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16 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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aerosol
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With respect to climate, a suspension of microscopic liquid and solid particles, such as mineral dust and soot, in the atmosphere.
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anthropogenic
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Produced by humand or originating in human activity.
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carbon sequestration
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The removal and isolation of carbon compounds, particularly carbon dioxide, from chemical reactions in the carbon biogeochemical cycle; a term commonly used to describe the removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide and its isolation underground or in the ocean.
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climate
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Characteristic weather at a particular place or region during many seasons, years, or decades.
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cryosphere
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The portion of a planet consisting of ice; on Earth this includes permafrost in soil and below the seafloor, glaciers, ice sheets, ice caps and fields, ice shelves, and ice bergs.
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desertificaiton
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Conversion of land from a more biotically productive state to one that more closely resembles a desert.
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El Niño
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An event in the atmosphere and ocean during which trade winds weaken or even reverse, the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean becomes anomalously warm, and the westward moving equatorial ocean current weakens or reverses; this change in ocean temperature can cause anomalous weather in adjacent landmasses.
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forcing
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With respect to climate, a variable, such as solar radiation, volcanic aerosols, or greenhouse gases, that influences the direction of climate change.
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glacier
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A large mass of flowing ice that moves downslope under its own weight and persists from year to year; formed, at least in part on land, by the compaction and recrystallization of snow.
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global warming
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The increase in the mean annual temperature of the lower atmosphere and oceans in the past 150 years, primarily as a consequence of burning fossil fuels which emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
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greenhouse effect
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Trapping of heat in the lower atmosphere by the absorption of infrared energy by water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides, halocarbons, and other gases.
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ocean conveyor belt
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A large-scale circulation pattern in the Atlantic, Indian, and south-western Pacific Oceans that is driven by differences in water temperature and density; also referred to as a thermohaline current. Northward-flowing warm water in this current maintains the moderate climate of northern Europe; if this current were to slow or stop, ice-age conditions might return to portions of the Northern Hemisphere.
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ozone depletion
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Stratospheric loss of triatomic oxygen; related to release of halocarbons and other gases that destroy triatomic oxygen in the atmosphere.
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Pleistocene Epoch
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Geologically recent interval of Earth history characterized by widespread continental glaciation and commonly referred to as the "Ice Age"; the subdivision of the Quaternary Period before the Holocene Epoch.
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stratosphere
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Zone in Earth's atmosphere above the troposphere where the air temperature is either constant or warms with increasing altitude; contains significant quantities of ozone, which protects life from high levels of ultraviolet radiation.
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weather
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Atmospheric conditions, such as air temperature, humidity, and wind speed, at any given time and place.
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