Introduction to Natural Disasters and Earth Systems

Flashcards covering the fundamentals of natural disasters, categorization, risk assessment, Earth's four spheres, and space-related hazards based on the lecture material.

Disaster (UN Definition)

A serious disruption of the functionality of a community or society at any scale due to hazardous events interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability, and capacity, leading to human, material, economic, and environmental losses.

Natural Event/Hazard

Natural processes that occur without negatively affecting humans; according to Stephen Nelson, these only become disasters if they cause loss of human life or property.

Anthropologic Disasters

Disasters caused by humans, such as hazards associated with climate change, urban flooding due to paving, or toxic practices that pollute the environment.

Technological Failures

Disasters related to the failure of human infrastructure, including dam bursts, sinkholes above old mine shafts, nuclear plant meltdowns, and train derailments.

Rapid Onset

A classification for natural disasters or hazards that affect an area almost instantaneously.

Return Period

Also known as the reoccurrence interval, it is the calculated time between similar disaster events in a specific area, such as a hundred year flood.

Complex Disasters

Systems of hazards where one extreme event causes several others, such as an earthquake rupturing sewer lines and leading to a cholera outbreak.

Risk (UN DRR Definition)

The potential loss of life, injury, or destroyed/damaged assets which could occur to a system, society, or community in a specific period of time, determined by hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and capacity.

Social Vulnerability

A risk enhancement factor in FEMA assessments involving demographic and socioeconomic factors like poverty, lack of access to transportation, and crowded housing.

Community Resilience

The ability of a community to prepare for anticipated hazards, adapt to changing conditions, and withstand and recover rapidly from disruptions.

Atmosphere

The layer of gases surrounding the Earth, composed of approximately $78\%$ nitrogen and $21\%$ oxygen, where weather resides and heat is held close to the planet.

Hydrosphere

Consists of all water on Earth in solid, liquid, and gas forms, with $97\%$ of Earth's water found in the oceans.

Geosphere (Lithosphere)

The solid layers of the Earth made of rocks and minerals, including the Earth's interior (core and mantle) and the crust made of tectonic plates.

Biosphere

Made up of every living organism on the planet, from microbes and plankton to plants, animals, and humans.

Cyanobacteria

Also known as blue green algae, these photosynthetic organisms produced oxygen as a byproduct, leading to the creation of the ozone shield.

Meteor Airburst

An event where an incoming space object explodes in the atmosphere before impacting the ground, releasing enormous energy without creating a crater.

Chelyabinsk, Russia (2013)

A modern recorded example of a meteor airburst recorded by car and building cameras.

Space Weather

Solar-related activity such as solar storms, flares, and coronal mass ejections that come from the sun and can affect Earth's systems.

Solar Wind

A stream of charged plasma traveling from the sun at speeds between $600,000$ and $2,000,000\text{ miles per hour}$; it is mostly deflected by Earth's magnetic field.

Auroras

Glowing shades of green and red in the atmosphere near the poles, caused by charged particles of the solar wind interacting with atmospheric gases.

Solar Flare

A sudden and intense release of a blast of extra energy from the sun, including high-intensity energy called X-rays.

Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)

The biggest explosions in the solar system, which can reach Earth and damage satellites, interrupt radio signals, and knock out electrical power systems.