Short and long-term variations in the HC

Question 1

Meteorological drought

Answer 1

shortfall in precipitation as a result of short-term variability within the longer-term average, in many semi-arid regions (the Sahel)

Question 2

Agricultural drought

Answer 2

the rainfall deficiency from meteorological drought leads to deficiency of soil moisture and soil water availability, effects plant growth and reduces biomass

Question 3

Hydrological drought

Answer 3

reduced stream flow and groundwater levels, decrease because of reduced precipitation and continued high levels of evaporation, reduced storage in lakes and reservoirs, often salinisation and poorer water quality

Question 4

Famine drought

Answer 4

a humanitarian crisis, widespread failure of agricultural systems leads to food shortages and famine with severe social, economic and environmental impacts

Question 5

Teleconnection

Answer 5

Climate anomalies which relate to each other at large distances

Question 6

Desertification

Answer 6

land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions resulting in from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities

Question 7

Groundwater flooding

Answer 7

flooding that occurs after the ground has become saturated from prolonged heavy rain

Question 8

Surface water flooding

Answer 8

flooding that occurs when intense rainfall has insufficient time to infiltrate the soil, so flows overland

Question 9

Flash flooding

Answer 9

a flood with an exceptionally short lag time- often minutes or hours

Question 10

Urbanisation

Answer 10

the increase in the number of people living in towns and cities compared to the number of people living in the countryside

Question 11

Morbidity

Answer 11

a state of ill health

Question 12

Eutrophication

Answer 12

excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or other body of water, frequently due to run-off from farming land, which causes a dense growth of plant life and death of animal life from lack of oxygen