Mindmap
Changing Climate
Inhalt der Mindmap
Changing Climate
Past climate change
- Causes
- Orbital theory
- Earth's orbit changes every 100,000 years
- Sunspot theory
- Sunspots show more active areas of the sun
- Solar output changes every 11 years
- Asteroid theory
- Extremely large asteroids blast large amounts of dust into the atmosphere
- Dust blocks out sunlight and cools the Earth
- Eruption theory
- Volcanic eruptions spread large amounts of ash into the stratosphere
- Ash blocks out the sunlight
- Ocean current
- Changes can cause warming and cooling
- Orbital theory
- Measurements
- Ice cores
- Cylinders of ice drilled from glaciers - up to 500,000 years old
- Indicates carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere at the time
- Glacial period
- A cold period of the Earth when it is covered with ice
- Interglacial period
- A warm period of the Earth, like the one we're in now
- Ice cores
- Causes
Impacts of climate change
- People (The Little Ice Age)
- The Little Ice Age was a cold period in northern Europe, lasting form the 15th century to the mid 19th century
- Long cold winters and short summers
- Europe
- Low crop yields - caused the great famine
- New crops, like potatoes, were grown
- 10-20% of peasant farmers died of hunger
- 'Frost fairs' held on the Thames
- Glaciers in the alps crushed villages
- Low crop yields - caused the great famine
- Viking Greenland
- Sea ice prevented trade between Greenland and Iceland
- Cattle died due to lack of food
- Resources ran short
- The Little Ice Age was a cold period in northern Europe, lasting form the 15th century to the mid 19th century
- Animals
- Megafauna - giant animals which evolved during the ice age
- Mammoths, sabre-toothed tigers etc.
- When the ice age ended, temperatures rose 5ºC in 10,000 years
- Megafauna could not adapt, so became extinct
- Hunting could have also contributed to their extinction
- Megafauna - giant animals which evolved during the ice age
- People (The Little Ice Age)
Case studies
- UK
- Current climate
- Mild and wet
- Prevailing wind from Atlantic Ocean - brings moisture
- Warm North Atlantic current keeps the UK relatively warm
- Future climate change
- Temperature rise
- Longer summers, colder winters
- Drier summers and unpredictable rainfall
- Environmental impacts
- Severe storms and longer droughts
- Leads to famine and disasters
- More coastal erosion and flooding
- People lose their homes due to rising sea level
- Changes to fishing industries
- Disrupted ecosystems
- Species cannot adapt
- Warmer temperatures could encourage diseases like malaria
- Severe storms and longer droughts
- Economic impacts
- Increase in refugees
- Farmers have more crops and longer growing seasons
- More people have holidays in the UK
- Flood damage/protection costs
- Altered housing design
- Current climate
- Bangladesh
- Environmental impacts
- River flooding would become worse due to heavy rainfall
- Tropical storms become more frequent and damaging
- Dry season becomes longer
- Economic impacts
- Could damage agricultural output
- Property damage
- Cost of flood damages/management
- Water-borne diseases will be spread
- Damages aquaculture
- Environmental impacts
- UK
Present & future climate change
- Human activity causes emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane
- This has been occurring since the industrial revolution
- More carbon dioxide is produced because of increased industry, need for energy, transport and deforestation
- Carbon dioxide levels - at their highest for 650,000 years
- Methane levels - at their highest for 900,000 years
- Human activity causes emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane