Term glossary water and carbon Flashcards
What is Acidification?
The gradual reduction of pH of the oceans, due to dissolving carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
What is Afforestation?
Planting trees and vegetation in the aim of increasing forest cover.
What is an Anticyclone?
A system of high pressure, causing high temperatures and unseasonably high evaporation rates.
What is an Aquifer?
A permeable or porous rock which stores water.
What is Biofuel?
Burning crops and vegetation for electricity and heat.
What is Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS)?
The capture of carbon dioxide emissions directly from the factory, pumped into disused mines rather than being released into the atmosphere.
What are Carbon Fluxes?
The movement of carbon between stores.
What does Carbon Neutral mean?
A process that has no net addition of carbon dioxide to the environment.
What are Carbon Stores?
Places where carbon accumulates for a period of time such as rocks and plant matter.
What is Channel Flow?
Water flowing in a rivulet, stream or river.
What are Choke Points?
Points in the logistics of energy and fuel that are prone to restriction.
What is Combustion?
The process of burning a substance, in the presence of oxygen, to release energy.
What is Convectional Precipitation?
Solar radiation heats the air above the ground, causing it to rise, cool & condense forming precipitation (often as thunderstorms).
What is the Cryosphere?
The global water volume locked up within a frozen state (i.e. snow and ice).
What is Decomposition?
The break down of matter, often by a decomposer which releases carbon dioxide through their own respiration.
What is a Depression?
A system of low pressure, with fronts of precipitation where low and high pressure air masses meet.
What is a Desalination Plant?
The conversion of seawater to freshwater, suitable for human consumption.
What is a Desalination Plant?
The conversion of seawater to freshwater, suitable for human consumption.
What is Desublimation?
The change of state of water from gas to solid, without being a liquid (the opposite process to sublimation).
What is a Drainage Basin?
The area of land drained by a river and its tributaries.
What is Drainage Density?
The total length of all rivers & streams divided by the area of the drainage basin.
What is a Drought?
An extended period of deficient rainfall relative to the statistical average for the region (UN).
What is Economic Water Scarcity?
When water resources are available but insufficient economic wealth limits access to it.
What is Energy Mix?
The composition of a country’s energy sources.
What is Energy Security?
The ownership and full control of a country’s energy source, production and transportation.
What is an Energy Pathway?
The movement of energy from its extraction or source, through pipes, freight logistics or cabling.
Who are Energy Players?
Key companies and individuals who own, distribute and sell energy and energy sources.
What is the Enhanced Greenhouse Effect?
The build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, reducing the amount of solar radiation reflected into space.
What are ENSO Cycles?
El Niño Southern Oscillations - naturally occurring phenomena that involves the movement of warm water in the Equatorial Pacific.
What is Evapotranspiration?
The combined total moisture transferred from the Earth to the atmosphere, through evaporation and transpiration.
What is Frontal Precipitation?
Where air masses of different temperatures meet at a front, one mass will be forced over another, causing precipitation beneath the front.
What is the Global Hydrological Cycle?
The continuous transfer of water between land, atmosphere and oceans. The Earth is a closed system.
What is photosynthesis?
The process of converting carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen. All plants and some organisms rely on this process to survive.
What is physical water scarcity?
A physical lack of available freshwater which cannot meet demand.
What are phytoplankton?
Small organisms that rely on photosynthesis to survive, so intake carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
What is primary energy?
The initial source of energy, as it is naturally found. This could be natural ores, water, crops or radioactive material.
What is relief precipitation?
Precipitation caused when air masses are forced to rise over high land, determined by the relief/morphology of the land.
What does renewable mean in terms of energy?
Primary energy that can be re-used to produce electricity or has a short lifetime, therefore any used can be replaced quickly.
Examples include hydroelectric, biomass, and solar.
What is respiration?
The process of converting glucose and oxygen into carbon dioxide and energy. Some organisms rely on respiration to survive.
What is river regime?
The pattern of river discharge over a year.
What is runoff?
Water flowing over the surface of the ground, e.g., after precipitation or snowmelt.
What is salinisation?
Where salt water contaminates freshwater stores or soils, creating saline conditions and reducing human use/consumption.
What is saltwater encroachment?
The movement of saltwater into freshwater aquifers or soils. This may be caused by sea level rise, storm surges or over-extraction.
What is secondary energy?
The product of primary energy, mostly electricity.
What is sequestration?
The transfer of carbon from the atmosphere to stores elsewhere - living biosphere, inorganic rocks, etc.
What is smart irrigation?
Providing crops with a water supply less than optimal, to make crops resistant to water shortages.
What is a Storm Hydrograph?
Variation of river discharge over a short period of time (days).
What is Sublimation?
The change of state of water from solid to a gas, without being a liquid.
What is Thermohaline Circulation?
The movement of volumes of seawater from cold deep water to warm water surface water.
What is Throughflow?
Water moving horizontally through the soil, due to gravity.
What is a Tipping Point?
A critical threshold where any changes to a system after the tipping point are irreversible.
What is Transpiration?
The process through which water evaporates through the stomata in plants’ leaves.
What is Urbanisation?
The growth of populations in towns and cities.
What is a Water Budget?
The annual balance between inputs and outputs within a system.
What is Water Conservation?
Strategies to reduce water usage and demand.
What is Water Recycling?
The treatment and purification of waste water, to increase supply.
What is Water Scarcity?
There are limited renewable water sources (between 500 and 1000 cubic metres per capita per year).
What is Water Security?
The ability to protect and access a sustainable source to adequately meet demand.
What is a Water Sharing Treaty?
International agreements for transboundary sources.
What is Water Transfer?
Hard engineering projects, such as pipelines or aqueducts, that divert water between basins to meet demand.
What is a Watershed?
The boundary between neighbouring drainage basins.
