AS/A2 & IB Geography: Year 12

Showing posts with label Year 12. Show all posts

Thursday, 12 March 2009

Earth warming faster than first thought....

The worst-case scenarios on climate change envisaged by the UN are already being realised, say scientists at an international meeting in Copenhagen. In a statement outlining their six key messages to political leaders, they say there is an increasing risk of abrupt or irreversible climate shifts. Even modest temperatures rises will affect millions of people, particularly in the developing world, they warn. But most tools needed to cut global carbon dioxide emissions already exist. More than 2,500 researchers and economists attended this meeting designed to update the world on the state of climate research ahead of key political negotiations set for December this year. New data was presented in Copenhagen on sea level rise, which indicated that the best estimates of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) made two years ago were woefully out of date. Read the full story here. Miss M.

Saturday, 3 January 2009

Coral decline - ecosytems in decline

Coral growth in Australia's Great Barrier Reef has slowed to its most sluggish rate in the past 400 years. The decline endangers the species the reef supports, say researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science. They studied massive porites corals, which are several hundred years old, and found that calcification has declined by 13.3% since 1990. Global warming and the increasing acidity of seawater are to blame, they write in Science journal. Read the full story here. Miss M.

Sunday, 16 November 2008

Natural Hazards/California casestudy

Three separate wildfires in southern California have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced thousands of people to flee the fast-moving flames. The fires, to the north, north-west and south of Los Angeles have burnt through dry brush and forest in the suburban canyonlands around the city. California's governor has declared states of emergency in Orange, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties. A drop in the wind force has given some relief to the hard-pressed fire crews. The largest of the fires is in the northern Los Angeles suburb of Sylmar, up against the canyons of the Angeles National Forest. Ten-thousand people were ordered to evacuate their homes as the flames raced through the Oakridge Mobile Home Park late on Friday, destroying about 500 of the structures. Firefighters were braving 50ft flame lengths as they swept across the mobile homes.

"We have never lost in recent times anything close to this number [of homes]," said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

He blamed the spread of the fire on "absolutely atrocious" winds of up to 80 mph (130 km/h) that pushed the fire out of the forests and into the suburbs, jumping wide highways in the process. Read the full story here. Miss M.

Monday, 10 November 2008

IB Core - Congo case study

IB Core - type of article you are looking for...use the links on the right hand side when you look at the page for similar articles..

A cholera outbreak is threatening tens of thousands of people who have fled fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, aid agencies have warned. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says it has seen more than 45 cases around the city of Goma and the number could rise. Meanwhile, the UN says fresh fighting has erupted between rebels in an area to the east of the country. It is the first new fighting since African leaders called for a ceasefire during a summit in Nairobi on Friday. MSF doctor Megan Hunter said people in the Kibati camp, close to Goma were living in "very bad sanitary conditions". Read the full story here. Miss M.

Sunday, 2 November 2008

Are Volcanoes natural??

The eruption of the Lusi mud volcano in Indonesia was caused by drilling for oil and gas, a meeting of 74 leading geologists has concluded. Lusi erupted in May 2006 and continues to spew out boiling mud, displacing around 30,000 people in East Java. Drilling firm Lapindo Brantas denies a nearby well was the trigger, blaming an earthquake 280km (174 miles) away. Around 10,000 families who have lost their homes are awaiting compensation, which could run as high as $70m (£43m). After debating new evidence at a conference in South Africa, most geologists voted drilling as the cause. Read the full story here. Miss M.

Thursday, 16 October 2008

Climate Change info...

Year 12s - check this out! Some excellent extra reading on climate change...Remember your casestudies - Africa and the Arctic...Year 13s - have a look, we will be studying climate change next year but its a useful link to bookmark now! Miss M.

Sunday, 7 September 2008

Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike is battering Cuba's northern coast, generating winds of more than 195km/h (120mph), giant waves and torrential rain. Cuban TV has said that some homes along the coast, where hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated, have been damaged beyond repair. Ike killed at least 47 people in Haiti and reportedly damaged 80% of homes on the main Turks and Caicos islands. It weakened to a Category Three storm but remains dangerous. The Cuban Meteorology Institute said the eye of the hurricane came ashore near Punta Lucrecia in the state of Holguin about 510 miles (823km) south-east of Havana. With Hurricane Gustav striking just a week ago, Cuba's internationally acclaimed emergency services are being stretched to the limit, the BBC's Michael Voss reports from Havana. Gustav caused serious damage to the western side of the island, damaging almost 100,000 homes. Read the full story here. Miss M.