climate change

• What is climate change?

  Changes in long-term temperature and precipitation
• What are the two main causes of climate change?

  Natural processes and human activities
• What is the Quaternary period?

  Last 2.6 million years of geological time
• What characterizes glacial periods?

  Cold periods with snow and ice build-up
• What are inter-glacial periods?

  Warm periods between glacial periods
• What is global warming?

  A warming trend of 0.85°C since 1880
• How do geological fossil evidence help in climate studies?

  They indicate past climate conditions
• What is an ice core?

  A cylinder of ice from an ice cap
• What can ice cores be analyzed for?

  To model past climate conditions
• What do ocean sediments trap?

  Evidence of past climates
• What was the Little Ice Age?

  A colder period from 1300-1870
• What is megafauna?

  Large animals greater than 50kg
• What are mastodons?

  Elephant-like mammals with woolly coats
• What are Milankovitch cycles?

  Orbital variations causing natural climate change
• What is eccentricity in climate terms?

  100,000 year cycle of Earth's orbit shape
• What happens during the precession cycle?

  The Earth's 'wobble' shifts over 26,000 years
• What is axial tilt?

  A 41,000 year cycle of Earth's tilt
• What is a volcanic winter?

  Cooling trend from volcanic particles blocking sunlight
• What is a sunspot?

  A dark patch on the Sun's surface
• What is the sunspot cycle?

  An 11-year cycle of sunspot activity
• What is the greenhouse effect?

  Natural warming from absorbed heat
• What is the enhanced greenhouse effect?

  Increased warming due to human activity
• What causes sea level rise?

  Increased water in oceans and thermal expansion
• What is thermal expansion?

  Increase in volume with temperature rise