GCSE Geography: Weather Hazards and Global Atmospheric Circulation

Comprehensive vocabulary revision flashcards covering key topics in global atmospheric circulation, weather systems, extreme weather in the UK, the 2014 Somerset Levels floods, and Typhoon Haiyan.

Somerset Levels Flooding (When and What)

A major flood event occurring between December 2013 and February 2014 across the Somerset Levels in South West England, resulting from an unprecedented succession of Atlantic depressions.

Somerset Levels: Physical and Human Causes

Physical causes included prolonged heavy rainfall, saturated soils, low-lying relief, and high tides; human causes included insufficient river dredging of the River Tone and River Parrett, alongside changes in farming practices and land drainage.

Somerset Levels: Impacts

Social impacts included over 600 homes flooded and loss of power; economic impacts exceeded £10 million in local financial damages; environmental impacts included contaminated floodwaters and soil degradation from stagnant water and sewage.

Somerset Levels: Immediate and Long-Term Responses

Immediate responses involved emergency boat evacuations, royal marines deployment, and sandbagging; long-term responses included the £100 million 20-year Flood Action Plan, river dredging, and raised road embankments.

Typhoon Haiyan: Primary and Secondary Effects

Primary effects included over 6,000 deaths, widespread structural damage, and a 5-metre storm surge destroying Tacloban; secondary effects included 1.9 million left homeless, widespread looting, and outbreaks of waterborne diseases.

Typhoon Haiyan: Immediate and Long-Term Responses

Immediate responses included pre-emptive evacuation of 800,000 residents, international military rescue aid, and emergency relief supplies; long-term responses included the government 'Build Back Better' initiative, designated 'no-build' coastal zones, and mangrove replanting.

Extreme Weather (UK Context)

Weather conditions that deviate significantly from the typical, average, or expected historical conditions in the United Kingdom, presenting severe risks to human life, infrastructure, and the economy.

High Pressure (Anticyclone)

A weather system characterized by sinking air, resulting in dry, stable, calm conditions with clear skies and minimal precipitation.

Low Pressure (Depression)

A weather system characterized by rising warm air that cools and condenses, resulting in cloud formation, precipitation, and windy, unsettled weather.

Conditions Required for Tropical Storm Formation

Ocean surface temperatures of at least $27^\circ\text{C}$, an ocean depth of at least $60\text{–}70\,\text{m}$, low vertical wind shear, and a location between $5^\circ$ and $30^\circ$ north or south of the equator for the Coriolis effect.

Causes of Variable Weather in the UK

The confluence of five distinct air masses (Tropical maritime, Tropical continental, Polar maritime, Polar continental, and Arctic maritime) driven across the country by the fluctuating polar jet stream.

Location of Deserts ($30^\circ$ North and South)

Subtropical high-pressure zones where cool air from the descending limb of the Hadley Cell sinks, warms, and prevents cloud formation, creating extremely arid conditions.

Features of a Mature Tropical Storm

A calm, cloudless central eye of descending air, surrounded by a dense eye wall containing towering cumulonimbus clouds, intense precipitation, and severe gale-force winds, flanked outward by spiral rain bands.

Global Atmospheric Circulation

The planetary system of air movement caused by uneven solar heating across latitudes, driven by three major circulation cells in each hemisphere: the Hadley, Ferrel, and Polar cells.