Combustion of fossil fuels

• Balance


  • Increased flows
  • Reservoirs and sinks in equilibrium
  • Human activity increasing carbon in the atmosphere
  • Atmospheric store of carbon increases
  • Increase in global temperatures
• Types of fossil fuels


  • Coal
  • Oil
  • Natural gas
• Implications on the hydrological cycle


  • Eastern Alps ice-free by 2100
  • Snow diminished
  • Changing river discharge patterns
• Implications on arctic amplification


  • Melting permafrost releases methane and CO2
  • Absorbed by plants
  • Accelerates decomposition
  • Increased global temperatures
  • New shrubs, trees and animals
  • E.g. red fox
  • Arctic region warming twice as fast as global average
• Implications on climate


  • Increased global temperatures
  • More than global average in Europe
  • Increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events
  • Average rainfall:
  • Decrease in Southern Europe
  • Increase in Northern Europe