The carbon cycle and energy security Flashcards
Action taken to adjust to changing climate conditions e.g. water conservation and flood risk management
Adaptation
Planting trees on land that has been without forest for a long time or has never had forest
Afforestation
A measure of how much sunlight is reflected away from the Earth’s surface
Albedo
Processes and actions associated with human activity
Anthropogenic
A name often given to the current geological era because of the profound changes caused by humans
Anthropocene
A fuel derived immediately from living matter, such as agricultural crops, forestry or fishery products, and various forms of waste (municipal, food shops, catering, etc.). A distinction is made between primary and secondary biofuels
Biofuel
Organic matter used as fuel for the generation of electricity
Biomass
The transfer of elements and compounds, such as carbon, between living organisms and the physical environment through chemical processes that create new compounds and elements in the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere.
Biogeochemical
The break of rocks in situ by plant roots or burrowing animals
Biological weathering
The constant exchange of carbon stores in the atmosphere, ecosystems and soils
Carbon balance
The biogeochemical cycle by which carbon moves from one sphere to another. It acts as a closed system made up of linked subsystems that have inputs, throughputs and outputs.
Carbon cycle
The processes operating in oceans to circulate and store carbon
Carbon cycle pumps
The movement or transfer of carbon, in different compounds, between stores in atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere.
Carbon fluxes
A process or activity that results in no net release of carbon into the atmosphere, perhaps through using renewable energy or planting trees.
Carbon-neutral
The steps involved in moving carbon to a store where it is fixed.
Carbon pathway
As part of the natural carbon cycle carbon accumulates in places within the cycle, often for a very long time period. These stores include vegetation, atmosphere, oceans and rock.
Carbon store or sink
The breakdown of rocks by carbonic acid in rain which dissolves carbonate-based rocks
Chemical weathering
The causes or drivers of climate change
Climate forcing
The process of burning something
Combustion
The use, or fixing, of solar energy by plants to increase their biomass (primary productivity) through photosynthesis, which supports the growth of herbivores (secondary productivity) and carnivores (tertiary productivity).
Ecosystem productivity
The level of disturbance that ecosystems can cope with while keeping their original state
Ecosystem resilience
The range of energy sources used by a country or region, from non-renewable ones such as fossil fuels to renewables such as wind energy.
Energy mix
A measure of how efficiently a country is using its energy as units of energy used per unit of GDP
Energy intensity
The route by which an energy type is transferred from the production area to the consumption area, such as by pipeline or shipping route.
Energy pathway
A situation where there is an uninterrupted and affordable supply of energy to meet the needs of consumers (people and businesses).
Energy security
The intensification of the natural greenhouse effect by human activities, primarily through fossil fuel combustion and deforestation, causing global warming.
Enhanced greenhouse effect
Movements of carbon; the rate of flow between stores.
Fluxes
The process in which sediments compact under pressure, and gradually become solid rock.
Lithification
The breakup of rocks in situ by e.g. frost
Mechanical weathering
The reduction or prevention of greenhouse gas emissions by new technologies, low carbon energy, energy efficiency and changing behaviours.
Mitigation
Stabilising feedbacks that maintain a stable state – changes are cancelled out creating an equilibrium.
Negative feedback
The decrease in the pH of the Earth’s oceans caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Ocean acidification
The release of a gas that was dissolved or stored due to changes in heat or pressure, for example carbon is released by metamorphic activity at plate boundaries or hot spots.
Out-gassing
The units used to measure carbon; one petagram (Pg), also known as a gigatonne (Gt), is equal to a trillion kilograms, or 1 billion tonnes.
Petagrams (Pg) or Gigatonnes (Gt)
The chemical reaction whereby carbon dioxide and water are converted into glucose and oxygen.
Photosynthesis
Minute plants, such as cyanobacteria, found in upper layers of oceans, which fix large amounts of carbon through photosynthesis and form the base of aquatic food webs.
Phytoplankton
The idea that whoever generates pollution should pay the costs of cleaning it up, either through taxes or fines or being forced to use technology to prevent its emission in the first place.
Polluter Pays Principle
Amplifying feedback which occurs when a small change causes further changes in other components, shifting a system towards a different state.
Positive feedback
The main original source of energy before conversion in alternative forms, such as coal and crude oil.
Primary energy
Living organisms that produce their own food, using sunlight, carbon dioxide, water and other chemicals in the process of photosynthesis; they are also sometimes referred to as autotrophs.
Primary producers
Energy from a source that can be used over and over, but must first go through a process to prepare it for re-use
Recyclable energy
Planting trees in places with recently lost tree cover
Reforestation
Energy from a source that is not depleted when used, such as wind or solar power.
Renewable energy
The rate at which carbon enters and leaves a store measured as mass or carbon divided by exchange flux
Reservoir turnover
A process in living organisms involving the production of energy, from the intake of oxygen and the release of carbon dioxide.
Respiration
A convenient and more usable energy source, such as electricity, that has been created from a primary energy source.
Secondary energy
Processes by which carbon is removed from the atmosphere and stored, for example by plants and soils.
Sequestration
The global system of surface and deep water ocean currents driven by salinity and temperature differences.
Thermohaline circulation
