Specification

Option A3: Climatic hazards
Candidates need to have a knowledge and understanding of the meaning of ‘hazards’, their degree of predictability and that they make both short- and long-term impacts on an environment and community. Case studies should be selected from different areas and at scales appropriate to the hazards being examined.
Climatic hazards
Questions for Investigation
Key Ideas
Content
What conditions lead to tropical storms (hurricanes, typhoons or cyclones) and tornadoes and in what ways do they represent a hazard to people?
Tropical storms and tornadoes form and develop under particular atmospheric conditions to become major hazards. These hazards have serious environmental, social and economic impacts upon the areas they affect.
The study of the development of tropical storms and tornadoes to illustrate:
  1. the atmospheric and surface conditions that give rise to their development;
  2. an understanding, with examples, of how such systems develop;
  3. through examples, the hazards they present to particular areas and the impacts that these hazards can have.
How do atmospheric systems cause heavy snowfall, intense cold spells, heatwaves and drought and in what ways do they represent a hazard to people?
Atmospheric systems (anticyclones and depressions) can produce extreme weather under certain circumstances, resulting in hazards for people. These hazards have serious environmental, social and economic impacts upon the areas they affect.
The study of high and low pressure systems and air masses to illustrate:
  1. the formation of these hazards, ie heavy snowfall, frost, drought;
  2. how they represent hazards to people through blizzards, cold spells, heatwaves and droughts;
  3. the impacts associated with these weather features for named areas at the local, regional and global scale, including impacts on: – transport; – agriculture and forestry; – health; – economic activity.

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  • Specification