1.3 UK Environmental Challenges

GCSE

What are the differences between weather and climate?

• Weather is the day-to-day conditions of the atmosphere

• Climate is the average weather conditions calculated over a 30-year period

What are air masses?

• Air masses are large bodies of air that transfers different conditions from it’s source area to the UK

How do air masses influence the weather in the UK?

• Air masses would bring conditions such as temperature which can be warm or cold

• Moisture will affect the amount of rainfall recieved in the UK

What is the North Atlantic Drift?

• Warm ocean current that moves in a Northeast direction in the Atlantic Ocean

How does the North Atlantic Drift influence the weather in the UK?

• It transfers the warm conditions to the western side of the British Isles, so the western side of the UK often doesn’t experience a severe winter

What is Continentality?

• A measure of how a place's climate is affected by its distance from the ocean and oceanic air

How does Continentality influence the weather in the UK?

• Areas that are far from the sea, such as the interiors of large continents (Europe) experience greater temperature extremes

• Europe transfers these conditions to the UK

Polar Maritime

• Greenland/Arctic Sea

• Wet, cold air with showers

Tropical Maritime

• Atlantic

• Warm, moist air with showers

Arctic Maritime

• Arctic

• Wet, cold air with snow

Polar Continental

• Central Europe

• Dry, cold winters

• Dry, hot summers

Tropical Continental

• North Africa

• Hot, dry air

How does air masses cause extreme weather conditions in the UK?

• When a warm air mass meets a cold air mass, the warm air rises and condenses into water vapor, creating a warm front. The turbulence between the air masses can create storms

• When air masses with different properties meet, they can create fronts that lead to cloud formation and precipitation
  

What extreme weather can tropical maritime air masses bring to the UK?

• Winter storms

• Fog

Example of extreme weather caused by tropical maritime?

• Darwish Storm 2014

• Stormiest period of weather experienced by the UK for 20 years

Economic impacts of the Dawlish Storm?

• Total damage = up to 1.2bn

• Railway line cost = 35m

• Sea wall cost = 80m

Social impacts of the Dawlish Storm?

• Key transport link is inaccessible

• 12 Feb = 100,000 homes without power

• Housing roofs damaged in Porthmadog

What extreme weather can arctic maritime air masses bring to the UK?

• Heavy snowfall

• Hail showers

Example of extreme weather caused by arctic maritime?

• UK heavy snow 2004

• It was the most severe period of winter weather since 1981/82

What changes have taken place in modern farming?

• Farm size = bigger

• Farm machinery = bigger, more land can be ploughed/harvested

• Use of fertilisers = more

• Use of pesticides = more, ensure high-quality products

• Woodland = less, woods are cleared = more fields

• Hedgerow = less, removed to merge fields

What positive impacts has modernisation of farming has had on the environment?

• Seasonal foods avaliable all year

• High crop yields to feed the population

• Food is relatively cheaper

• Less intensive labour

• Choice of organic/local produce

What negative impacts has modernisation of farming has had on the environment?

• Eutrophication

• Soil exhaustion 

• Pesticides are killing huge numbers of essential insects e.g, bees that are vital pollinators​

• Food produced by machinery has a high carbon footprint​

• High consumption of beef and dairy products = global warming, methane produced by cows is 25% worse in terms of global warming than carbon dioxide

• Cheap food = food waste – av. household wastes 25% of the food they buy in the UK

What can be done to reduce the negative impacts of modernisation?

• Shoppers encouraged to buy only what they need​

• Organic farming – less pesticides and artificial fertiliser​

• Farmers encouraged to put back hedgerows and take care when applying pesticides and fertilisers​

• Shoppers encouraged to cut back on meat and dairy

• Shoppers choose to buy fruit in season

What is Eutrophication?

• Fertiliser washing into the river, causing algae to be overgrown, algae dies and gets decomposed by bacteria, utilising oxygen, plants and fish die

Why is commerical fishing so important?

• Commercial fishing has increased throughout the twenty-first century

• Over 1 billion people rely on fish for their primary food source

What is commercial fishing?

• Taking of fish and other seafood and resources from oceans, rivers, and lakes for the purpose of marketing them

How has fishing become commercialised?

• “Factory ships” trawl with vast nets and process the catch as they go, cleaning, cooking and canning fish so that the ship can stay out to sea for a longer time.

• Sonar helps to locate shoals of fish and modern lifting gear means huge nets can be used

How does over-fishing affect the ecosystem?

• Over-fishing of popular species such as cod, too many young fish are caught, and there are not enough left in the sea to breed and produce new fish

• This may also affect the food chain

• Unbalanced ecosystems

How does commercial fishing cause the accidental death of other species?

• Dolphins caught by mistake in large nets meant for tuna, or coral reefs being snagged by deep trawlers

Why is commercial fishing unsustainable?

• Av. fish catch = decline for 10 years

• Fishing boats have to travel further as the stocks migrate away

• More diesel fuel, causing water pollution and an increase in the use of fossil fuels

What has the government done to minimise the consequences of commercial fishing?

• Minimum sizes of certain fish that are allowed to be taken from the sea, to prevent depleting stock levels (quotas)

• Consumers are encouraged to be aware of other fish that are more sustainable for consumption

• Organisations, the Marine Stewardship Council published a guidance on how to choose sustainable fish

What are some measures that could be done to prevent depleted fish stocks?

• Stop eating overfished species - find alternative sources

• Increase the price of fish

• Limiting the import and export of fish - countries rely on their own fish stocks

What is fracking?

• Fracking is the process of splitting shale rocks by high-pressured water and chemicals to extract oil and gas

What are the advantages of fracking?

• Thousands of jobs created - no previous experience - opportunities to make money

• Minimal impact above ground - does not affect the landscape

• Fracking provides the UK with inaccessible gas - 37t m3 of gas estimated to be located - Bowland - Hodder shale

What are the disadvantages of fracking?

• Chemicals contaminate groundwater supplies - groundwater supplies are used for drinking

• Fracking is non-renewable, reliance on fossil fuels - releases methane, a greenhouse gas 25% more potent than carbon dioxide

• Fracking sites require HGVs to transport water - congestion on roads, local air quality decreased

What are the advantages for wind power?

• Cost-effective​

• Can be built on existing land or sea​

• Clean fuel source, does not degrade air quality or contribute to global warming

• Sustainable

What are the disadvantages for wind power?

• Wind fluctuates so power is not always constant

• Direct collision deaths/habitat degradation, negative impacts on biodiversity, with birds and bats being particularly affected

• Noise pollution

• Visual pollution

• They cover large areas: an 80-meter rotor would need to be 560 meters

Different water transfer schemes across the UK?

• Rivers

• Pipelines

• Road tankers

What are the advantages of rivers as a water transfer scheme?

• Very low cost as its a natural carrier

• Reduces flooding in the area

What are the disadvantages of rivers as a water transfer scheme?

• Water temperature and pH may be different, damaging aquatic ecosystems

• Sediment left in reservoir, water can erode the channel

What are the advantages of pipelines?

• Reliable transfer of large quantity with no pollution

What are the disadvantages of pipelines?

• Must be buried underground, as pipes are a visual pollution

• Expensive

• Route cannot be changed

What are the advantages of road tankers?

• Efficient delivery

What are the disadvantages of road tankers?

• High chance of accidents on the road

• Very expensive to move a small amount of water

What is a reservoir?

• A large artificial lake used as a source of water supply

Why does the UK use reservoirs?

• The UK has a water surplus in the North and West and a water deficit in the South and East

• Supplies can be transferred. Reservoirs collect and store water in areas of high rainfall, then canals and pipes transport the water to rivers or reservoirs in other parts of the country

What are the benefits of reservoirs to the UK?

• ​Large supplies of drinking water all year round and reduces water insecurity, especially where precipitation may be seasonal

• Dams and reservoirs can also prevent flooding, as the flow of the river is controlled, can generate electricity through HEP

What are the negative impacts of reservoirs?

• Large amounts of land are needed. This can be good agricultural land. They can also require the displacement of people and their relocation

• Aquatic ecosystem gets disturbed

How are aquatic ecosystems affected by water transfer schemes?

• Water transfer leads to nutrient imbalances - aquatic plant and animals affected

• Water transfer schemes rely on hard engineering of rivers - alters natural flow and water access for the source

• Spreads invasive species, threatening the ecosystem

What is renewable energy?

• Energy produced from energy sources that do not run out

Examples of renewable energy?

• Wind

• Hydro

• Solar

What is non-renewable energy?

• Energy produced from energy sources that eventually run out

Examples of non-renewable energy

• Coal

• Natural gas

• Oil

Which renewable energy produces greenhouse gases?

• Biomass

• Burning of dung or plant matter releases CO2 into the atmosphere

What is biomass and how is it produced?

• Energy produced from organic matter

• Burning dung/plant matter into biofuels

Importance of biomass to the UK?

• Biofuels are used in transportation (around 3%)

• In total, biofuels account for over 5% of the UK’s electricity generation

How is wind energy produced?

• Turbines connected to a generator are turned by the wind to generate electricity

Importance of wind energy to the UK?

• 2023 - wind power accounted for 29.4% of the UK’s electricty generation

• Considerable potential for the future

What is HEP and how is it produced?

• Hydroelectric power

• Large scale/micro dams use water to spin turbines, generating electricity

Importance of HEP to the UK?

• Large dams are expensive and controversial whilst micro dams are becoming popular

• 1.4% of the UK’s electricity generation

How is geothermal energy produced?

• In volcanic regions (Iceland), water is heated underground by hot rocks to create steam which spins the turbines to generate electricity

Importance of geothermal energy in the UK?

• Not so important

• Small geothermal plants in the UK e.g, Southampton

How is tidal energy produced?

• Turbines within dams are constructed across river estuaries can use rising and falling tides to generate electricity

Importance of tidal energy to the UK?

• No existing tidal power plants in the UK

• High costs and environmental concerns

• In the future, sites such as Swansea/Bridgwater Bay could potentially be developed for tidal energy

How is wave energy produced?

• Waves force air into a chamber which turns a turbine linked to a generator

Importance of wave energy to the UK?

• High costs and environmental concerns

• Experimental sites in the UK

How is solar energy produced?

• Photovoltaic cells on solar panels which convert light from the sun into electricity

Importance of solar energy to the UK?

• Potential as a lot of solar power can be generated during the summer

• Increasing number of solar farms in the UK

• 2023 - 4.9% of the UK’s electricity generation

What is energy mix?

• A measure of the different sources of energy

What percentage was coal accounted for the UK’s energy supply in the 1960s?

• 80%

What event in the 1980s contributed to a sudden dip in coal production?

• A prolonged miners' strike in 1984-1985

What were the 2 consequences of the miner’s strike in the 1980s?

• Mine closures

• Job losses

Why did coal production decline rapidly after the 1980s?

• Coal became increasingly expensive to mine

• Alternative energy source/oil/gas became avaliable from the Middle-East

What significant action did OPEC take in 1974?

• OPEC quadrupled the price of oil on world markets

• This heavily impacted the world’s economy, causing increased unemployment/inflation

What did the UK government recognise in 1975?

• The potential power of OPEC in determining world prices

• The UK should be as self-sufficient as possible in energy production in case there were any sudden changes

Who was involved in the production of North Sea oil in 1975?

• Multinational oil companies

• UK government, through taxation

What event in the early 1990s led to rapid growth in the gas industry?

• The repeal of the EU's gas burn directive/before, the EU's gas burn directive had imposed restrictions on the use of gas

• Gas industry grew rapidly

What factors have led to the development of renewable energy sources in recent years?

• The EU and UN has challenged global climate change

• Setting limits on reducing carbon emission

What has been a result of setting limits on global emissions?

• Reduction in the use of hydrocarbons

• Coal and oil

What percentage of electricity generation came from renewables at the start of 2024?

• 50.9%

What are some renewable sources of energy that the UK government has supported?

• Wind

• Solar

Why is natural gas considered as the ‘favourite’ hydro-carbon?

• Relatively low sulfur/carbon emissions

What percentage of electricity was generated from gas in 2023?

• 32%

What is the UK government's target for reducing carbon emissions by 2050?

• 60% reduction

Why did the UK government recognise the need to build new power stations during the 2007 ‘Meeting the Energy Challenge’?

• Electricity power stations had to replace those built in the 1960s and 1970s

• Electricity would be produced efficiently, energy security

What is being encouraged in foreign countries to help build new power stations?

• Foreign investment/like China