The Carbon Cycle Key Terms Flashcards
Anthropogenic CO2
Carbon dioxide generated by human adtivity
Biosphere
The total sum of living matter
Carbon sequestration
The capture of carbon dioxide from large scale stationary sources (e.g. power plants) before it is released into the atmosphere. Once captured, the CO2 is put into long term storage.
Carbon sink
A store of carbon that absorbs more that it releases.
Greenhouse gas
Any gaseous compound in the atmosphere that is capable of absorbing infrared radiation, thereby trapping and holding heat in the atmosphere.
Lithosphere
The crust and the uppermost mantle; this constitutes the hard and rigid layer of the Earth.
Weathering
The breakdown of rocks in situ by a combination of weather, plants and animals.
Enhanced greenhouse effect
The impact on the climate from the additional heat retained due to the increased amounts of greenhouse gases that humans have released into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution.
Geo-sequestration
The technology of capturing greenhouse gas emissions from power stations and pumping them into underground reservoirs.
Radiative forcing
The difference between the incoming solar energy absorbed by the Earth and the energy radiated back into space.
Soil organic carbon (SOC)
The organic constituents in the soil; tissues from dead plants and animals, products produced as these decompose and the soil microbial biomass.
Flow/ transfer
A form of linkage between one store/component and another that involves movement of energy or mass.
Input
The addition of matter and/or energy into a stystem.
Store/ component
A part of the system where energy/ mass is stored or transformed.
System
A set of interrelated components working together towards some kind of process
Atmospheric water
Water found in the atmosphere mainly water vapour with some liquid water (cloud and rain droplets) and ice crystals
Cryospheric water
The water locked up in the Earth’s surface as ice.
Hydrosphere
A discontinuous layer of water at or near the Earth’s surface. It includes all liquid and frozen surface waters, groundwater held in soil and rock and atmospheric water vapour.
Oceanic water
The water contained in the Earth’s seas and oceans but not including inland seas.
Give and example of an inland sea.
The Caspian Sea
Terrestrial water
This consists of groundwater, soil moisture, lakes, wetlands and rivers.
Interception storage
The precipitation that falls on the vegetation surfaces (canopy) or human-made cover and is temporarily stored on these surfaces. Intercepted water can either be evaporated directly into the atmosphere, absorbed by the canopy surfaces or transmitted to the ground.
Overland flow
The tendency of water to flow horizontally across land surfaces when rainfall has exceeded the infiltration capacity of the soil and all surfaces stores are full and overflowing.
Percolation
The downward flow of water within rock under the soil surface.
Run- off
All water that enters a river channel and eventually flows out of the drainage basin.
Stemflow
The amount of precipitation intercepted by the canopy that reaches the ground by flowing down stems, stalks or tree bole.
Storm and rainfall event
An individual storm is a rainfall period separated by at least 24 hours of dry intervals.
An individual rainfall event is defined as a rainfall period separated by dry intervals of at least 24 hours.
Throughfall
The portion of the precipitation that reaches the ground directly through gaps in the vegetation canopy and drips from leaves, twigs and stems.
When does throughfall occur?
When the canopy- surface rainwater storage exceeds its storage capacity.
Throughflow
The movement of water down-slope through the subsoil under the influence of gravity.
When is throughflow particularly effective?
When underlying rock prevents further downward movement.
Transpiration
The loss of water from vegetation through stomata.
Water balance
The balance between inputs and outputs in a drainage basin.
What is an input in a drainage system?
Precipitation
Give some examples of outputs from drainage basins.
Run-off
Evapotranspiration
Soil and ground water storage
Bankfull
The maximum discharge that a river channel is capable of carrying without flooding.
Base flow
This represents the normal day-to-day discharge of the river and is the consequence of slow moving soil throughflow and groundwater seeping into the river channel.
Discharge
The amount of water in a river flowing last a particular point in cumecs.
Lag time
The time between the peak rainfall and peak discharge
Peak discharge
The point of a flood hydrograph when river discharge is at its greatest.
Storm flow
Discharge resulting from storm precipitation involving both overland flow, throughflow and groundwater flow.
Storm hydrohpgraph
A graph of discharge if a river over the time period when the normal flow of the river is affected by a storm event.
