All Flashcards
What are the effects of melting ice and snow?
Habitat loss for polar animals, thawing permafrost releases methane, rising sea levels cause coastal flooding, and disruption of marine ecosystems.
What is the effect of rising sea levels?
Flooding in coastal areas, loss of coastal habitats, increased erosion, saltwater intrusion into freshwater sources, and displacement of human populations.
What is the effect of thawing permafrost?
Release of methane (a potent greenhouse gas), further accelerating climate change, destabilization of infrastructure built on permafrost, and changes to local ecosystems.
How does ice core analysis work?
Snow compacts into ice, trapping atmospheric gases. Bubbles reveal past CO2, methane, and pollutant levels. Deeper ice equals older samples.
Explain the positive feedback loop of melting ice.
Rising temperatures melt ice/snow, reducing reflective surfaces. More solar radiation is absorbed, leading to faster warming, which causes more melting.
Define ice cores.
Cylinders of ice drilled from glaciers or ice sheets, containing trapped air bubbles that reveal past atmospheric composition and climate data.
Define positive feedback loop.
A process where an initial change triggers a series of events that amplify the original change, leading to an accelerating effect.
Define albedo.
The measure of how much light that hits a surface is reflected without being absorbed.