Year 9 Extreme Weather

Question 1

Condensation

Answer 1

Water vapor in the air gets cold and changes back into a liquid, forming clouds.

Question 2

Evaporation

Answer 2

Occurs when the sun heats up the water in rivers or lakes or the ocean and turns it into vapour or steam. The water vapour or steam leaves the river, lake or ocean and goes into the air.

Question 3

Precipitation

Answer 3

Occurs when so much water has condensed that the air cannot hold it anymore. The clouds get heavy and water falls back to the earth in the form of rain, hail, sleet or snow

Question 4

Causes of flooding- human cause, urbanisation

Answer 4

urban areas are typically made of concrete which is impermeable - water cannot infiltrate into the ground, therefore surface runoff happens.

Question 5

Causes of flooding - human cause, deforestation

Answer 5

Trees remove moisture from the ground through tree roots , therefore cutting down trees leads to an excess of water in the soil, leading to surface runoff

Question 6

Causes of flooding - physical cause, steep relief

Answer 6

Water flows over steep surfaces quickly which slows down infiltration. Therefore, rivers fill up quickly.

Question 7

Causes of flooding - physical cause, prolonged rainfall

Answer 7

constant rain saturates the ground which means infiltration slows down

Question 8

Effects - Cumbria Flood

Answer 8

• A number of bridges were slept away including Pooley Bridge. People faced a huge round trip to get to work.
• Approximately £28,000 of damage per household
• Tens of thousands of homes went without power for several days
• National rail services were cancelled

Question 9

How a Hurricane Forms

Answer 9

1. The sun heats up the ocean to 27 degrees c
2. The warm ocean heats the air above.
3. Rising warm air evaporates and starts to spin.
4. The air then cools and condenses to from clouds.
5. More air is sucked in, causing very strong winds to form.

Question 10

Hurricane Katrina social effects

Answer 10

• 1800 people died
• 300,000 homes were destroyed
• 3 million people were left with no electricity
• People had to move out of the area

Question 11

Hurricane Katrina economic effects

Answer 11

• $300 billion of damage
• oil platforms were destroyed
• shops were looted
• fuel prices rose
• Tourism decreased

Question 12

Hurricane Katrina environmental effects

Answer 12

• The storm surge flooded large area of the coast
• 80% of New Orleans flooded as man-made leevees were overwhelmed by extra water and broke.
• cotton and sugar cane crops were destroyed
• delicate coastal habitats were destroyed

Question 13

Infiltration

Answer 13

Water soaks into the ground

Question 14

Prelocation

Answer 14

Water soaks deep into the ground below the soil and rock layer

Question 15

Surface run-off

Answer 15

The ground cannot absorbs anymore rainfall so water flows over the surface of the land

Question 16

Throughflow

Answer 16

Water flows through the soil

Question 17

Transpiration

Answer 17

Water evaporates off the surface of plants.

Question 18

interception

Answer 18

Rainfall is caught by plants before reaching the ground.