Oceans and Coastal Margins, Urban Environments Vocabulary

Coastal Margins

all areas from the deep oceans to inland areas that are affected by coastal processes and that affect the coastline

ENSO

El Nino Southern Oscillation, trade winds weaken & warm surface water moves toward South America. Diminished fisheries off South America, drought in western Pacific, increased precipitation in southwestern North America, fewer Atlantic hurricanes.

La Nina

"Normal" year, easterly trade winds and ocean currents pool warm water in the western Pacific, allowing upwelling of nutrient rich water off the West coast of South America.

Eustatic change

A global change in sea level resulting from an actual fall or rise in the level of the sea itself

Isostatic change

Local changes in sea level resulting from the land rising or falling relative to the sea

Advancing coasts

Depositional coasts that are growing as a consequence of sediment deposit and/or the infill of coastal marshes. Advancing coasts may also arise from a negative change in sea level (sea level fall or uplift of land).

Retreating coasts

Coasts along which the dominant processes are erosional, resulting in the coastline moving inland. Retreating coasts may also be caused by a positive change in sea level (sea level rise or a fall in land level).

global commons

those parts of our environment available to everyone but for which no single individual has responsibility--Antarctica, High Seas, atmosphere and outer space. It could include cyberspace.

urban area (census definition)

an area that contains more than 385 people per square kilometer (1,000 people per square mile)

Formal Economy

The legal economy that is taxed and monitored by a government and is included in a government's Gross National Product

informal economy

Economic activity that is neither taxed nor monitored by a government; and is not included in that government's Gross National Product

Suburbanization

The process of population movement from within towns and cities to the rural-urban fringe.

Gentrification

the process whereby the character of a poor urban area is changed by wealthier people moving in, improving housing, and attracting new businesses, typically displacing current inhabitants in the process:

Counter-urbanization

the net loss of population from cities to smaller towns and rural areas.

(deurbanization)

the net loss of population from cities to smaller towns and rural areas.

reurbanization/urban renewal

The development of activities to increase residential population densities within the existing built-up area of a city

Urban circular system

A sustainable city in which there are recycling, reuse and reduction of resources, renewable forms of energy, and measures taken to reduce the ecological footprint.

Urban ecological footprint

the land area required to sustain a population of any size and all the resources that people use for their daily needs and to assimilate their waste