Theme 5b - Climate

Question 1

What is some historical evidence for climate change?

Answer 1

• Fossils of plants and animals in unusual places.
• Ice cores portray varieying gas levels.
• Dendrochronology

Question 2

What are some more recent evidences supporting climate change?

Answer 2

• Increasing CO2 levels
• Changes in migration patterns.
• Ice sheets melting and retreating.
• Increase in 0.6 global degrees over 100 years.

Question 3

What is the Keeling curve?

Answer 3

It plots the change in the amount of CO2 in the Earths atmosphere, measurements started in 1958.

Question 4

How is natural climate change caused?

Answer 4

• changes in the earths orbit
• changes in the tilt of the earth
• changes in the output of solar radiation.
• volcanic activity

Question 5

What is the greenhouse effect?

Answer 5

The natural process that results in the warming of the Earth’s atmosphere.

Question 6

How does the greenhouse effect work?

Answer 6

• Solar energy enters the atmosphere.
• Short wave radiation is absorbed in atmosphere.
• Solar energy heats the surface, radiating long wave energy into the atmosphere.
• Long wave energy can be absorbed by natural gasses, like co2.
• Some long wave energy escapes into space.

Question 7

Human activity resulting in greenhouse gas increase?

Answer 7

• Burning fossil fuels
• Deforestation
• Dumping waste
• The animal agriculture industry

Question 8

What creates the global cooling effect?

Answer 8

Sulphur and dust erupting from volcanoes enters the atmosphere, reducing the amount of solar energy able to reach the earth’s surface, however damaging the earths ozone layer.