Exam #1 (Climate-201) Flashcards
What is Stationarity?
The statistical properties of a process generating a time series do not change over time.
Example: In some places, weather changes little during relatively short times such as a summer season. In Southern Callifornia summers, weather forecasts for “low clouds in the morning followed by hazy sunshine in the afternoon” may repeat day after day.
*This concept also appears in Economics 101.
What is Non-Stationarity?
What used to be normal is not normal anymore.
Climate change implies non-stationarity no longer prevails in the climate system. Past extremes now fail to mark the outer boundaries of climate events. For example, “100-year floods” may come more frequently as extreme preciptiation events become more common.
*This concept also appears in Economics 101.
What is Sustainability?
Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
What is a
Vulnerablity Assessment?
A process to identify, evaluate, and assess susceptibility to natural and technological hazards.
The phrase often appears in computer applications, but it applies equally well in the arena of climate change. It is a proactive way to consider a full range of climate scenarios and system responses, incorporate climate variability and uncertainties, prioritize critical assets and services at risk from these threats, and inform response strategies.
What is a Hazard?
An event or condition that may cause injury, illness, or death to people or damage to assets.
Examples: household issues such as improperly installed electical wiring; climate events such as heat waves.
What is a Climate Stressor?
A condition, event, or trend related to climate variability and change that can exacerbate hazards.
Example: a prolonged heat wave made more likely by climate change.
What is a
Non-Climate Stressor?
A change or trend unrelated to climate that can exacerbate hazards.
Example: an urban heat island that increases the impact of heat waves, independently of climate change.
What is a Hazard? (2)
The potential occurrence of a natural or human-induced physical event or trend or physical impact that may cause loss of life, injury, or other health impacts as well as damage and loss to property, infrastructure, livelihoods, service provision, ecosystems, and environmental resources.
This definition from the IPCC is more specific than the generic definition adopted in the CRT. Both embrace, for example, tropical storms that represent hazards for coastal communities.
What is a
Climate-Related Hazard?
A hazard that results from climate-related physical events or trends or their physical impacts.
Coastal communities have always experienced tropical storms, but the increasing intensity of such storms results from climate change.
What are Systems?
The built, natural, and human networks that provide important goods and services within a community or region.
Examples: the Internet, ecosystems, or economic systems, respectively.
What is Vulnerability?
The propensity or predisposition of assets to be adversely affected by hazards. Vulnerability encompasses exposure, sensitivity, potential impacts, and adaptive capacity.
Example: a vehicle trapped on a railroad crossing by suddenly stalled traffic is vulnerable to destruction if a fast-moving train comes through before the vehicle can move.
What is Exposure?
The presence of people, assets, and ecosystems in places where they could be adversely affected by hazards.
Example: a vehicle stalled on regularly used railroad track is exposed to a hazard of an oncoming train.
What is Sensitivity?
The degree to which a system, population, or resource is or might be affected by hazards.
Example: collision with a train would destroy a vehicle stalled on the tracks, potentially killing its occupants.
What is Adaptive Capacity?
The ability of a person, asset, or system to adjust to a hazard, take advantage of new opportunities, or cope with change.
Example: if a the vehicle stopped in railraod tracks can pull off the tracks in an adjacent traffic lane, it has adaptive capacity. Even they cannot move the vehicle, the passengers have adaptive capacity if they can escape from it.
What is Risk?
The potential for adverse consequences in a situation where something of value is at stake and where the occurrence and degree of an outcome is uncertain.
Example: Although any vehicle trapped on railroad tracks is vulnerable to destruction, the risk attached is much greater if the vehicle is a rare model in perfect condition than if it is a junk on its way to a demolition derby.
