This document is a simple collection of key facts and figures to learn and include to elevate any extended answers in AQA Geography exams for the Water and Carbon cycle section.
Water on earth is estimated at 1.338 ×109 km 3
72% of planet’s surface is ocean/seas
rivers make up 0.0002% of earth’s water
Phytoplankton – hold 90% of ocean’s biomass and are sun harvesters
Water stays in atmosphere for about 10 days
90% of atmospheric water is from evaporation and 10% is from transpiration
Sea level rise of 32 cm by 2050
Global average sea level has increased by 24cm since 1880
Average sea temperature has increased by 0.6C in last 4 years
Tropical forests are the biggest interceptors (58% of rainfall), then needle leaves (22%), then
deciduous (19%)
If 50-100% of basin is deforested this has increased effect
afforestation – Great Green Wall in Africa -> 11 million trees across 11 countries,
tile drains - Ohio study showed farmers get a return of $1.20 to $1.90 for every $1 spent
Pre-1960s the sand aquifers were exploited for industrialisation and groundwater levels in
London fell to 88m bsl
Atmosphere – 750 GT
Hydrosphere – 38000 GT
Crust – 100 milion GT (ff= 4000)
Soil – 2500 GT
Plants – 560 GT
Cryosphere – 6 GT in Antarctica
3-4 million km2 burned every year releasing over 1 billion tonnes of carbon into atmosphere
as CO2
present day volcanoes have emitted less than 1% of the CO2 released by humans.
2% of Earth’s land is urbanised but these areas are responsible for 97% of anthropogenic
CO2
Industry – accounts for 23% of ghg emissions
Cement production –accounts for 8% of global carbon emissions
Transport – accounts for 25% of CO2 emission Motor vehicles accounted for 83% of CO2
transportation emissions in 2019.
Residential – 13% of 2021 ghg emissions
Oxford Uni found cutting meat and dairy products from your diet can reduce your footprint
by up to 70%.
each cow emits an average of 100kg of methane each year and accounts for 14% of all
human-induced ghg emissions
Sea forest supplement- feed supplement of which 0.5% of SeaFead can cut methane
emissions by up to 90%, can be grown on land or in the sea
Rice yield has increased 25% due to increase in CO2 in atmosphere but has caused 40%
increase in methane emissions
Forests absorb about 30% of the world’s carbon emissions each year
Deforestation contributed around 12% of annual ghg emissions
Humans have cleared 420 million hectares of forest since 1990
Forests are carbon sinks capable of holding 861 gigatons of carbon
2050 models project 0.5*C increase from 1986-2005 average
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