Climate Change flashcards

0/18

18 cards remaining

Take the chapter practice test

All 18 cards in this deckShow

What is meant by “Carbon dioxide” in this lesson?Greenhouse gases: Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas increased by activities including fossil-fuel burning and some land-use changes.
What is meant by “Methane” in this lesson?Greenhouse gases: Methane is a greenhouse gas emitted by sources including leaks, agriculture, and biological processes.
What is meant by “Nitrous oxide” in this lesson?Greenhouse gases: Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas associated with sources including nitrogen management and industrial processes.
What is meant by “Water-vapor feedback” in this lesson?Greenhouse gases: Water vapor generally increases in warmer air and amplifies warming rather than acting like a long-lived direct human emission driver.
What is meant by “Atmospheric persistence” in this lesson?Greenhouse gases: Greenhouse gases differ in how they are removed and how long their effects persist.
What is meant by “Radiative forcing” in this lesson?Greenhouse gases: Radiative forcing describes a change in Earth's energy balance caused by a driver under defined conventions.
What is meant by “Observed warming” in this lesson?Evidence and models: Multiple records document long-term warming of the surface and climate system despite shorter fluctuations.
What is meant by “Ocean heat evidence” in this lesson?Evidence and models: Ocean heat measurements document accumulated energy in a major climate reservoir.
What is meant by “Attribution evidence” in this lesson?Evidence and models: Attribution compares expected and observed patterns to evaluate contributions of different drivers.
What is meant by “Model evaluation” in this lesson?Evidence and models: Models are evaluated against observations and physical constraints rather than accepted merely because they produce a graph.
What is meant by “Emission scenario” in this lesson?Evidence and models: An emissions scenario specifies an assumed future pathway rather than a guaranteed outcome.
What is meant by “Projection uncertainty” in this lesson?Evidence and models: Projection uncertainty arises from scenarios, model differences, and internal variability.
What is meant by “Mitigation” in this lesson?Mitigation and adaptation: Mitigation limits climate change by reducing greenhouse-gas emissions or enhancing appropriate removals.
What is meant by “Adaptation” in this lesson?Mitigation and adaptation: Adaptation adjusts systems to reduce harm from actual or expected climate effects.
What is meant by “Resilience” in this lesson?Mitigation and adaptation: Resilience is the capacity to withstand, recover from, or adapt to disturbances under a defined framework.
What is meant by “Carbon sink” in this lesson?Mitigation and adaptation: A carbon sink takes up more carbon than it releases over the stated period.
What is meant by “Maladaptation” in this lesson?Mitigation and adaptation: Maladaptation increases vulnerability or shifts risk despite an intended adaptation benefit.
What is meant by “Climate equity” in this lesson?Mitigation and adaptation: Climate equity examines differences in responsibility, vulnerability, resources, and distribution of benefits and burdens.