GEOL 1301: Chapter 15
21 Cards in this Set
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Albedo
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The fraction of solar energy reflected by a surface. (From the Latin albus, meaning “white.”)
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Carbon Cycle
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The continual movement of carbon among different components of the Earth system.
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Climate Mode
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Any representation of the climate system constructed to reproduce one or more aspects of its behavior.
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El Nino
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An anomalous warming of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean that occurs every 3 to 7 years and lasts for a year or so.
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ENSO (El Nino-Southern Oscillation)
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A natural cycle of variation in the exchange of heat between the atmosphere and the tropical Pacific Ocean, of which El Niño and a complementary cooling event, known as La Niña, are a part.
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Geochemical Cycle
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The pattern of flux of a chemical from one component of the Earth system to another.
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Glacial Cycle
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A climate cycle alternating between cold glacial periods, or ice ages, during which temperatures decline, water is transferred from the hydrosphere to the cryosphere, ice sheets expand into lower latitudes, and sea level falls, and warm interglacial periods, during which temperatures rise…
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Greenhouse Effect
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A global warming effect that results when a planet with an atmosphere containing greenhouse gases radiates solar energy back into space less efficiently than it would without such an atmosphere.
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Greenhouse Gas
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A gas that absorbs and reradiates energy when it is present in a planet’s atmosphere. Greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere include water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane.
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Ice Age
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The cold period of a glacial cycle, during which Earth cools, water is transferred from the hydrosphere to the cryosphere, ice sheets expand, and sea level drops. Also called glacial period. (Compare interglacial period.)
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Interglacial Period
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The warm period of a glacial cycle during which ice sheets melt, water is transferred from the cryosphere to the hydrosphere, and sea level rises. (Compare ice age.)
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Milankovitch cycle
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A pattern of periodic variations in Earth’s movement around the Sun that affects the amount of solar energy received at Earth’s surface. Milankovitch cycles include variations in the eccentricity of Earth’s orbit, the tilt of Earth’s axis of rotation, and precession—Earth’s wobble about i…
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Negative Feedback
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A process in which one action produces an effect (the feedback) that tends to counteract the original action and stabilize the system against change. (Compare positive feedback.)
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Ocean Acidification
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A process in which carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolves into the ocean and reacts with seawater to form carbonic acid (H2CO3), increasing the acidity of the ocean.
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Positive Feedback
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A process in which one action produces an effect (the feedback) that tends to enhance the original action and amplify change in the system. (Compare negative feedback.)
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Residence time
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The average time an atom of a particular element spends in a geochemical reservoir before leaving it.
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Solar Forcing
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Cyclical variation in the amount of solar energy received at Earth’s surface.
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Stratosphere
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The cold, dry layer of the atmosphere above the troposphere that extends from about 11 to 50 km in altitude. (Compare troposphere.)
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Thermohaline Circulation
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A global three-dimensional oceanic circulation pattern driven by differences in the temperature and the salinity—and therefore in the density—of ocean waters.
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Troposphere
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The lowest layer of the atmosphere, which has an average thickness of about 11 km, contains about three-fourths of the atmosphere’s mass, and convects vigorously due to the uneven heating of Earth’s surface by the Sun. (From the Greek tropos, meaning “turn” or “mix.”) (Compare stratospher…
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Twentieth-Century Warming
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The rise in Earth’s average surface temperature by about 0.6°C between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twenty-first.
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GEOL 1301: Final Review