Cold and glacial environments
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All 12 Flashcards — Cold and glacial environments
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Question
Define the cryosphere.
Answer
All the **frozen water** on Earth — ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice and permafrost.
Question
Glacial vs periglacial environment?
Answer
**Glacial** = under ice now (ice sheets, mountain glaciers); **periglacial** = frozen ground (permafrost), not under ice.
Question
Define permafrost.
Answer
Ground that stays **frozen for two or more years**; it defines periglacial cold environments.
Question
What is the active layer?
Answer
The surface layer above permafrost that **thaws in summer** and refreezes in winter.
Question
Define an ice sheet.
Answer
A **continental-scale glacier** — today only Antarctica and Greenland.
Question
What is a corrie (cirque)?
Answer
An **armchair-shaped hollow** high on a mountain where a glacier first formed.
Question
Where are cold environments found?
Answer
At **high latitudes** (Arctic, Antarctica) and **high altitudes** (mountain glaciers, even near the Equator).
Question
Why does some permafrost stay frozen?
Answer
Where it is **coldest** — high latitude/altitude, a continental interior, insulating soil, or a north-facing slope.
Question
How do you describe a distribution on a map?
Answer
By **latitude and compass direction** (coastal, southern half, inland) — never longitude alone.
Question
Why are polar regions hostile to people?
Answer
**Extreme cold, darkness, permafrost, remoteness and ice** limit settlement, farming, transport and building.
Question
Which sector lost the most ice, 1994-2017?
Answer
**Arctic sea ice** (~31% of the ~28 trillion tonnes lost); mountain glaciers ~21%.
Question
What does a full Explain [6] on polar hardship need?
Answer
**Two** factors, each **developed** to a human consequence — marked 3 + 3, so naming alone is not enough.
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Full study notes for Cold and glacial environments
Topic 9.1 hub
The characteristics of extreme environments
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