Essay Example on Climate Change and River Patterns

Climate change has been claimed to have diverse effects on specific items of the environment. The article Climate-driven changes in UK river flows examines a number of literature samples obtained from researchers in the UK concerning the effect of climate change on the behaviors of natural phenomena, especially rivers. Most of the data in this study is from secondary sources, with information on the weather patterns and river behavior coming from servers in the National River Archive forming the largest part of the primary source for this phenomenon. Information published on high flows and run-off amounts is also used as the secondary sources. These can also be seen in the information from other forms of runoff which doesnt use firsthand information from the field.

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Information from the article is consistent with the information from the other sources because it uses these articles to get to its conclusion. There are minimal diversions from the core of the text because the information is all used in order to get to the one conclusion, which is the effect of climate change on river patterns. Alternative explanations are given for the cause of change in river patterns within the UK namely the combination of human factors such as the building of dams and other human activity. The author in this case is a researcher with the National River Flow Archive and thus has firsthand access to information on this subject. Furthermore, the fact that he works at the archives suggests that he is an expert in this area and would thus offer objective information on the study.

The second article, however, provides itself as a primary source with information in this area. Climate change and river flooding finds its purpose in creating a system where climate change can be linked to abnormal river activity such as flooding in order to avert the effects of climate change on natural phenomena. The hypothesis being tested in this article was the effect of climate change, namely changes in temperature, pressure and precipitation and their effect on the ability of water catchment areas to flood. The dependent variables in this study were as above-mentioned temperature, pressure and precipitation of the catchment area. Independent values in this case were the average change in weather patterns over the sample period of time (20 years in this instance). Variables that were kept at a constant were those of the number of catchment areas tested in order to obtain a linear result.

Data in the tables was divided into nine categories depending on their characteristics. In some areas, the change in climate resulted in a change in the characteristics of the river while in other areas, the change had no effect. In most of the regions, the tables and graphs show the relationship between the change in climate and the change in characteristics of natural phenomena such as rivers. In the discussion, we could see that the conclusions supported the change of natural phenomena with the change in climate. However, the change was dependent on the season in which the change occurred. The largest change that was felt on river patterns was in the change in pressure. In the discussion, it becomes proof that the change in climate can result in a change of river patterns, especially in the UK. The paper however, fails to consider if these results would be replicated in other locations with similar climatic conditions to those of the 9 zones in the UK, and thus confirm this phenomenon.

This paper is different from the secondary source because it takes up real information from the ground that is able to support its conclusions. Margin for error is however smaller in the case of the secondary source because it is a combination of the writings of many experts on the subject. Nonetheless, this is the perspective of the author rather than a view that has been developed by information from the ground.