How did climate change during the Little Ice Age affect food production quizlet?

How the climate has changed in the past

The climate is constantly changing with average temperatures varying from year to year, 2 events of extreme climate change include -

Medieval warm period: 500 - 1100 AD
Little Ice Age: 1400 - 1800AD

How do scientists know about past climate changes

Because there is various evidence to prove it:

- Fossils of animals and plants in regions they are not found today

- Evidence of glaciation in regions that are now snow free

- Evidence from rocks showing us the climate conditions when those rocks were formed

- Evidence from ice cores in Greenland and Antarctica showing us how much carbon dioxide was in the atmosphere when the ice was formed.

The natural causes of climate change

VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
- Large eruptions emit vast quantities of dust and gases such has sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere
- This blocks out or absorbs incoming solar radiation so the Earth cools
- Examples include Mt. Pinataubo in 1991, the Laki eruption in 1783 and Mt. Toba 70,000 years ago

SUNSPOTS
- Sunspots are the darker areas on the sun's surface - they are a sign of greater activity
- They come and go in cycles of about 11 years
- However, there are longer periods when very few sunspots were observes, such as 1645 - 1715.
- This period coincides with the Little Ice Age

MILANKOVITCH MECHANISM
- The shape of the Earth/s orbit changes (becoming more or less circular) over a period of 100,00 years - known as orbital eccentricity.
- The Earth ' wobbles' on its axis over a period of 26,000 years, known as precession
- The tilt of the axis varies between 21° and 24° over about 40,000 years
- Taken together these effects change the amount of solar energy received at the Earth's surface.

How climate change affected people and the environment during the Little Ice Age

Caused by reduced sun spot activity, 1300 - 1870 and average temperatures were at least 1°C below those today

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
- The Baltic Sea froze over in winter, as did most of the rivers in Europe including the Thames
- Sea ice, which today is far to the North, reached as far south as Iceland.

SOCIAL IMPACTS
- Winters were much colder and longer, reducing the growing season by several weeks
- These conditions let to widespread crop failure and famine
- Remote areas such as Greenland were abandoned by settlers because survival became impossible
- The price of grain increased almost everywhere, leading to social unrest and revolt
- Glacier advanced in the Alps and northern Europe, over running towns and farms in the process.

How large, long term climate change led to extinction at the end of the last Ice Age

At the end of the Ice Age (10,000 - 15,000 years ago) temperatures rose by 5°C in a very short period of 1000 years.

During this period various large animals (MEGAFAUNA) died out, with about 130 species becoming extinct. Examples include, Mammoths, giant beavers and Sabre-toothed tigers. It is an example of Mass Extinction

Causes of extinction:
- They were unable to cope with the climate change, with their preferred food - both plant and animal - disappearing, therefore they soon died out too.
- Human beings, our ancestors, hunted them to extinction. We know for sure that we hunted these animals from evidence of their remains.
- A combination of both above is always possible and most likely.

How the greenhouse effect works

- Greenhouse gases retain heat from the Sun that would otherwise be reflected from the Earth back into space.
- Solar energy passes through the atmosphere without having any real impact on it.
- About half of it is absorbed by the Earth - the rest is reflected back by clouds or the ground, absorbed by clouds or the upper atmosphere or scattered into space.
- But into the atmosphere and some of this radiation trapped in greenhouse gases.

The types of human activities increasing the greenhouse gases

- Energy supply (39% of CO2), which burns coals, gas and oil, most US and Chinese electricity is produces by burning coal.
- Transport (29% of CO2), which burns oil, 90% of all journeys are powered by oil.
- Industry (17% of CO2) - making things uses energy and produces waste.

- Nitrous oxide is produces by jet engines, fertilizers and sewage farms.
- Methane is mots commonly associated with cows producing gas as they graze - about 200 liters of gas per day. With many more people eating meat, cattle numbers have doubled in 50 years.

Human activities also reduce the ability of the environment to absorb greenhouse gases, especially CO2. The main cause of this is deforestation, which has 2 effects.
- Burning forests to clear land produces CO2.
- Reducing the number of trees lowers the ability of the Earth to absorb CO2.

How greenhouse gas levels have changed over time

Human activities have increased the amount of CO2, produced and reduces the ability of the environment to absorb it. Since the industrial revolution the levels of the greenhouse gases has risen, contributing to the enhanced greenhouse effect.
Over time the producing the greenhouse gases has increased, for CO2.

CO2 1850-280 ppm --- 1950-323 ppm--- 2012-394 ppm
Methane 1850-700 ppb --- 1950-1430 ppb --- 2012-1940 ppb
Nitrous Oxide - 1850-270 ppm --- 1950-304 ppm --- 2012-318 ppm

Who the main producers of greenhouse gases are

Recent changes in CO2 are a result of burning fossil fuels such as gas, coal and above all, oil. CO2 is created when making cement and steel.

The largest contributors are China, Russia, India and Japan.

What scientists might happen to climate change and sea-levels in the future

The most obvious impact of rising temperatures is rising sea levels. Sea levels have risen by about 200mm since 1870. This has come about for 2 main reasons:

- As temperatures rise so water expands - this thermal expansion takes places independently of melting ice.
- Melting ice chaos and glaciers. Most ice is held in Greenland and Antarctica (99% of fresh water) - there are 30 million km3 of ice in Antarctica alone.

There could be a rise in sea level of between 300 mm and 1000 mm depending on how we tackle global warming.

The air masses that affect the UK and what weather they bring

Tropical Maritime: Atlantic Ocean
- Warm and moist
- Cloudy, rain and mild

Tropical Continental: Southern Europe and North Africa -Warm and dry
- Hot in summer

Polar maritime: Greenland and Arctic Sea
- Cold and wet
- Cold and showers

Polar Continental: Northern Europe
- Cold (winter) and hot (summer)
- Snow in winter and dry in summer

Arctic Maritime: Arctic Ocean
-Very Cold but always wet due to low humidity
- Snow in winter

How the UK's climate could change in the future

- Alter the seasonal pattern of air masses the UK
experiences, by changing the jet stream's typical position

- Warm the seas around the UK meaning warmer temperatures, but more evaporation and rainfall

- Make unusual weather extremes more common, such as the summer 2012 floods and summer 2003 heat wave

- Disrupt the warm ocean current that affect the UK, potentially making out climate cooler

The challenges our changing climate might bring - MEDC

UK

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
- New bird and animal species migrate to the UK while others disappear
- Changes to fish species in the sea as temperatures rise, e.g. cod moving north out of the North Sea
- Increased storminess means more erosion on coast such as Holderness

ECONOMIC IMPACTS
- Cost of protecting low-lying areas such as London and East Anglia from rising sea levels
- Costs to the NHS of health problems caused by frequent heat waves like summer 2003
- More frequent and costly flood events such as summer 2007 and winter 2012
- Domestic tourism could increase but the Scottish skiing industry is likely to disappear
- Farmers will need to change crops (from potatoes and wheat to maize and grapes) and irrigation costs could rise

How climate change might affect people in the developing world (LEDC)

BANGLADESH

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
- More frequent and/or stronger cyclones in the Bay of Bengal
- Rising sea levels erode the country's vital coastal mangrove swamps
- Northwest Bangladesh could become more prone to drought

ECONOMIC IMPACTS
- Flooding becomes more common wit increased rainfall and melt water from the Himalayan glacier, destroying crops and homes
- 10% of land could be lost to rising sea levels, leaving people landless and short of food; 10% of people live less than 1m above sea level
- Severe water shortages, if the monsoon rains fail, could lead to widespread famine

How did climate change during the Little Ice Age affect food production correct answer s?

Cooling caused glaciers to advance and stunted tree growth. Livestock died, harvests failed, and humans suffered from increased famine and disease. The Little Ice Age illustrates changes to climate that occur when the Sun is less active and cooling of Earth is exacerbated by volcanic eruptions.

How did climate change during the Little Ice Age impact the societies affected by it quizlet?

How did climate change during the Little Ice Age impact the societies affected by it? Average temperatures declined, shortening growing seasons in some regions. Precipitation was more irregular, meaning drought was more common in some regions. Enslaved people adopted many methods of resistance.

What is the Little Ice Age quizlet?

A century long period of cool climate that began in the 1590s. Its ill effects on agriculture in Europe were notable. The removal of trees faster than the forests can replace themselves.

What has an important bearing on temperature and rainfall in northern Europe?

The North Atlantic warming and cooling cycles are known as the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation (AMO) and they affect temperature, rainfall and wind patterns over Europe, Africa and North and South America.