Key term
OCR GCSE Geography A J383
Ecosystems of the Planet
Topic overviewAbiotic and biotic components, and how ecosystems interactThe world’s biomes: where they are and what they are likeWhere the tropical rainforests are, and what they are likeWhere the coral reefs are, and what they are likeRainforest processes and nutrient cyclingTwo threatened ecosystems: a rainforest and a coral reef
Environmental Threats to Our Planet
Topic overviewClimate change through the Quaternary, and since 1000ADThe evidence for climate changeNatural causes of climate change, and the enhanced greenhouse effectThe consequences of climate changeThe world’s climatic regions and global atmospheric circulationHow global circulation produces extreme weatherTropical storms: causes, distribution and frequencyA drought caused by El Niño or La Niña
Fieldwork Skills
Geographical Skills
Topic overviewConstructing maps, and reading cross-sections and transectsCoordinates, scale, distance and reading information from a mapGradient, contours, spot heights and GISChoosing, constructing and presenting graphs and chartsReading and interpreting the main graph and chart typesNumber, area, scale and the relationships between unitsProportion and ratio, and measures of central tendency and spreadPercentages and percentiles, and designing data collection sheetsReading tables, and describing relationships in bivariate dataTrend lines and lines of best fitPredicting from data, and spotting weak statistical presentationDrawing and justifying conclusions from dataInterpreting images and written sources, and recognising biasJudging the limits of maps, graphs, statistics and images
Landscapes of the UK
People of the Planet
Topic overviewDefining and measuring developmentThe global pattern of development: ACs, EDCs and LIDCsWhy development is uneven, and the role of aidA developing or emerging country: its context and economyRostow’s model and the country’s path of developmentCities, megacities and world citiesWhy urban growth rates differ around the worldRapid urbanisation in poorer countries: causes and effectsA major city in a poorer or emerging country
People of the UK
Topic overviewThe UK’s trade, media and cultural links with the worldThe UK’s geographical diversity and its inequalitiesUneven development within the UK, and the effects of economic growthHow the UK’s population structure has changed since 1900Immigration into the UK in the twenty-first centuryUrban trends in the UK and their effectsA major UK city: its people, challenges and ways of life
UK Environmental Challenges
Topic overviewAir masses, the North Atlantic Drift and the UK’s extreme weatherA UK flood event: causes, effects and responsesHow people use, modify and change UK ecosystemsThe UK’s renewable and non-renewable energy sourcesChanging UK energy supply and demand, and sustainable useRenewables in the UK, and the future of fossil fuelsWhat shapes the UK’s energy choices
Environmental Threats to Our Planet
Natural causes of climate change, and the enhanced greenhouse effect
- 3 things to know
- Component 02
Overview
Sunspots, the Milankovitch cycles of eccentricity, obliquity and precession, how volcanic eruptions cool the climate for a short time, why natural causes cannot explain recent warming, the greenhouse and enhanced greenhouse effects, and the carbon released by fossil fuels, farming and deforestation.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
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Key term
How is the number of sunspots thought to affect the climate?
Key term
What are the Milankovitch cycles?
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
How is the number of sunspots thought to affect the climate?
Model answer
More sunspots mean the Sun is giving out more energy, so more reaches the Earth and the climate warms; fewer sunspots mean a cooler climate.
- 2
What are the Milankovitch cycles?
Model answer
Regular long-term changes in the Earth’s orbit and axis that alter how much solar energy reaches different parts of the planet.
- 3
What three changes in the Earth’s orbit and axis do the Milankovitch cycles describe?
Model answer
Eccentricity, the shape of the orbit; obliquity, the angle of tilt of the axis; and precession, the wobble of the axis.
- 4
How does a large volcanic eruption cool the climate?
Model answer
Ash and sulfur dioxide blasted into the upper atmosphere reflect incoming sunlight back to space, so temperatures fall for a year or two.
- 5
Why is volcanic activity only a short-term influence on climate?
Model answer
The ash and gas settle out of the atmosphere within a few years, after which temperatures return to where they were.
- 6
Why can natural causes not explain the warming of the last hundred years?
Model answer
Solar output and orbital change have not altered in a way that matches the speed or the timing of the temperature rise.
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