KS3 Geography › Weather and climate
KS3 Geography › Weather and climate
These are the points the worksheet questions are built around.
Climate change is a large-scale, long-term shift in Earth's climate, including changes to weather patterns and average temperatures. It includes both global warming, when temperatures rise, and global cooling, when temperatures fall. Over the last 450,000 years, Earth has naturally cycled between glacials — freezing periods when ice covered huge areas — and interglacials, warmer periods when that ice melted away.
What's happening now is different. In just the last 150 years, Earth's average temperature has risen by more than 1°C — and the extra heat the planet is now trapping is enormous, roughly equal to five atomic bombs' worth every single second. Earth is now hotter than it's been in over 100,000 years.
Climate change has both natural and human causes. Natural causes include volcanic eruptions, which release ash that can cause short-term cooling, but also release carbon dioxide that contributes to long-term warming; sunspots, which affect how much energy the Sun gives off (fewer sunspots contributed to the Little Ice Age, when the River Thames froze over several times between 1645 and 1715); and Milankovitch cycles, slow changes in the shape of Earth's orbit and in its tilt that cause long-term temperature swings.
These natural causes don't explain the rapid warming happening right now, though — that's mainly down to human activity. Since the Industrial Revolution, burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas has released carbon dioxide that had been trapped underground for millions of years. Deforestation adds to this, since trees normally absorb carbon dioxide — roughly 15 billion trees are cut down every year. Farming contributes too: methane from the world's roughly 1.5 billion cows is a powerful greenhouse gas.
Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, water vapour and methane form a layer around Earth that traps heat, similar to how glass traps heat inside a greenhouse. Without any greenhouse gases at all, Earth's average temperature would be around -18°C — far too cold for humans to survive — so greenhouse gases are naturally a good thing. The problem is that human activity is adding extra greenhouse gases, thickening that layer and trapping more heat than usual. This is called the enhanced greenhouse effect.
Scientists have four main types of evidence proving climate change is real. Ice cores, drilled from ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica going back 800,000 years, contain air bubbles that reveal past carbon dioxide levels and temperatures — showing a clear pattern where higher CO2 has always meant higher temperatures. Tree rings record one year of growth each: wide rings form in warm, wet years, narrow rings in cold, dry years, allowing scientists to study centuries of past climate. Historical documents — old paintings, photographs and diary entries — provide further clues; a Frost Fair held on the frozen River Thames in 1814 shows just how much colder winters used to be, since the Thames never freezes today. Finally, direct temperature measurements, recorded since 1880 using thermometers, ocean buoys and satellites, and tracked independently by the UK Met Office, NASA, NOAA and the University of East Anglia, all show the same result: temperatures have risen sharply since around 1980.
The effects of this warming are already being felt. Extreme weather is becoming more common — already-hot areas are getting hotter and drier, causing heatwaves and droughts, while already-wet areas are getting wetter, causing more intense storms and floods. Rising sea levels, caused by both expanding warmer water and melting glaciers and ice sheets, are already threatening low-lying Pacific islands. Climate change also affects food production, spreads tropical diseases like malaria into new areas, and destroys habitats — Arctic sea ice that polar bears depend on is shrinking, and coral reefs are dying as oceans warm. Even the UK has felt this: February 2020 was the UK's wettest February on record after three major storms, 3 October 2020 was the wettest day ever recorded, and July 2022 brought the UK's first-ever recorded temperature above 40°C.
There are two main ways to tackle climate change. Mitigation means reducing greenhouse gas emissions — switching to renewable energy, using electric vehicles, planting more trees, and reducing food waste. Adaptation means learning to live with the effects that are already happening — building flood defences, developing drought-resistant crops, and improving early warning systems for extreme weather.
In short: climate change is a long-term shift in Earth's climate, caused by both natural factors and, increasingly, human activity — mainly burning fossil fuels and deforestation. Greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, and multiple independent sources of evidence all confirm the planet is warming rapidly, with real effects already being felt. Tackling it requires both reducing emissions (mitigation) and adjusting to the changes already underway (adaptation).
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The 3 questions from the video, one at a time. See if you caught them.
1. Which of these is NOT a natural cause of climate change?
Why: Burning fossil fuels is something people do, so it is a human cause. Volcanic eruptions, sunspots and changes in Earth's orbit all happen naturally.
2. What would Earth's average temperature be WITHOUT greenhouse gases?
Why: Greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere. Without them, Earth would average about -18°C, which is far too cold for most life. With them, it is about 15°C.
3. Which evidence for climate change goes back 800,000 years?
Why: Ice cores are long tubes of ice drilled from ice sheets. Tiny bubbles of ancient air trapped inside show what the atmosphere was like up to 800,000 years ago.
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This lesson's quiz questions on one sheet, with the answer key on page 2.
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