Flashcards on The Changing Natural Environment Part 2, created by R S on 04/06/2016.
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Created by R S
over 8 years ago
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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'?
