The Changing Natural Environment Part 2

List the four external forces that may affect the climate system

Draw a rough diagram illustrating the internal interactions in our Climate system

List the internal repsonses that may occur due to external forces

What is meant by the sun's corona

What is meant by a magnetic storm?

List facts about the sun

List three facts about sunspots

Define radiation

What untis do we use to quanitfy energy

What is meant by a black body in the physical sciences?

What is Planck's law?

What is meant by radiant exitance?

What does the Stefan-Boltzmann Law describe?

What does the Wien's displacement law describe?

Explain differences we'd see if there were no atmosphere

Describe Earth's second atmosphere

How did the oceans form?

Describe what is meant by the 'Oxygen Catastrophe'

Describe the formation of Earth's "Third Atmosphere"

What are the four layers of the atmosphere

Describe the atomspheric vertical profile in relation to pressure

What does the atmospheric vertical profile look like in relation to temperature

Why does temperature decrease with height in the troposphere?

Name the three main gases that make up the airs composition

What are three effects aerosols may have on us?

Outline the processes involved in the hydrological cycle

Where is most of the water held?

Describe the evaporation process

What is meant by the dynamic equlibrium in the evaporation process

Why is cold are dryer and warm air more humid?

Deifne relative humidity

What is meant by the dew point temperature

Explain trends of relative humidity variation

Define cloud

What are the different types of clouds?

How does latitude variation in solar irradiance affect the flow of air (winds)?

How does the pressure gradient force (PGF) affect the flow of air (winds)?

How does the coriolis force affect the flow of air (winds)?

What is meant by geostrophic wind?

What is meant by the centripetal force?

How does firction in the planetary boundary layer affet the flow of air (winds)?

What is the intertropical convergence zone?

What are the westerlies?

What is meant by thermal cicrulations?

What factors result in the heat island effect?

How does the mountain and valley breeze form?

What is a possible impact of a subsidence inversion?

What is the adiabatic process?

What is the environmental lapse rate (ELR)?

What is the dry adiabatic lapse rate (DALR)?

What is the moist adiabatic lapse rate (MALR)?

What are the two processes respoinsible for carbon uptake on land?

What are the two broad processes carried out by the oceans in the carbon balance?

What is a consequence of increased CO2 uptake in oceans?

What is meant by Insolation?

What is the solar constant?

What are the four different atmospheric solar radiation pathways?

What is the distinguishing factor between geometric scattering, Mie scatering and Rayleigh scattering?

Which type of particle induces which type of scattering?

Explain the effects by Rayleigh scattering

What is Albedo?

What are the three types of thermal energy transfer?

What are greenhouses gases?

Which are the important GHGs which are influenced by humans?

Outline the global pressure distribution

What are monsoons?

What factors determine climate?

Outline the NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation)

What factors influence the natural variability in the Earth's global average surface temperatures?

Outline the Milankovitch cycles

What are the four natural influences on the energy imbalance?

What are the four anthropogenic influences on the energy imbalance?

What is radiative forcing?

What are two ways to describe the absolute quantity of a gas?

Name 2 sources and sink of methane

Where can the ozone layer be found?

What is tropospheric ozone?

Outline how tropospheric ozone forms

Outline how stratospheric ozone forms

What are two instruments used to measure ozone?

What are the conditions for efficient ozone depletion at the poles?

When and where is ozone depletion strongest?

What are some of the environmental impacts of ozone depletion?

What are the indirect effects from aerosols?

What are atmospheric brown clouds (ABCs)?

Where are the regional hotspots for ABCs?

What are the impacts of ABCs?

What are the consequences of ABCs?

Distinguish between Climate Change and Global Warming

What is the hydrological cycle?

Name the stores and fluxes of the hydrological cycle

How does the atmosphere act as storage in the hydrological cycle?

Outline the relationship between cloud cover and forests

Outline the canopy water interception process and its properties as a storage

Outline facts about dams

Outline the properties of snow and ice as a water storage

What are the important characteristics of precipitation?

Outline properties of evapotranspiration

Outline properties of Runoff

Outline properties of throughflow

Describe the problems faced in the 'world water crisis'

Name the World's water supplies

Distinguish between physical and economic water scarcity

Outline the water problem in NW India

Outline the water problem in Peru

Outline some of the anthropogenic impacts on water

Why is there a change in demand for water?

How does climatre variability and CC affect water

Outline facts about the 1950 population boom

Distinguish the classic and the anthrome paradigm

What are some of the factors causing malnourishment on a global scale?

What factors could impact food prices?

What are some of the factors affecting recent growth in crop production

List the environmental impacts of growth in food production

List a usually overseen impact of crop intensification

How does urbanisation affect the sustainability of food production

Outline facts on food waste

What are the dangers in exploiting water for food?

Distinguish between withdrawal, consumption and degradation

What are the 8 drivers for chronic food insecurity?

What is meant by the 'land grab' pertinaing to food security?

What are some of the solutions to food security?

What are some of the solutions to water security?

List the ways in which water governance can be reformed

List the five steps to double food production and reduce environmental change by 2050

What are the downsides of biofuels?

What are the solutions to the problems facing hydropower?

What are the solutions to the problems facing biofuels?

Outline the different types of drought

What are the natural causes of droughts?

What are the human causes of drought?

What are the consequences of drought?

Outline the 2006 drought in Ethiopia

Outline the 2006 drought in Australia

What is FEWS?

What measures can be taken to adapt agriculture to drought?

How can be water use be adapted?

Define desert and desertification

What are the consequences of desertification?

List the physical and human drivers of desertification

Name the exclusively human causes of desertification

What are problems of global desertification assessments?

What are the processes involved in desrtification?

Name some of the hydrospheric components of the Mediterranean

What are the four main categories of Ecosystem Services (ES)?

What is the value of ES?

What are the three key hydrological ES?

What are the local impacts of Land Use and Cover Change (LUCC)?

What is the water balance equation for a given catchment?

How can ET and Q be obtained?

What factors do infiltration and runoff depend on?

How is the runoff ratio determined?

What are the 5 types of floods and their causes?

Which factors increase flood risk?

Which factors increase flood exposure and/or flood vulnerability?

What are the consequences of flooding?

What are some mitigation techniques for flooding?

What are some methods to aid flood adaptation?

Outline three problems the ocean faces

What are the four major pieces of evidence on which CC science and policy is based upon?

What are the components which are theorised to have slowed atmospheric warming?

What factors does the IPCC consider to generate scenarios relevant to CC modelling?

What are the four major trends that act as proof for the 'Great Acceleration'?