Environmental Science: Atmosphere, Climate Change, and Ecosystems

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering atmospheric chemistry, smog formation, ozone depletion, international environmental treaties, the global carbon cycle, and climate change impacts on terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

PANs (Peroxyacetyl Nitrates)

Toxic secondary pollutants formed in the presence of UV radiation from $NO_2$, $O_3$, and unburnt hydrocarbons; they cause eye irritation, respiratory problems, and increase susceptibility to heart attacks even at low concentrations.

Debt for Nature Swaps

Financial agreements where wealthy, industrialized nations pay off another country's foreign debt in exchange for that country committing to protect and conserve its natural resources.

Smog

A hazardous mixture of smoke and fog resulting from incomplete combustion of wood, coal, or diesel, containing suspended particulate matter such as $\text{PM}_{10}$ ($10\,\mu\text{m}$) and $\text{PM}_{2.5}$ ($2.5\,\mu\text{m}$).

Proxy Data

Indirect environmental measurements (such as oxygen isotopes or microfossils in lake and ocean sediment) that stand in for unobservable or unobtainable historic climate records.

Polar Vortex

An isolated, circular air mass over polar regions where $CFC\text{s}$, $Cl$, and $ClO$ adhere to ice crystal surfaces and remain trapped during the winter until sunlight breaks the vortex.

Synchronicity

The timing of seasonal ecological events (such as nesting and chick rearing), which can be altered or disrupted by climate change, causing species like mountain bluebirds to breed $16\text{ days}$ earlier.

Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas)

A marine reptile inhabiting warm tropical waters across the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans whose hatching success is reduced by excessively hot nesting sand caused by climate change.

Montreal Protocol

The international agreement and regulatory framework designed to protect the stratospheric ozone layer by phasing out and banning chlorofluorocarbons ($CFC\text{s}$).

Paris Agreement (2015)

An international climate treaty where signatory countries committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit global temperature increase to no more than $1.5^\circ\text{C}$ to $2^\circ\text{C}$ above pre-industrial levels.

Thermal Expansion

The increase in the volume of seawater that occurs because warmer water molecules possess more energy, acting as a major contributor to global sea level rise.

Project Seagrass

A marine conservation and restoration initiative focused on seagrass beds, which occupy only $0.1\%$ of the sea floor yet account for $18\%$ of oceanic carbon sinks.

Afforestation

The practice of planting trees in areas where forests did not previously exist, which can displace existing natural habitats and take over valuable farmland.

Peat Bogs

Wetland ecosystems, such as the Flow Country, that cover $3\%$ of UK land area and store $32\text{ billion tonnes}$ of carbon ($30\%$ of $CO_2$), which risk drying out as climate temperatures rise.

Ploughing

The agricultural turning over of the soil's top layer to introduce air spaces, which promotes aerobic decomposition and releases large amounts of $CO_2$ into the atmosphere.

Ocean Acidification

The process by which oceans absorb elevated atmospheric $CO_2$, triggering chemical reactions that raise hydrogen ion ($H^+$) concentrations and hinder calcifying organisms from forming calcium carbonate shells.

Clownfish Sensory Impairment

A direct physiological impact of ocean acidification in which lower pH water dissolves the internal ear bones of clownfish, leaving them unable to hear or detect approaching predators.

Atlantic Conveyor

A global ocean current driven by cold, saline, dense water sinking; it is disrupted when melting Greenland land ice introduces cold fresh water that is less salty and fails to sink, causing the current to slow.

Albedo

A measure of the reflectivity of a surface, ranging from high values in reflective materials like mirrors to low values in dark materials like concrete.

Coral Bleaching

A thermal stress event where corals expel their symbiotic zooxanthellae algae and lose their pigmentation when water temperatures become excessively hot ($27^\circ\text{C}+$).

Methanogens

Anaerobic bacteria that produce methane ($CH_4$), an atmospheric gas present at $0.00017\%$ that plays a significant role in the natural greenhouse effect.