepipe bans for 6 million people Wildfires in Scotland

Question 26

What were the responses to the UK drought?

Answer 26

Permits for water companies to extract water from rivers 11 water companies fined for poor water management Hosepipe bans Firefighters deployed in Scotland Campaigns from government to get people to use less water - reuse water - don’t leave tap running

Question 27

What are the 4 layers of the earth?

Answer 27

Crust, mantle, outer core, inner core

Question 28

What are convection currents?

Answer 28

Heat rises room the inner core until it meets the crust, ten it spreads out, pulling them and causing them to move, the rock then sinks back into the mantle

Question 29

What is ridge push slab pull?

Answer 29

New crust rises at constructive plate boundaries, causing old crust to sink into the mantle at destructive plate boundaries

Question 30

What is found at destructive plate boundaries?

Answer 30

Earthquakes & volcanoes

Question 31

What is found at collision plate boundaries?

Answer 31

Earthquakes

Question 32

What is found at constructive plate boundaries?

Answer 32

Weaker earthquakes & volcanoes

Question 33

What is found at conservative plate boundaries?

Answer 33

Earthquakes

Question 34

What is an earthquake?

Answer 34

Sudden shaking of the ground

Question 35

What is a focus and epicentre?

Answer 35

Focus = underground Epicentre = on the surface

Question 36

What scale are earthquakes measured on?

Answer 36

Moment magnitude (richter) scale

Question 37

What type of scale is the moment magnitude scale?

Answer 37

Logarithmic (x10 each number)

Question 38

What are the two types of volcano and their features?

Answer 38

_shield:_ - constructive plate boundaries - low viscosity lava - flat - erupt frequently _composite:_ - destructive plate boundaries - high viscosity lava - steep sides - erupt less frequently

Question 39

What are hotspots and where is an example?

Answer 39

Area in the mantle that is hotter causing magma to rise Hawaii

Question 40

What are the causes of the Haiti earthquake 2010?

Answer 40

Conservative plate boundary between N. American ad Caribbean plates 7.0M Focus was only 12.87 km deep 25.75 km from capital Port-au-Prince 5.9M & 5.5M aftershocks

Question 41

What were the impacts of the Haiti earthquake 2010?

Answer 41

316,000 people killed Bodies piled on streets 250,000 homes destroyed 60% of government buildings badly damaged 2 million without food & water 20% of people lost their jobs 300,000 people injured Disease 1.3 million people became homeless

Question 42

What were the responses to the Haiti earthquake 2010?

Answer 42

_short term:_ $100 million given by USA $330 million given by EU 810,000 people placed in aid camps Over 1 million tarpaulin sheets given 115,000 tents provided _long term:_ Dependent on overseas aid New homes built to a higher standard 1 million people still living in temporary shelters after a year Cash for work programmes Water and sanitation eventually provided for 1.7 million people

Question 43

What are the three mitigation strategies against earthquakes?

Answer 43

Prediction, protection, preparation

Question 44

What is prediction?

Answer 44

Difficult to predict earthquakes but some (rich) countries have a 30 second warning system

Question 45

What is protection?

Answer 45

Constructing buildings so they can withstand earthquakes: - rubber shock absorbers - steel frames that can sway - open areas where people can assemble

Question 46

What is preparation?

Answer 46

Practicing for an earthquake scenario in schools and hospitals (Not possible in Haiti as only 60% of children in school)