Climate Change Vocabulary

Flashcards for key vocabulary related to climate, ozone, climate change, ocean acidification, invasive species, and biodiversity.

Aerosols

Small particles or liquid droplets in the atmosphere that can absorb or reflect sunlight depending on their composition.

Albedo

The fraction of solar radiation reflected by a surface or object, often expressed as a percentage.

Anthropogenic

Made by people or resulting from human activities.

Carbon Cycle

All parts (reservoirs) and fluxes of carbon.

Carbon Dioxide

A naturally occurring gas, a by-product of burning fossil fuels and biomass, land-use changes, and other industrial processes.

Carbon Dioxide Equivalent

A metric measure used to compare the emissions from various greenhouse gases based on their global warming potential (GWP).

Carbon Footprint

The total amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere each year by a person, family, building, organization, or company.

Carbon Sequestration

The uptake and storage of carbon.

Chlorofluorocarbons

Greenhouse gases covered under the 1987 Montreal Protocol and used for refrigeration, air conditioning, packaging, insulation, solvents, or aerosol propellants.

Climate

In a narrow sense, it is usually defined as the "average weather," or more rigorously, as the statistical description in terms of the mean and variability of relevant quantities over a period of time ranging from months to thousands of years.

Climate Change

Refers to any significant change in measures of climate (such as temperature, precipitation, or wind) lasting for an extended period (decades or longer).

Climate Feedback

When the result of an initial climate process triggers changes in a second climate process, which in turn influences the initial one, positive feedback intensifies the original process, and negative feedback reduces it.

Climate Lag

The delay that occurs in climate change due to some factor that changes only very slowly.

Climate Model

A quantitative way of representing the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land surface, and ice.

Continental Climate

A climate with a high temperature range away from the influence of the sea.

Deforestation

Those practices or processes that convert forested lands for non-forest uses.

Desertification

Land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities.

Differential Heating

Because the Earth is round, solar radiation is not equally spread at all latitudes.

El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO)

A warm water current that periodically flows along the coast of Ecuador and Peru, disrupting the local fishery.

Emissions

The release of a substance (usually a gas when referring to climate change) into the atmosphere.

Energy Budget

Describes the balance between the radiant energy that reaches Earth from the sun and the energy that flows from Earth back to space.

Enhanced Greenhouse Effect

Anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases have enhanced the natural greenhouse effect.

Feedback Mechanisms

Factors that increase or amplify (positive feedback) or decrease (negative feedback) the rate of a process.

Ferrel Cell

The tropospheric middle air circulation cells where air converges at low altitudes to ascend along the boundaries between the cool polar air and the warm subtropical air, generally occurring between 60 and 70 degrees north and south.

Global Warming

An average increase in the temperature of the atmosphere near the Earth's surface and in the troposphere, which can contribute to changes in global climate patterns.

Global Warming Potential

A measure of the total energy that a gas absorbs over a particular period (usually 100 years), compared to carbon dioxide.

Greenhouse Effect

Trapping and build-up of heat in the atmosphere (troposphere) near the Earth’s surface.

Greenhouse Gas

Any gas that absorbs infrared radiation in the atmosphere.

Gyres

Large circular ocean currents formed by global wind patterns and forces created by Earth’s rotation.

Hadley Cell

The largest tropospheric air circulation cells extend from the equator to between 30 and 40 degrees north and south.

Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs)

Compounds containing hydrogen, fluorine, chlorine, and carbon atoms. These ozone-depleting substances are less potent at destroying stratospheric ozone than chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)

Compounds containing only hydrogen, fluorine, and carbon atoms. HFCs are emitted as by-products of industrial processes and used in manufacturing. They are potent greenhouse gases and do not significantly deplete the stratospheric ozone layer.

Jet Stream

Relatively narrow bands of strong wind in the upper levels of the atmosphere.

Infrared Radiation

Radiation emitted by the Earth's surface, the atmosphere, and the clouds. It is also known as terrestrial or long-wave radiation.

Insolation

Solar radiation received in the Earth's atmosphere or at its surface.

Intercontinental convergence zone (ITCZ)

The region that circles the Earth, near the equator, where the Northern and Southern Hemispheres' trade winds come together.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

The IPCC was established jointly by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization in 1988. The purpose of the IPCC is to assess information in the scientific and technical literature related to all significant components of the issue of climate change.

Longwave Radiation

The radiation emitted in the spectral wavelength greater than 4 micrometers corresponds to the radiation emitted from the Earth and the atmosphere.

Maritime Climate

A climate with a low temperature range influenced by proximity to the sea. Winters will be warmer and summers cooler compared to a continental location for the same latitude.

Methane (CH4)

A hydrocarbon that is a greenhouse gas with a global warming potential most recently estimated at 23 times that of carbon dioxide (CO2).

Natural Gas

Underground deposits of gases consisting of 50 to 90 percent methane (CH4) and small amounts of heavier gaseous hydrocarbon compounds such as propane (C3H8) and butane (C4H10).

Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)

These are gases consisting of one nitrogen molecule and varying numbers of oxygen molecules.

Ozone (O3)

In the troposphere, it is created both naturally and by photochemical reactions involving gases resulting from human activities (photochemical smog).

Ozone Layer

The layer of ozone that begins approximately 15 km above Earth and thins to an almost negligible amount at about 50 km, shields the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

Particulate Matter (PM)

Very small pieces of solid or liquid matter, such as soot particles, dust, fumes, mists, or aerosols.

Photosynthesis

The process by which plants take CO2 from the air (or bicarbonate in water) to build carbohydrates, releasing O2 in the process.

Polar Cell

The smallest and weakest tropospheric air circulation cells, which extend from between 60 and 70 degrees north and south to the poles.

Residence Time

The average time an individual atom or molecule spends in a reservoir. Concerning greenhouse gases, it usually refers to how long a particular molecule remains in the atmosphere.

Seasonality

Periodic fluctuations in the climate related to the seasons of the year, e.g., wet winters and drier summers.

Sink

An area or reservoir that stores a substance, particularly an element or compound, for a relatively long period.

Source

The places where elements and compounds are found and how they move through the Earth's systems.

Thermal Expansion

The increase in volume (and decrease in density) that results from warming water.

Thermohaline Circulation

Large-scale density-driven circulation in the ocean, caused by differences in temperature and salinity.

Trace Gas

Any of the less common gases in the Earth's atmosphere.

Ultraviolet Radiation (UV)

The energy range just beyond the violet end of the visible spectrum.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenge posed by climate change.

Water Vapor

The most abundant greenhouse gas, it is the water present in the atmosphere in gaseous form.

Weather

Atmospheric condition at any given time or place.

Ocean acidification

The ongoing decrease in the pH value of the planet's seas, primarily caused by the absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Invasive species

An organism that is introduced to a new environment outside of its native range and whose introduction causes, or is likely to cause, harm to the economy, the environment, or human health.

Endangered species

A type of organism facing a very high risk of extinction in the near future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

HIPPCO

An acronym representing the major causes of biodiversity loss: Habitat destruction, degradation, and fragmentation; Invasive species; Population growth and increasing resource use; Pollution; Climate change; and Overexploitation.

Habitat fragmentation

The process by which a continuous living area is broken into smaller, isolated patches, often by human activities.

Biodiversity hotspots

Regions with a high number of different life forms, a significant portion of which are found nowhere else, and that have experienced substantial habitat loss.

Habitat restoration

The process of assisting the recovery of a degraded, damaged, or destroyed natural living area.