the carbon cycle and energy security Flashcards
adaptation:
the way people or animals change because of their environment such as building sea walls, or moving away from dangerous areas.
afforestation:
replanting of trees when deforestation has occurred, or establishing forest on land not previously forest.
albedo:
the amount of heat that is reflected by the earth.
anthropogenic:
processes and actions associated with human activity.
aquaculture:
the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks and aquatic plants.
arctic barometer:
the notion that the arctic is a simple, visible indicator of global environmental health.
biofuel:
a fuel derived from living matter.
bio-geochemical carbon cycle:
the continued transfer of carbon from one store to another, through the process of photosynthesis, respiration, decomposition and combustion.
biological carbon pump:
where phytoplankton in the oceans sequester carbon dioxide through the process of photosynthesis- pumping it out of the atmosphere in the ocean store.
biomass:
organic matter used as a fuel, especially in power stations for the generation of electricity.
carbon capture and storage:
the process of trapping carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels and storing it so it is unable to affect the atmosphere.
carbon cycle pumps:
the processes operating in oceans to circulate and store carbon. there are three sorts: biological, carbonate and physical.
carbon fixation:
the incorporation of carbon into organic compounds by living organisms, chiefly by photosynthesis in green plants.
carbon pool:
a system that has the capacity to store or release carbon.
carbon sink:
a carbon reservoir that takes in and stores more carbon than it releases. carbon sinks can serve to partially offset greenhouse gas emissions. forests and oceans are both large carbon sinks.
climate belt:
often called a climate zone, this refers to the climates of specific areas of the world roughly delineated by lines of latitude.
COP conferences:
a conference held by the decision-making body of the united nations framework convention on
climate change (UNFCCC).
energy transition:
the long-term structural change in energy resources, such as fuelwood to coal.
energy mix:
describes the range and combination of sources required to supply a country with energy.
energy pathways:
the flow of energy between a produced and a consumer and hot it reaches the consumer e.g. pipeline, transmission lines, ship, rail.
enhanced greenhouse effect:
the increase in the natural greenhouse effect, said to be caused by human activities that increase the quantity of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere.
flux:
the rate of exchange between reservoirs.
fracking:
drilling into bedrock, usually sedimentary, which contains methane in small air pockets. firing a high pressure mixture of water, chemicals and sand to break down the rock and release the gas.
köppen-geiger climate zone classification system:
a widely used system through which climate is categorised.
LNG:
liquefied natural gas: methane that has been cooled until it becomes a liquid. (this has a higher
‘carbon footprint’ than normal methane.)
longwave radiation:
radiation returning from the earth in the form of infrared radiation or heat.
mitigation:
where people try to stop the root cause of an issue and thereby reduce the changes of the impacts, e.g. switching to renewable energies to reduce climate change.
ocean acidification:
the reduction in the pH of the ocean over an extended period of time, caused primarily by uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2).
peak production:
a date where maximum production has been reached, beyond which production rates will diminish.
petagrams (Pg) or gigatonnes (Gt):
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.
pollution havens:
a hypothesis based on the reasoning that HICs often move there heavy polluting industries to the cheapest locations, generally in LICs or NEEs due to low costs and low environmental regulations.
positive feedback:
when a change leads to a decrease within a system and creates instability.
shortwave radiation:
solar radiation from the sun in the form of visible light and ultraviolet radiation.
stern review:
an influential report that set out to examine the economic impacts of climate change.
thermohaline regulation:
the flow of ocean water caused by changes in density.
