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Weather and Climate

Climate change: shifting belts, tipping points and response

  • 2 things to know
  • Component 3 Section B

Overview

Shifting climate belts, climate tipping point and amazon dieback.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What is meant by shifting climate belts?

Key term

How is the Sahel affected by shifting climate belts?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is meant by shifting climate belts?

    Model answer

    Shifting climate belts is the poleward migration of climatic zones as the planet warms. The subtropical dry belts expand and the temperate zones move towards the poles.

  2. 2

    Give one consequence of the poleward shift of climate belts for agriculture.

    Model answer

    The growing season lengthens at high latitudes and new land becomes cultivable. Established farming regions at the dry margins lose reliable rainfall.

  3. 3

    How is the Sahel affected by shifting climate belts?

    Model answer

    Expansion of the subtropical high pushes the dry belt further south. Rainfall becomes less reliable and desertification pressure increases.

  4. 4

    Define a climate tipping point.

    Model answer

    A tipping point is a threshold beyond which a change in the climate system becomes self-sustaining. The system shifts to a new state that cannot readily be reversed.

  5. 5

    Name three components of the climate system considered at risk of tipping.

    Model answer

    The Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, Arctic permafrost and the Amazon rainforest are all considered at risk. The Atlantic overturning circulation is another.

  6. 6

    Why is permafrost thaw described as a tipping element?

    Model answer

    Permafrost thaws and releases stored carbon dioxide and methane. The added greenhouse gases drive further warming, which thaws more permafrost.

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