Warming planet

• Carbon footprint

  Amounts of Co2 released into the atmosphere as a result of activities by a person, organisation or country
• Climate Change


  The increasing changes global climate over a period of time
• Corrie


  A hollow where a glacier started, Corries are also called cirques and cums (hoom)
• Drumlin


  A long smooth hill shaped like the back of a spoon, created by a glacier
• Erratic


  A large rock that's different from those around it; it was carried there by a glacier
• Emissions


  The production of air pollution
• Food Miles


  A measure of the distance food products are transported from the producer to the consumer
• Fossil Fuels


  Natural fuels such as coal, oil or gas, formed millions of years by the remains of living organisms
• Glacier


  A river of ice
• Global Warming


  The increase in global temperatures due to the increasing amounts of greenhouse
• Greenhouse Effect


  The warming of the Earth's surface and lower atmosphere due to the presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
• Moraine


  Material deposited by a glacier
• The 3 ways that scientists can measure how the Earth's climate has changed in the past


  1. Ocean floor sediment

  2. Ice Sheets

  3. Tree rings
• 3 ways that the Earth's climate can change naturally


  • Changes in the Earth's orbit and axis
  • Sun Spots
  • Volcanic eruptions
• The ice began a long time ago, during the ice age when there were low temperatures and vast sheets of ice covering the planet
• The planet began to warm up and the ice ended, but the temperature didn't rise steadily


  About 12,000 years ago
• The Vikings were able to explore Greenland and grapes were able to be grown in Britain
• Sediment builds upon the ocean floor layer by layer over millions of years
• Ocean floor sediment


  1. Sediment is drilled and studied using radiometric dating

  2. Radiometric dating tells the age of the layer and what the climate was
• Ice sheets


  • Built up in layers from snow
  • Analysis of the cores shows scientists how much snow fell and the temperature and amount of gases in the air
• Tree rings


  • Tell us the age of trees
  • If the climate is warm and humid the rings will be bigger
• We know about the climate history of the planet through studying ocean floor sediment, ice sheets, and tree rings
• Earth's orbit and axis


  • Sometimes the orbit is more oval shaped leading to cooler temperatures in the northern hemisphere
  • During a cycle of average 40,000 years the axis varies from 22.1 to 24.5 degrees, the smaller the angle the less ice melts in the northern hemisphere
• Sun spots

  May cause the sun to give off different amounts of energy
• Sun spots

  More heat and light
• Volcanic eruptions

  • Huge eruptions blast millions of tonnes of ash into the atmosphere
  • The ash spreads out blocking the sun for a short amount of time
  • Gases like Sulphur dioxide which forms a sulphuric acid mist high in the atmosphere absorb sunlight keeping it from reaching the earth
• Greenhouse effect

  Greenhouse gases form a layer of gases around our planet that stops heat from escaping into space
• Greenhouse effect

  1. Travels towards the earth

  2. About half is absorbed by the earth's atmosphere

  3. The rest is absorbed by land and oceans

  4. The earth releases some heat towards space

  5. Some heat passes through the atmosphere but most is captured by the greenhouse gases
• Global warming

  The process of our planet heating up
• Global warming

  • Increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
  • The earth has warmed up by 1 degree
  • Knock-on effect on climates and lots of creatures could find they can't adapt
• Carbon dioxide

  We breathe it out, but deforestation means plants can't absorb as much, also released by flights, increased car use and coal power stations
• Methane

  Released by animals that chew the cud, swamps, paddy fields, landfill sites and oil and gas
• Nitrous oxide

  Released by some fertilizers, power plants, also destroys the ozone layer
• Fossil fuels

  When burnt, release carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, also dangerous to transport due to risk of explosions and oil spills, expensive to import, take up a lot of land
• Coal

  90% carbon, releases the most carbon dioxide, also releases sulphur dioxide
• Food miles

  The distance travelled by food products between production and consumption
• Carbon footprint

  The amount of Carbon that you let into the atmosphere each year
• As there is more Carbon in the atmosphere

  The Earth is heating up
• Mosquitoes bring diseases

  Drought means crops can't grow
• Wildfires

  Burn down trees, floods destroy houses