GHG's and soils Flashcards
IPCC
Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change
UNFCCC
United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change
COP
Conference of the Parties (annual UNFCCC conference)
Radiative Forcing
A way of quantifying the change in energy balance of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Radiative Forcing = Incoming energy - Outgoing energy
Expressed as a value relative to the year 1750
Global Warming Potential of a Gas (GWP)
Comparison of how much heat a gas traps relative to CO2 - it’s contribution to the greenhouse effect relative to CO2.
Global Temperature Change Potential (GTP)
How much surface temperature changes relative to CO2 at the end of a timeframe
Negative Emission Technologies (NETs)
Removing carbon using biological (planting trees, farming practices) or chemical (air capture, ocean alkalinisation) methods
Eight sources of atmospheric methane
Landfills, flooded rice fields, natural wetlands, ruminants, termites, gas hydrates, fossil fuels, biomass burning
Methanogenesis
Production of methane by anaerobic microorganisms. Common in flooded soils where oxygen is low.
There’s an estimated _______ - _______ petagrams of carbon in the soil.
1500-2400
Seven soil functions by the European Commission
Biomass production
Storing, filtering and transforming nutrients and water
Biodiversity pool
Physical and cultural environment for humans
Source of raw material
Carbon pool
Archive of geological and archaeological heritage
Colloids
Small particles in soil. Negatively charged to bind to cations (Calcium, magnesium, potassium etc.) Plants then release protons in exchange for these cations.
High Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC)
High nutrient retention and good soil fertility
What contributes to soil fertility?
Nutrient abundance and balance (phosphorus often limiting)
Type of clay
pH
Toxic elements
Salinity
Microbes
Types of Chemical Degradation
___________ of organic matter and nutrients (from removal of vegetation)
___________ with chemical pollutants (pesticides, herbicides)
___________ in dry areas due to water evaporation
___________ in arid or semi-arid areas
depletion, contamination, salinisation, desertification
Soil health determined by 3 things
Soil fertility, soil quality, soil security
Phytoremediation
Planting plants in contaminated areas to absorb contaminants; they can then be disposed of
Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELM)
Rewards farmers for environmentally-friendly practices and sustainable land mangement like
creating lowland heath
raising water levels in lowland peat
agroforestry
managing species-rich floodplain meadows
4 per mille initiative
If we increased the quantity of carbon contained in soils by 4%, we can halt the annual increase in CO2 in the atmosphere.
Six ways of increasing soil organic carbon
Conservation tillage
Applying organic wastes to soils (rather than fertilisers)
Using nitrogen and other nutrient sources more efficiently
Convert marginal and degraded land to grow things
Eliminate bare fields
Agroforestry
Biochar
The product of pyrolysis (burning without oxygen) of biomass
Then applied to soil
Very stable way of storing carbon, essentially trapped
Improves soil fertility
Bioremediation
Microorganisms can be added to break down polyaromatic hydrocarbons that contaminate the earth
