CSS Environmental Sciences Climate Change Syllabus

Climate Change syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Climate Change in CSS Environmental Sciences, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   The Climate System

   3 topics

   • Climate Patterns at Local, Regional and Global Scales
   • Climate Types
   • Components of the Climate System
2. 2

   Drivers and Indicators of Climate Change

   4 topics

   • Natural and Anthropogenic Drivers
   • Greenhouse Gases and Radiative Forcing
   • Indicators of a Changing Climate
   • Carbon Footprint
3. 3

   Impacts on Natural and Societal Systems

   4 topics

   • Impacts on Water Resources and Glaciers
   • Impacts on Agriculture and Food Security
   • Impacts on Health and Human Settlements
   • Climate Change Vulnerability of Pakistan
4. 4

   Adaptation and Mitigation

   4 topics

   • Adaptation Strategies
   • Mitigation Strategies
   • Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
   • REDD and REDD+
5. 5

   Global Climate Politics

   3 topics

   • Roles of India, China and the USA
   • Copenhagen Accord 2009
   • Paris Agreement and Beyond

Climate Change flashcards for CSS Environmental Sciences

25 of 50 cards from the Climate Change deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is the difference between weather and climate?

   Weather is the short-term, day-to-day state of the atmosphere (temperature, rain, wind) at a place; climate is the long-term average of weather conditions over an extended period, typically 30 years as defined by the WMO.

2. At what three spatial scales are climate patterns typically studied?

   Local scale (microclimate of a city, valley or coast), regional scale (e.g. South Asian monsoon belt), and global scale (planet-wide circulation and energy balance).

3. What is a microclimate? Give an example.

   A microclimate is the distinctive climate of a small, local area that differs from its surroundings. Example: the urban heat island, where a city is warmer than nearby rural areas due to concrete, asphalt and waste heat.

4. What are the three primary cells of global atmospheric circulation in each hemisphere?

   The Hadley cell (equator to ~30 degrees), the Ferrel cell (~30 to 60 degrees), and the Polar cell (~60 to 90 degrees).

5. Which classification system divides world climates into five main types using temperature and precipitation, and what are they?

   The Koppen climate classification. Its five main groups are A (Tropical), B (Dry/Arid), C (Temperate/Mild mid-latitude), D (Continental/Cold), and E (Polar).

6. In the Koppen system, what does the letter B designate and what is its defining feature?

   B designates Dry (arid and semi-arid) climates, defined by evaporation exceeding precipitation; it includes desert (BW) and steppe (BS) sub-types.

7. What are the five components of the climate system?

   Atmosphere (air), hydrosphere (oceans, rivers, lakes), cryosphere (ice and snow), lithosphere/land surface (geosphere), and biosphere (living organisms).

8. What role does the cryosphere play in regulating Earth's climate?

   The cryosphere (ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice, snow) reflects solar radiation due to its high albedo, helping cool the planet; its loss reduces albedo and amplifies warming (ice-albedo feedback).

9. Why are the oceans considered a critical component of the climate system?

   Oceans store and transport vast amounts of heat, absorb roughly a quarter of human CO2 emissions, drive currents that redistribute energy, and have a high heat capacity that buffers temperature change.

10. What is the distinction between natural and anthropogenic drivers of climate change?

    Natural drivers arise without human action (solar variation, volcanic eruptions, orbital cycles, ocean oscillations); anthropogenic drivers result from human activity (fossil fuel burning, deforestation, industry, agriculture).

11. Name three natural drivers of climate change.

    Variations in solar output (sunspot cycles), volcanic eruptions (aerosols causing cooling), and Milankovitch orbital cycles (eccentricity, axial tilt, precession).

12. What are the Milankovitch cycles?

    Long-term, cyclical variations in Earth's orbit and rotation that affect insolation and drive ice ages: eccentricity (orbit shape, ~100,000 yrs), obliquity (axial tilt, ~41,000 yrs), and precession (wobble, ~23,000 yrs).

13. What is the leading anthropogenic driver of modern climate change?

    The burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas), which releases large quantities of carbon dioxide and is the dominant source of human greenhouse gas emissions.

14. Define the greenhouse effect.

    The process by which greenhouse gases in the atmosphere absorb and re-emit outgoing infrared (longwave) radiation, trapping heat near Earth's surface and keeping the planet warmer than it would otherwise be.

15. Name the principal greenhouse gases.

    Water vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), ozone (O3), and synthetic fluorinated gases (CFCs, HFCs, PFCs, SF6).

16. What is radiative forcing?

    Radiative forcing is the change in the net radiative energy balance of the Earth-atmosphere system (measured in watts per square metre, W/m2) caused by a driver; positive forcing warms, negative forcing cools.

17. What is Global Warming Potential (GWP)?

    GWP is a measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps over a given time horizon (usually 100 years) relative to the same mass of CO2, which has a GWP of 1.

18. What are the approximate 100-year GWP values of methane and nitrous oxide?

    Methane (CH4) has a GWP of about 28-34, and nitrous oxide (N2O) about 265-298, far higher than CO2's value of 1.

19. Why is methane a concern despite being less abundant than CO2?

    Methane has a much higher global warming potential (about 28-34 times CO2 over 100 years) and a shorter atmospheric lifetime, so cutting it yields rapid near-term warming reductions.

20. What is the largest anthropogenic source of nitrous oxide (N2O)?

    Agriculture, primarily the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and management of animal manure and soils.

21. Approximately what was the pre-industrial atmospheric CO2 concentration, and roughly where is it today?

    Pre-industrial CO2 was about 280 parts per million (ppm); it has now exceeded about 420 ppm.

22. List four key indicators of a changing climate.

    Rising global average surface temperature, rising sea level, shrinking glaciers and ice sheets, declining Arctic sea ice, ocean acidification and warming, and more frequent extreme weather events.

23. By roughly how much has global average surface temperature risen since the pre-industrial era?

    By about 1.1 to 1.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial (late 19th-century) levels.

24. What is ocean acidification and what causes it?

    Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease in seawater pH caused by the ocean absorbing excess atmospheric CO2, which forms carbonic acid and harms shell-forming and coral organisms.

25. What two processes drive sea-level rise under global warming?

    Thermal expansion of warming seawater, and the addition of water from melting land ice (glaciers and the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets).

See more Climate Change flashcards →

Planning Climate Change for CSS Environmental Sciences

Climate Change (CSS Environmental Sciences) FAQ