Rethinking the effects.

The researchers say: "Tropical land surface changes should be expected to play a greater role on global climate than El Nino, given that thunderstorms prefer to form over land, and the fact that the large area of tropical land-use changes far exceeds the relatively small area of water responsible for El Nino. Impacts of land-use changes are harder to detect because they are permanent, as opposed to El Nino, which comes and goes." They propose a new way to measure the impacts of both greenhouse gases and landcover changes - a formula that quantifies all the anthropogenic climate change factors in terms of the amount of heat redistributed from one area to another.

This heat redistribution is stated in terms of watts per metre squared. So if a torch generated heat of one watt covering a square metre, the heat energy emitted would be one watt per metre squared. The researchers hope in this way to achieve a more accurate picture of all of humanity's influences on the climate.

("The Ecologist". December 2003)

Answer the questions to the text:

1. According to the text, what is the key factor in climate change?

2. Name main points in land-use which contribute to the climate change.

3. What term for human-caused land changes is used by the author?

4. What does the term 'transpiration' stand for?

5. Comment on the examples on land-use changes in different changes. Which example can be related to your region?

6. Why are impacts of land-use harder to detect?

Make up a detailed plan of the text. Reproduce the text using the following words and expressions.

To alter the surface, a key factor, land-use changes, greenhouse gas emissions, tropical land surface changes, El Nino weather disturbances, US space agency Nasa, urban sprawl, the destruction and planting of forests, farming and irrigation, regional surface temperatures, precipitation, larger - scale atmospheric circulation, anthropogenic land changes, to redistribute atmospheric heat regionally and globally, atmospheric CO2 concentrations, transpiration, irrigating farmland, to reflect sunlight, heat absorption, hard to detect, a more accurate picture.

SUMMING UP

Supply these statements below with as many facts as you can.

1. Researchers in Britain say they have new evidence that_____.

2. The research shows a big increase over the past thirty years in such gases as______.

3. Besides gas emission other factors contribute to global climate change. They are________.

4. The amount of cloud affects the amount of radiation from the Sun reaching the planet surface, which in turn affects________.

5. If the Sun is indeed the main contributor to the recent climate change, the money may be better spent on___________.

6. They say changes like__________all have a strong effect on regional surface temperatures, precipitation and larger-scale atmospheric circulation.

7. So human-caused (anthropogenic) land changes, especially in _________ redistribute atmospheric heat regionally and globally.

8. The study on land-use changes offers several examples:________.

9. At sea, periodic El Nino disturbances in the Pacific________which can affect the weather thousands of kilometres away.

10. They propose a new way to measure the impacts of both greenhouse gases and landcover changes - _____.

RENDERING

Here is a text for you to render and then to comment on. Use the given words and word combinations below:

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 1520