Key term
WJEC A-Level Geography 601-8455-3
Coastal Landscapes
Topic overviewThe coast as an open systemSediment sources and sediment cellsTides and coastal currentsConstructive and destructive wavesHigh energy coasts and erosional landscape systemsLow energy coasts and depositional landscape systemsFetch, wave refraction and wave energyLithology and structural geology at the coastSub-aerial weathering and mass movementMarine processes of erosionErosional landforms of rocky coastsCoastal transport and longshore driftDeposition, flocculation and sediment sortingDepositional landforms of sandy coastsSand dunes and aeolian processesEstuaries, tidal flats and salt marshesCoral reefs and mangrove coastlinesCoastal change over different timescalesCoastal processes and human activityHuman impact on coastal landscape systems
Glaciated Landscapes
Topic overviewThe glacier as an open systemClimate change and the glacier budgetGlacier movementTypes of ice mass and their distributionGlacial weathering and erosion processesMacro-scale erosional landformsGlacial transport and depositional landformsFluvioglacial landformsSuites of landforms in glacial landscapesPeriglacial processes and ground icePeriglacial action of water and windGlacial change over different timescalesGlacial environments and human activity
Tectonic Hazards
Topic overviewThe internal structure of the EarthMechanisms of plate movementDivergent and conservative plate marginsConvergent margins and subductionHot spots and the global distribution of tectonic hazardsThe hazard profile and measuring magnitudeTypes of volcano and styles of eruptionPrimary volcanic hazardsSecondary volcanic hazardsImpacts of volcanic activity at different scalesContrasting volcanic eruptionsEarthquake characteristics and seismic wavesEarthquake hazards and ground behaviourTsunami processes and impactsContrasting earthquake eventsRisk, vulnerability and human factorsMonitoring, prediction and warningMitigation, response and the hazard management cycle
Changing Places
Topic overviewWhat gives a place its characterFlows and connections that shape placesMeaning, perception and attachment to placeHow places are representedEconomic restructuring and the Clark Fisher modelDeindustrialisation and social inequalityThe service economy and its impactsThe knowledge economy and clustersRebranding rural placesManaging change in rural placesRebranding urban placesManaging change in urban placesComparing a home place with a contrasting placeHow place change affects people's lives
Water and Carbon Cycles
Topic overviewThe water cycle as a global system and mass balanceGlobal water stores and residence timesCryospheric processes and sea-level changeDrainage basin inputs, stores and outputsFlows within the drainage basinRiver regimes and their controlsStorm hydrographs and hydrograph shapeAir uplift, cloud formation and precipitationExcess runoff and floodingDeficit in the water cycle and aquifer rechargeThe global carbon cycle and its storesCarbon pathways between land and the atmosphereCarbon transfers involving the oceansCarbon stores in biomes and land-use changeChanging carbon stores in peatlandsRising atmospheric carbon and its impactsFeedback within and between the water and carbon cycles
Global Migration
Topic overviewGlobalisation and a shrinking worldClassifying and mapping migrationCauses of international economic migrationConsequences and management of economic migrationRefugee movements and internal displacementRural-urban migration in developing countriesSuperpowers and global hub citiesMigration policy and public debate in the UKManaging refugee crisesInformal settlements in developing cities
Global Governance of the Oceans
Topic overviewSupranational institutions and global governanceLaws and agreements governing the oceansStrategic value of the oceans and maritime securityShipping, cables and illicit flowsSovereignty over ocean resourcesManaging marine environmentsOcean pollution and its managementGovernance across scales: an ocean case study
EcosystemsContemporary theme
Topic overviewThe value of ecosystems to peopleThe distribution of global biomesEcosystem structure, energy flow and productivityNutrient cycling in contrasting biomesMeasuring and threatening biodiversityConserving biodiversitySuccession and local ecosystemsThe Arctic tundra biomeSustainable use of the Arctic tundra
Economic Growth and Challenge: IndiaContemporary theme
Economic Growth and Challenge: ChinaContemporary theme
Development in an African ContextContemporary theme
Energy Challenges and DilemmasContemporary theme
Weather and ClimateContemporary theme
Fieldwork and Geographical Skills
Weather and Climate
- 8 subtopics
- 24 things to know
- A2 Unit 4
- A2 Unit 4, two contemporary themes chosen from four
What Weather and Climate covers
Weather and Climate is examined in A2 Unit 4, Contemporary Themes in Geography, where two optional themes are chosen from four. It covers structure of the atmosphere and the heat budget, global atmospheric and oceanic circulation, the world's major climate types, weather and climate of Wales and the UK, extreme weather and ENSO, hazards of low and high pressure systems, urban climates and air quality and people, climate and the future.
Where it is assessed
A2 Unit 4
Contemporary Themes in Geography, where two optional themes are chosen from four.
Check the WJEC specification ↗The 8 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Structure of the atmosphere and the heat budgetHow temperature changes with height in the troposphere, role of the ozone layer in making the surface habitable and atmospheric heat budget.Open →
- Global atmospheric and oceanic circulationThree cells of the tricellular model, operation of the Hadley cell and polar cell.Open →
- The world's major climate typesEquatorial climate, why equatorial regions have rain on most days and tropical wet and dry.Open →
- Weather and climate of Wales and the UKClimate of Wales and the UK in general terms, four factors that give the UK its climate and west-east rainfall gradient across Wales and England.Open →
- Extreme weather and ENSONormal conditions in the Pacific in a non-El Niño year, what happens during an El Niño event and la Niña.Open →
- Hazards of low and high pressure systemsHow a mid-latitude depression forms, weather sequence as a depression passes and two hazards associated with a deep depression in the UK.Open →
- Urban climates and air qualityUrban heat island, how buildings alter wind in a city and canyon effect.Open →
- People, climate and the futureAnthropogenic climate change, how climate belts are expected to shift and tipping point in the climate system.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
What is the eye of a tropical cyclone?
Key term
Explain why mitigation is harder to agree than adaptation.
Key term
Name the four main layers of the atmosphere in order from the surface.
Key term
Name the three cells of the tricellular model.
Key term
Describe the equatorial climate.
Key term
Describe the climate of Wales and the UK in general terms.
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What does ENSO stand for?
Key term
Define the urban heat island.
Key term
In which layer does almost all weather occur, and why?
Key term
Describe the operation of the Hadley cell.
Key term
Explain why equatorial regions have rain on most days.
Key term
Name four factors that give the UK its climate.
Key term
Describe normal conditions in the Pacific in a non-El Niño year.
Key term
Explain why the urban heat island is strongest at night and in calm conditions.
Key term
Define anthropogenic climate change.
Key term
Why does temperature rise with height in the stratosphere?
Key term
Explain why deserts cluster around 30° north and south.
Key term
Describe the hot desert climate.
Key term
Explain the west-east rainfall gradient across Wales and England.
Key term
Describe what happens during an El Niño event.
Process
Describe the weather sequence as a depression passes.
Key term
How much warmer than its surroundings can a large city be?
Key term
Why can ecosystems fail to move with a shifting climate belt?
Take Weather and Climate further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Weather vs Climate
Weather: the state of the atmosphere at a particular moment or over a few days. Climate: the average and the variability of that state at a location over decades.
El Niño vs La Niña
El Niño: the phase in which the trade winds weaken or reverse and the eastern Pacific becomes unusually warm. La Niña: the phase in which those winds strengthen and the eastern Pacific becomes unusually cool.
Mitigation vs Adaptation
Mitigation: action that reduces the cause of a problem, so that less of it occurs. Adaptation: action that adjusts to consequences which can no longer be prevented.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Name the four main layers of the atmosphere in order from the surface.
Model answer
The troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere and the thermosphere.
- 2
In which layer does almost all weather occur, and why?
Model answer
The troposphere, because it holds most of the atmosphere's water vapour and is heated from below, so it convects.
- 3
Describe how temperature changes with height in the troposphere.
Model answer
It falls with height, at an average environmental lapse rate of about 6.5°C per kilometre.
- 4
Why does temperature rise with height in the stratosphere?
Model answer
Ozone there absorbs ultraviolet radiation, warming the layer from above rather than from the surface below.
- 5
What is the tropopause?
Model answer
The tropopause is the boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere, where the fall of temperature with height ceases.
- 6
Explain the role of the ozone layer in making the surface habitable.
Model answer
It absorbs most incoming ultraviolet radiation, which would otherwise damage living tissue at the surface.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Weather and Climate revision questions
- What does Weather and Climate cover in WJEC A-Level Geography?
- 8 subtopics: structure of the atmosphere and the heat budget, global atmospheric and oceanic circulation, the world's major climate types, weather and climate of wales and the uk, extreme weather and enso, hazards of low and high pressure systems, urban climates and air quality and people, climate and the future. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Weather and Climate organised?
- By the WJEC 601-8455-3 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Weather and Climate, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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