Chapter 2 Lesson 4 - Human Activities & Climate Change

How can rising sea levels affect ecosystems?

It can upset the balance of organisms in some ecosystems as organisms are forced to move to new locations to find familiar climates.

Over the last 120 years, has the temperature of the troposphere increased or decreased? How much has it changed by?

It has increased by 0.7 C

What are some of the effects of global warming?

Melting glaciers, rising sea levels, drought, desertification, changes to the biosphere, and regional changes in temperature

Does global warming affect all regions similarly?

No, affect regions differently

What is global warming?

A gradual increase in the average temperature of the atmosphere, thought to be caused by an increase in greenhouse gases from human activities

What percent of the atmosphere do these gases make up?

About 1%

What human activities increase the amount of methane?

Activities including the mining and processing of coal and petroleum, livestock, agriculture such as rice cultivation, landfill use, and the burning of biomass.

How is most of the carbon dioxide being released?

By human beings burning fossil fuels

What effect do rising temperatures have on sea levels?

Can cause sea levels to rise because of melting glaciers

What is the most abundant greenhouse gas?

Carbon dioxide

What are some examples of greenhouse gases?

Carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane are all greenhouse gases.

What effect do rising global temperatures have on some regions?

Causes them to become very warm and dry

What are fossil fuels?

Coal, oil, or natural gas that forms over millions of years from the remains of ancient organisms; burned to release energy

How are levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increasing?

Due to human activities

What are greenhouse gases?

Gases in the atmosphere that trap energy

What is this increase in greenhouse gases doing?

Producing changes in the climate worldwide, and the increase is causing global temperatures to rise.

What are some solutions to limiting global warming and climate change? What are these solutions designed to do?

Some solutions are finding clean, renewable sources of energy, being more energy-efficient , and removing carbon from fossil fuels emissions. All these solutions are designed to reduce greenhouse emissions.

How do greenhouse gases affect climate?

The sun warms the Earth's surface, and this heat is radiated back to space as infrared waves. Greenhouse gases trap the outgoing waves and absorb the heat. They then radiate the energy bar towards Earth, trapping it in the lower atmosphere.

What do models of climate change predict?

They predict that global temperatures will rise several degrees over the next hundred years

How does the Earth's atmosphere keep the Earth warm?

Through the greenhouse effect, which is the trapping of heat near a planet's surface by certain gases in the planet's atmosphere.

What do humans use fossil fuels for?

To generate electricity, heat homes, power cars and more

What can severe droughts accomplish?

they can turn some lands into deserts, and this process leads to food shortages