Unit 1: Topic 1a Hazardous Earth—Climate Change

How does the worlds climate system function? What are the natural causes of climate change? What is the Greenhouse Effect?
What is Global/Atmospheric Circulation? Weather changes from minute to minute, climate is the average weather taken over 30 There are a number of greenhouse gases, methane, nitrous oxide but the one most associ-
The atmosphere is constantly moving - transferring heat around the earth in a global years. In historical times temperatures have varied as much as 1.5°C each side of the aver- ated with human activity is carbon dioxide. Recent changes in CO2 are a result of burning
circulation system. There are three types of circulation cells that make up this circula- age due to natural causes. fossil fuels such as gas, coal and above all oil.
tion pattern. Throughout history the earths temperatures has changed many times both increasing and 1. Greenhouse gases retain heat
The earth receives its energy from the decreasing. There are many reasons for these changes: from the Sun that would otherwise
sun which passes through the atmos- be reflected from Earth back into
phere and heats up the ground directly. space. Without them the planet
This warms the air above the ground, would be too cold to support life.
the warm air rises and transfers heat 2. Solar energy passes through the
into the atmosphere which creates low atmosphere without having any real
pressure. It then cools, travels north impact on it.
and south where it sinks back towards 3. About half of it is absorbed by the
the earth. Rising air cannot hold as Earth, the rest is reflected back by
much moisture that’s why there is more clouds or the ground, absorbed by
precipitation on the equator. As the the clouds or upper atmosphere or
cooler, drier air sinks (30°N/S line of simply scattered back to space.
latitude) it creates high pressure with 4. The other half absorbed by the
clear skies, little precipitation and arid ground is radiated back into the atmosphere and some is trapped by greenhouse gases.
(dry) conditions. How are human activities causing climate change?
The earth receives most radiation on the equator where it is hottest compared to the What is the ‘Enhanced’ Greenhouse
poles where it is the coldest. The Effect?– human activities have in-
equator receives most radiation be- Orbital Changes: creased the amount of CO2 and have
cause the suns rays hit the surface at (Milankovitch cycles) reduced the environment ability to
a right angle. At the poles the angle is Changes in how the absorb it. Since the industrial revolu-
much lower which means they have earth orbits the sun. tion levels of greenhouse gases have
to heat up a much larger area. These cycles are called risen. The developed world are re-
Winds are caused when air moves the Milankovitch cy- sponsible for the majority of this in-
from high to low pressure but be- cles and happen every crease as a result of the following:
cause the earth rotates as the air 100,000 years. The - energy supply which burns coal, gas
moves above the surface, the earth earths orbit changes and oil. US and China majority coal
rotates below it and the winds follow from being circular to (39% CO2)
a curved path. This is called the corio- elliptical (more egg shaped) and this changes the amount of solar energy the earth surface - 90% of journeys use transport which burns oil (29% CO2)
lis effect. In the northern hemi- receives. - manufacturing industry uses energy and produces waste (17% CO2)
sphere the winds are deflected to the Solar Output: (sunspot activity) The suns energy output is not always constant, the most Other greenhouse gases have different origins:
right and in the southern hemisphere to common of these are sunspots, these are darker areas on the sun surface with greater - Nitrous oxide is produced by jet engines, fertilisers and sewage farms.
the left. amounts of solar activity. Sunspots come and go usually every 11 years, the more sunspots - Methane from grazing cows (200 litres of gas per day). Cattle numbers have doubled in
Jet streams also impact on air move- the higher the temperature on earth. last 50years.
ment and they are mainly on the bound- Volcanic Activity: Major volcanic events lead to reduced temperatures as the volcano - Deforestation by humans leads to an increase in CO2 emissions as these are carbon stores
erupts large amounts of ash into the atmosphere. This blocks out solar radiation and reduces and without them this reduces the ability of the earth to absorb CO2.
the amount of suns energy reaching the earths surface and therefore reducing the tempera- What are the possible consequences of climate change?
ture. Asteroid Sea level changes
Collisions: Can lead to small periods of cooling due to the ash/dust particles put into the at- The most obvious impact of climate change is and rising temperatures is rising sea levels.
mosphere following the collision with earths surface. As with volcanic activity these also Sea levels have risen by around 200mm since 1870. This is due to two main reasons:
block out or absorb solar radiation. - As temperatures rise, water expands causing sea volume to increase.
What evidence is there of natural climate change? - Melting ice caps and glaciers, most is held in Greenland and Antarctica
aries of the main circulation cells changing We know about climate change in the past because of: There could be a
the weather for different places. - Tree rings. Growth rings are wider indicating warmer wetter conditions. rise in sea levels by
Oceanic currents also transfer heat around - Ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica indicating levels of CO2 from when the ice was 300mm to 1000mm
the earth. Surface ocean currents are driven formed. depending on how
by the movement of air across them, where- - Historical sources, dairies, paintings, farming/yield records, we look at global
as deep ocean currents are determined by warming. Melting
ice can unlock
colder salty water near the greenhouse gases
Arctic and Antarctic sinking such as Methane
pulling warmer water into that have been
them from lower latitudes. locked away for
centuries, increas-
ing the greenhouse
effect further.