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83 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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How long has the water table in Perth been dropping? |
40 years |
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How much of the world rely on groundwater? |
A Third |
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How much has Australia increased abstraction by? When? |
100% 1980-2000 |
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Impact of less than 20% deforestation? |
More discharge |
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Impact of more than 20% deforestation? |
Less EVT Less precipitation Less discharge |
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What impact does agriculture have on water? |
•Creates a subsurface drainage system •Increases throughflow •Increases surface erosion |
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What is the water balance equation? |
PPT=EVT+Discharge+change in storage |
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What is the yearly water use pattern? |
Surplus > Utilisation > Déficit > Recharge |
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How does condensation happen? |
•Air is cold and dense •Air is saturated •Condensation happens on surfaces and nuclei in air |
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How much of water supply is in the hydrosphere? |
97% |
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How much of water supply is in the cyrosphere? |
2% |
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How much of water supply is in the atmosphere? |
0.4% |
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How much of water supply is in the lithosphere and terrestrial? |
0.8% |
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What is dynamic equilibrium? |
•outputs and inputs are balanced •stores remain the same size |
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What is ablation? |
When more glacial ice melts than freezes |
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How much carbon is in a m2 of tropical rainforest |
4-9kg |
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How much carbon is in a m2 of cattle pasture? |
1 kg |
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How does the biological pump work? |
•CO2 dissolves in the ocean •Phytoplankton eat it •Zooplankton eat the phytoplankton •Zooplankton respire and release some CO2 •Zooplankton poop and CO2 drops to sea floor as fecal pellets |
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How much oxygen do phytoplankton release? |
80% |
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How much of Australia’s wind is generated by wind? |
40% |
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What does more carbon do for trees? |
•Increases the rate of photosynthesis so they grow bigger and faster •Makes growing season longer |
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Fancy pants name for burning |
Combustion |
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How does thermohaline circulation work? |
•Co2 dissolves in cold north sea •Current at bottom of the ocean •Releases Co2 at the warm equator |
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How long does thermohaline circulation take? |
100+ years |
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Why does the ocean acidify? |
More dissolved Co2 and more carbonic acid |
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How much has the ocean pH changed by since 1750? |
Decreased by 0.1 pH |
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What scale is sere? |
Ecosystem/a forest |
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How much of the sun’s energy is reflected? |
30% |
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What is radiative forcing? |
The difference between the sunlight absorbed by the Earth and energy radiated back to space |
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How do greenhouse gases increase radiative forcing? |
Less of the absorbed solar energy can leave through the gas blanket |
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Worst impact of melting permafrost? |
Methane is released that can’t be reabsorbed |
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How much carbon is in the lithosphere? |
75 Petatonnes |
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How much carbon is in the hydrosphere? |
38,000 GigaTonnes |
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How much carbon is in the biosphere? |
3000 GigaTonnes |
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How much carbon is in the atmosphere? |
800 GigaTonnes |
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How much sea ice is being lost each year? |
35,000 square km |
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What is the link between melting sea ice and albedo? |
More melted sea ice=more dark surfaces=lower albedo=more heat absorbed |
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What is the impact of melting sea ice on algae? |
A reduction in algae, leads to disruption of the rest of the food chain |
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What is carbon capture and sequestration? |
Squashing it, yeeting it to the bottom of the ocean with a pipe |
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How much Sri Lankan rainforest has been cut down in the past 100 years? |
75% |
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What model shows that atmospheric carbon is increasing? |
the Keeling Curve |
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How much of manmade carbon emissions do forests remove? |
30% |
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What do sea animals do to oceanic carbon? |
Turn it into calcium carbonate shells |
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How much anthropogenic carbon is absorbed by the sea? |
30-40% |
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What does ocean warming do to coral reefs? |
Stresses coral Algae is expelled from coral Coral dies Coral is bleached |
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What does ocean acidification do to coral? |
Ocean shells become thinner Coral gets weaker |
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When did the US announce withdrawal from Paris 2015? |
2017 |
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How does weathering transfer carbon? |
Carbonic acid in the rainwater erodes carbon based rocks into river |
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How does sedimentation transfer carbon? |
Carbon in the sea becomes lithospheric carbon |
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How does decomposition transfer carbon? |
Organic biosphere matter dies and becomes lithospheric carbon |
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What is the biggest flow of carbon? |
Photosynthesis |
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How much carbon is in the Congolese rainforest? |
Over 30 billion tonnes |
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How much rainfall becomes overland flow in Wansbeck basin? |
56% |
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What rivers reach a confluence west of Morpeth? |
Wansbeck, Font and Hart Burn |
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How much water fell in the 2008 floods? |
150mm between 5th-6th September |
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What does ‘high drainage basin density’ mean? |
There are lots of little tributaries |
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How much water is evaporated before reaching ground in Amazon? |
50% |
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How much moisture remains in Amazon water cycle? |
50-80% |
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How much carbon is in Amazon rainforest? |
17% of global terrestrial vegetation carbon stock |
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How much Co2 does the Amazon absorb each year? |
2.2 billion tonnes |
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If the deforestation rate in the Amazon continues, what will happen? |
27% of trees b gone by 2030 |
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Where has the rainy season been delayed by 18 days since 1970? |
Rondônia, Brazil |
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How much of Amazon had been lost by 2005? |
17% |
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How much of anthropogenic carbon emissions come from rainforest burning? |
30% |
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How does rainforest canopy stop temperature swings? |
Canopy blocks heat during day and holds in heat at night |
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How does rainforest canopy stop temperature swings? |
Canopy blocks heat during day and holds in heat at night |
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What happens to the soil if there are more temperature swings? |
Dries out, increases OLF and erosion |
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How does wildfire cause less PPT? |
There are more nuclei in air, so water is in smaller drops, so clouds form higher and stay longer which decreases PPT |
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Where is wildfire/drought feedback loop a problem? |
South Southeastern Amazon |
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Why does evaporation cool things? |
It uses latent heat to change state, taking it from surroundings |
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Why does condensation increase temperatures? |
Going from gas to liquid releases latent heat as thermal heat |
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Example of feedback loop with water vapour |
Temp rise=more EVT=more water vapour=more greenhouse gas=temp rise |
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Example of negative feedback loop with EVT |
Temp rise=more EVT=more clouds=higher albedo=temp fall |
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Who sets emissions targets for the Paris treaty? |
The countries themselves |
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Will the Paris treaty be successful? |
No, it won’t be limited to 2°C even if they stick to current targets |
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What’s a big problem with the Paris treaty enforcement? |
There are no penalties or binding targets |
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What is cloudseeding? |
vaporising sea water to make clouds that reflects sun |
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Why would you spray aerosols into the atmosphere? |
The particles in the atmosphere can reflect sunlight back into space |
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What’s a problem with aerosol spraying? |
It can make a hole in the ozone |
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What do space mirrors do? |
Reflect solar energy back into space very well |
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What’s the main problem with space mirrors? |
Super expensive |
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How are humans trying to help phytoplankton? |
Chucking loads of iron filings into the ocean |
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Why is chucking loads of iron filings in the ocean a bad idea? |
Might mess up the entire sea ecosystem |
