Climate Change and Earth's Energy Balance Practice Flashcards

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering the natural and human causes of climate change, carbon storage mechanisms, atmospheric science, and response strategies based on the lecture notes.

Solar variability

A fluctuation every $11$ years causing a solar maximum and solar minimum, involving changes in sunspots and magnetic fields that contribute to a $1\%$ change in global temperatures.

Sunspots

Areas of intense magnetic field near the sun’s equator that can flare up and cause particles to stream out.

Carbon sink

Natural reserves, such as vegetation and the ocean, that absorb more carbon than they release.

Blue carbon

The carbon which is captured and stored by the ocean in mangroves, sea grasses, and salt marshes.

Biosequestration

The ability of coastal habitats to capture carbon at $30$-$50$ times the rate of land vegetation.

Greenhouse effect

The process of retaining heat in the atmosphere where absorbed radiation is reradiated as infrared radiation and absorbed by greenhouse gases.

Atmospheric constant temperature

The greenhouse effect keeps the earth’s surface at a constant $15^{o}C$.

Enhanced greenhouse effect

Rising temperatures caused by the increase of greenhouse gas concentrations due to industrialization, population growth, and combustion of fossil fuels.

Albedo effect

The fraction of solar energy reflected from earth back into space, measured from $0$ (dark) to $1$ (light/$100\%$).

Ice-albedo feedback

A warming cycle where melting ice exposes darker land or ocean surfaces that absorb more heat, leading to further warming.

Global Warming Potential (GWP)

A comparison factor for greenhouse gases where $CO_2$ is assigned a value of $1$; for example, methane has a GWP of $28$.

Methane ($CH_4$)

The 3rd most prevalent greenhouse gas, produced naturally by organic breakdown and termite activity, and by humans through farming ruminant animals and burning biomass.

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)

Artificial gases used in air conditioning and aerosols that do not occur naturally and persist in the atmosphere for hundreds of years with high GWP.

Perfluorocarbons

Artificial gases produced in aluminium processing that absorb infrared radiation more than $CO_2$ and linger in the atmosphere.

Tropospheric ozone

A greenhouse gas that is considered bad because it reacts with hydrocarbons and nitrous oxide.

Aerosols

Atmospheric particles that scatter and reflect short-wave radiation, creating a haze that provides a cooling effect and increases the albedo effect of clouds.

Ice core samples

Cylinders of ice from Greenland or Antarctica used to measure past $CO_2$ and methane levels through trapped air bubbles.

Oxygen isotopes ($^{16}O$ and $^{18}O$)

Isotopes found in ice cores that allow scientists to calculate historic temperatures at the time the ice formed.

Palaeobotany

The study of plant fossils and pollen in sedimentary rock or lake sediments to determine past climate conditions.

International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

An organization that uses scientific data, research, and climate modelling to monitor and predict changes and impacts of climate change.

Adaptation

Strategies designed to build resilience to the effects of unavoidable climate change.

Mitigation

Strategies used to reduce net greenhouse emissions in order to slow climate change.