GEOG 272 test three definitions

Blunt definitions

Supercell

long-lived organized thunderstorm maintained by a strong rotating updraft.

Supercell cloud

parent cumulonimbus cloud

Mesocyclone:

rotating updraft in supercell cloud.

Wind shear

the variation of the wind’s speed or direction over a short distance

Funnel cloud:

rotating funnel shaped extending down from base of supercell cloud

Tornado

funnel cloud that touches ground surface

Storm surge

seawater pushed inland during a hurricane

Storm tide

surge combined with normal tide of 4.5 m or more in height

Gains (water)

Gains occur as pristine water not previously at the surface emerges from within Earth’s crust (‘outgassing’)

Losses (water)

Losses occur when water dissociates into H and O and the H escapes Earth’s gravity to space or breaks down to form new compounds with other elements.

Evaporation:

“movement of free water molecules away from a wet surface into the air that is less than saturated” (phase change from liquid water to water vapor).

Transpiration:

the movement of water vapour out through the pores in leaves; the water is drawn by plant roots from soil-moisture storage”.

Evapotranspiration

“the merging of evaporation and transpiration water loss (into one term)

Advection

“horizontal movement of water (or air) from one place to another”

Interception:

“a delay in the fall of precipitation toward Earth’s surface caused by vegetation or other ground cover”

Infiltration

“water access to subsurface regions of soil moisture storage through penetration of the soil surface”.

Eustacy

changes in global sea levels caused by changes in the volume of water in the oceans; changes in volume can be due to the melting of glaciers, icebergs, pack ice / the thermal expansion of ocean water as air temperatures increase

Actual Evapotranspiration

is an actual expenditure of water to the atmosphere.

Potential Evapotranspiration (PE)

is amount of water that would evaporate and transpire under
optimum moisture conditions (when adequate precipitation and
soil moisture are present). requires energy.

High VP:

a substance with a high vapor pressure at normal temperatures is often referred to as volatile. It ‘wants’ to leave (evaporate).

Low VP

the high surface tension of water (water "sticks" to itself, so it doesn't "want to" evaporate) means water has a low vapor pressure.

Percolation

“the process by which permeates the soil or porous rock into the subsurface environment”

Soil-moisture zone:

“the area of water stored in soil between the ground surface and the water table. Water in this zone may be available or unavailable to plant roots, depending on soil texture characteristics”.

Saturation:

state of soil that is holding all the water it can hold before runoff or further percolation occurs

Soil-moisture utilization

“the extraction of soil moisture by plants for their needs; efficiency of withdrawal decreases as the soil-moisture storage is reduced”.

Soil-moisture recharge:

“water entering available soil storages spaces”.

Permeability

“the ability of water to flow through soil or rock; a function of the texture and structure of the medium”

Hygroscopic water

that portion of soil moisture that is so tightly bound to each soil particle that it is unavailable to plant roots

wilting point

point in the soil-moisture balance when only hygroscopic water and some bound capillary water remain. Plants wilt and eventually die after prolonged stress from a lack of available water!

Capillary water:

soil moisture, most of which is available to plant roots; held in the soil by the water’s surface tension and cohesive forces between water and soil.

Field capacity:

water held in the soil H-bonding against the pull of gravity, remaining after water drains from the larger pore spaces; the available water for plants.

Gravitational water:

the portion of surplus water that percolates downward from the capillary zone, pulled by gravity to the groundwater zone.

Water stress

occurs when the demand for water exceeds the available amount during a certain period or when poor quality restricts its use.

saturated thickness of the aquifer

The saturated thickness of the aquifer is the distance from the water table to the base of the aquifer

Bioaccumulation

build up within an individual, over time

Biomagnification

build up with the food web, through trophic levels

Global Warming Potential (GWP)

developed to allow comparisons of the global warming impacts of different gases
a measure of how much energy the emissions of 1 ton of a gas will absorb over a given period of time, relative to the emissions of 1 ton of carbon dioxide (CO2).

what gases are in the atmosphere due to industrial actions?

Perfluorocarbons, hydroflurocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride

Charles Keeling

he revealed new information about natural and man caused carbon trends

Joseph Fourier

proposed the concept of greenhouse effect

Svante Arrhenius

first proposed the fossil fuel contribution in 1896

manometer

A specially-constructed instrument, a gas manometer, was designed to control for temperature, pressure and volume, down to a precision of 0.1% (much more precise than any previous devices)

what was the first reading of the manometer

Mauna Loa, March 29, 1958, measured the atmospheric CO2 concentration at 313 ppm.

Permafrost

perennially frozen soils, sediment & ground ice,

microbial respiration

as ground warms, thaws, microbial activity breaks down organic matter releasing CO2; in anaerobic conditions (lakes, wetlands), methane is produced. More warming, more melting, more warming…

West Antarctic Ice Sheet

a strong positive feedback whereby ocean water undercuts the ice sheet and triggers further separation from the bedrock

Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation

A shutoff in North Atlantic Deep Water formation and the associated Atlantic THC can occur if sufficient freshwater (and/or heat) enters the North Atlantic to halt density-driven North Atlantic Deep Water formation.

El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)

Increased ocean heat uptake could cause a permanent deepening of the thermocline in the EEP (Eastern Equatorial Pacific) and a consequent shift from present day ENSO variability to greater amplitude and/or more frequent El Niños.

Indian Summer Monsoon

any perturbation that tends to weaken the driving pressure gradient has the potential to destabilize the monsoon circulation

Tipping Point: the Amazon Rainforest

A large fraction of precipitation in the Amazon basin is recycled, and, therefore, simulations of Amazon deforestation typically generate ≈20–30% reductions in precipitation, lengthening of the dry season, and increases in summer temperatures that would make it difficult for the forest to reestablish, and suggest the system may exhibit bistability. Dieback of the Amazon rainforest has been predicted to occur under ≈3–4°C global warming because of a more persistent El Niño state that leads to drying over much of the Amazon basin.

Tipping Point: the Boreal Forest

Under climate change, increased water stress, increased peak summer heat stress causing increased mortality, vulnerability to disease and subsequent fire, as well as decreased reproduction rates could lead to large-scale dieback of the boreal forests

“Legacy” carbon

thick layer of organic matter in the soil protected the oldest carbon, called “legacy carbon,” that was not burned in previous cycles of burn and regrowth.

The Kyoto Protocol

In Kyoto, Japan, December, 1997
Attempts to rein in greenhouse gases that could provoke a global warming
Industrialized countries: Lower 3 key pollutants (nitrous oxide, methane, and carbon dioxide)
did not have a huge impact because it could not require countries to act on anything directly

Annex I countries:

are supposed to act first
The ‘industrialized’ countries, mostly OECD:
EEU, United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada.

Non-Annex 1 countries

The ‘developing’ countries, although some of those developing countries--(like Singapore) --are richer than some of the Annex I countries
have high growth rates and population gain

The Earth Summit, 1992

At the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (also know as the Earth Summit) Canada was considered to be at the forefront of the environmental movement.
After all, they had contributed scientific information that led to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and had also developed the UV index.

canadas Large Final Emitters

Canada’s LFEs include companies in the mining and manufacturing, oil and gas, and thermal electricity sectors; represent some 50% of Canada’s total GHG emissions.

The Copenhagen Accord, 2009

At the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference Canada signed the Copenhagen Accord, agreeing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020.

However, Environment Canada released a report in 2014 stating that Canada will not meet its target, and that its greenhouse gas emission might actually increase by the time 2020 rolls around.

The Paris Agreement, 2015

In 2015 newly elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed the Paris Agreement with a commitment to spending $2.65 billion over the next five years to help developing countries battle climate change.
• The agreement includes limiting global temperature rises to below 2 C, helping poorer nations combat climate change, and striving for a carbon-free world before 2100.

Pan-Canadian Plan

The Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change is our plan – developed with the provinces and territories and in consultation with
Indigenous peoples – to meet our emissions reduction targets, grow the economy, and build resilience to a changing climate.
Our plan includes a pan-Canadian approach to pricing carbon pollution, and measures to achieve reductions across all sectors of the economy.
It aims to drive innovation and growth by increasing technology development and adoption to ensure Canadian businesses are competitive in the global low-carbon economy.

stabilization wedges

Princeton researchers Robert Socolow and Stephen Pacala describe 15 wedges/ actions
• Adopting any combination of these strategies that equals 12 wedges could lower current CO2 emissions by at least 50%

what are the wedges for effieciency and conservation?

Efficiency and conservation
1. Improve fuel economy of the two billion cars expected on the road by 2057, from 30 miles per gallon, to 60 mpg.
2. Reduce miles traveled annually per car from 10,000 to 5,000
3. Increase efficiency in heating, cooling, lighting, and appliances
by 25%
4. Improve coal-fired power plant efficiency from 40% to 60%.

What are the wedges for carbon capture and storage?

Carbon capture and storage:
5. Intro. systems to capture CO2 and store it underground at 800 large coal-fired plants or 1,600 natural-gas-fired plants
6. Use capture systems at coalderived hydrogen plants producing fuel for a billion cars
7. Use capture systems in coalderived synthetic fuel plants producing 30 million barrels a day.

what are the wedges for low carbon fuels.

8. Replace 1,400 large coal-fired power plants with natural gas-fired plants.
9. Displace coal by increasing production of nuclear power to
three times today’s capacity.

what are the wedges for renewables and biostorage?

10. Increase wind-generated power to 25x current capacity.
11. Increase solar power to 700x current cap.
12. Increase wind power to 50x current cap. to make hydrogen for fuel-cell cars.
13. Increase ethanol biofuel production to 50x current cap.;
Note: about one-sixth of the world’s cropland would be needed.
14. Stop all deforestation.
15. Expand conservation tillage to all cropland (to reduce the release of carbon from soil due to poor farming practices.

The IPCC

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

why was the IPCC created?

“The IPCC was created to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments on climate change, its implications and potential future risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation options.”

Anthropogenic emissions

Emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), precursors of GHGs and aerosols caused by human activities. These activities include the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, land use and l and-use changes (LULUC), livestock production, fertilisation, waste management and industrial processes. See also Anthropogenic and Anthropogenic removals.

Anthropogenic removals

Anthropogenic removals refer to the withdrawal of GHGs from the atmosphere as a result of deliberate human activities. These include enhancing biological sinks of CO2 and using chemical engineering to achieve long-term removal and storage

Black carbon (BC)

BC is mostly formed by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuels and biomass but it also occurs naturally. It stays in the atmosphere only for days or weeks.

Blue carbon

Blue carbon is the carbon captured by living organisms in coastal (e.g., mangroves, salt marshes, seagrasses) and marine ecosystems, and stored in biomass and sediments.

Climate sensitivity

Climate sensitivity refers to the change in the annual global mean surface temperature in response to a change in the atmospheric CO2 concentration or other radiative forcing.

Climate target

Climate target refers to a temperature limit, concentration level, or emissions reduction goal used towards the aim of avoiding dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.

Ecosystem services

Ecological processes or functions having monetary or non monetary value to individuals or society at large

Global mean surface temperature (GMST)

Estimated global average of near-surface air temperatures over land and sea-ice, and sea surface temperatures over ice-free ocean regions, with changes normally expressed as departures from a value over a specified reference period.

Halocarbons

A collective term for the group of partially halogenated organic species, which includes the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), halons, methyl chloride and methyl bromide

Life cycle assessment (LCA)

Compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product or service throughout its life cycle. This definition builds from ISO (2018)

Long-lived climate forcers (LLCF)

Long-lived climate forcers refer to a set of well-mixed greenhouse gases with long atmospheric lifetimes.
This set of compounds includes carbon dioxide
(CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O), together with some fluorinated gases.

Negative emissions

Removal of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the atmosphere by deliberate human activities

Ocean fertilization

Deliberate increase of nutrient supply to the near-surface ocean in order to enhance biological production through which additional carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere is sequestered.

1.5°C pathway

A pathway of emissions of greenhouse gases and other climate forcers that provides an approximately one-in-two to two-in-three chance, given current knowledge of the climate response, of global warming either remaining below 1.5°C or returning to 1.5°C by around 2100 following an overshoot. See also Temperature overshoot.

Small island developing states

Small island developing states (SIDS), as recognised by the United Nations OHRLLS (Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States), are a distinct group of developing countries facing specific social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities (UNOHRLLS, 2011

Tipping point

A level of change in system properties beyond which a system reorganizes, often abruptly, and does not return to the initial state even if the drivers of the change are abated. For the climate system, it refers to a critical threshold when global or regional climate changes from one stable state to another stable state. See also Irreversibility