Climate and Change

Climate and Weather
1. Climate is average weather conditions
2. Weather is day to day changes
  1. e.g. temperature
Looking at the past
1. Distant past
  1. Know about climate change...
    1. From fossilised...
      1. Animals
      2. Plant
      3. Pollen
    2. From U shaped valleys left
      1. By retreating glaciers
    3. Sample ice sheets
      1. From Antarctica
2. Recent Past
  1. Know from...
    1. Old photos
    2. Painting
    3. Journals/diaries
    4. Recorded harvest dates
Causes of Climate Change
1. Eruption Theory
  1. Huge eruptions releasing
    1. Ash
    2. Sulphur dioxide
  2. Cause a blanket of ash and gas
    1. Blocking sunlight reaching the earth's surface
      1. This cools down temperatures
2. Asteroid Collisions
  1. When really large asteroids hit
    1. It sends tonnes of ash and dust into the the atmosphere
      1. It would block sunlight
3. Sunspot Theory
  1. Sunspots are black areas on the sun
    1. Not permanent
    2. more spots means more solar energy
    3. Less means less solar energy towards earth
      1. Meaning colder earth
4. Orbital Theory
  1. The way the earth orbits the sun changes the temperature
  2. Sometimes the orbit is more circular
    1. and sometimes it is more ellipse
  3. The earths axis tilts
    1. Sometimes straight
    2. Sometimes tilted
  4. Sometimes the earths axis wobble
  5. It changes how much sunlight the earth recieves
Viking Greenland
1. Erik the Red
  1. Banished to Greenland
2. Beginning of the medieval warm period
3. There was land and sea free of ice
  1. This meant
    1. They could farm
    2. Have good trade links
    3. They could hunt
4. After 4 centauries
  1. The little ice age began
    1. It was colder
      1. Meaning
        Less food
        More sea ice
        So no trading
  2. The Vikings in Greenland Died out
Little ice age
1. started in 1315
2. Colder and wetter summers
3. Caused fammine
  1. Because of failed harvests
  2. Potato began to be grown
4. Glaciers grew
  1. Destroyed villages and farmland
Megafauna
1. Mass extinction
  1. Humans
    1. hunted megafauna
  2. Migrated
    1. Due to warmer climate
    2. To find climates that suited
      1. Food would have been hard in new location
        disrupting food chains
2. big animals
  1. over 40kg
  2. e.g. mammoth
Greenhouse Effect
1. Gases in the atmosphere trapping heat from sun
  1. let heat in but little out
2. Natural process
  1. keeps temperature
3. greenhouse gases
  1. CO2
  2. Methane
4. short wave solar radiation
  1. passes through atmosphere
    1. short wave radiation is reflected off earth's surface
      1. some long wave is reflected back into space
      2. is reflected back to earths surface
Enhanced Greenhouse Effect
1. Lots more greenhouse gases produced by humans
  1. mostly CO2
  2. Warmer Earth
    1. melting ice caps etc...
2. e.g.
  1. burning fossil fuels
  2. transport
  3. Homes
  4. industry
3. New ways to slow production of greenhouse gases down
  1. renewable energy
UK
1. Climate
  1. temperate maritime
    1. mild temperatures
    2. rain all year
  2. Affected by air msses
    1. Polar front
      1. it moves
        ffects whether or not be have cold or warm whether
    2. Polar and arctic air from north
    3. tropical air from south
2. Changing
  1. Warmer?
    1. Polar front pushed north
    2. South rather than north
    3. warm air holds more moisture
      1. more rain?
    4. positvies
      1. lower heating costs
      2. more UK tourism
      3. Fewer elderly deaths from cold
      4. more exotic crops
    5. negatives
      1. Droughts and water shortages
      2. air conditioning costs
      3. plants and animals might die out
      4. more illness
        .g. heat stroke
  2. Colder?
    1. polar front could move south
      1. heavier rain?
        more flooding?
  3. Wilder?
    1. More storms
    2. more flooding
    3. more heatwaves
    4. Hard to predict
Egypt
1. Developing country
  1. low emissions
2. feel large impacts of climate change
  1. temp rise of 8 degrees by 2080
  2. desertification
  3. less rain
    1. failing crops
  4. desertification
  5. heatwaves
    1. 99% of people
      1. live on 5%of the land
3. Nile important for Water
4. if sea levels rise by 50cm
  1. 1/3 of Alexandria will be under water

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	Created by juliasutton about 11 years ago