APES 19, 20 Climate Change Essays

APES 19, 20 Climate Change Essays APES 19, 20 Climate Change Paper APES 19, 20 Climate Change Paper Aerosols Small particles or liquid droplets in the atmosphere that can absorb or reflect sunlight depending on their composition. Albedo The amount of solar radiation reflected from an object or surface, often expressed as a percentage. Anthropogenic Made by people or resulting from human activities. Usually used in the context of emissions that are produced as a result of human activities. Carbon Capture and Sequestration It is a three-step process that includes capture of carbon dioxide from power plants or industrial sources; transport of the captured and compressed carbon dioxide (usually in pipelines); and underground injection of that carbon dioxide in rock formations that contain tiny openings or pores that trap and hold the carbon dioxide. Carbon Dioxide a colorless, odorless gas that is released from the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Carbon footprint the total amount of greenhouse gases released by a person, family, building, organization, or company each year. It includes the amount of greenhouse gases released from direct use (such as heating a home or driving a car) and from indirect use (such as the amount of fuel needed to produce a good or a service). Carbon Sequestration the process by which trees and plants absorb carbon dioxide, release the oxygen, and store the carbon. Chlorofluorocarbons Gases covered under the 1987 Montreal Protocol and used for refrigeration, air conditioning, packaging, insulation, solvents, or aerosol propellants. Hydrochlorofluorocarbons, an interim replacement for CFCs that are also covered under the Montreal Protocol, and hydrofluorocarbons, which are covered under the Kyoto Protocol. All these substances are also greenhouse gases. Climate Feedback A process that acts to amplify or reduce direct warming or cooling effects. Climate Lag The delay that occurs in climate change as a result of some factor that changes only very slowly. For example, the effects of releasing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere occur gradually over time because the ocean takes a long time to warm up in response to a change in radiation. Climate Model A quantitative way of representing the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land surface, and ice. El Nio Southern Oscillation (ENSO) a warm water current that periodically flows along the coast of Ecuador and Peru, disrupting the local fishery. This oceanic event is associated with a fluctuation of the intertropical surface pressure pattern and circulation in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, called the Southern Oscillation. During this event, the prevailing trade winds weaken and the equatorial countercurrent strengthens, causing warm surface waters in the Indonesian area to flow eastward to overlie the cold waters of the Peru current. Feedback Mechanisms Factors which increase or amplify (positive) or decrease (negative) the rate of a process. An positive example is the ice-albedo feedback. Greenhouse Effect the process by which greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trap heat from the sun and reflect it back to Earth rather than letting it leave the planet. Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Any gas that absorbs infrared radiation in the atmosphere. Infrared Radiation light whose wavelength is longer than the red color in the visible part of the spectrum, but shorter than microwave radiation and can be perceived as heat. Intergovernmental Panel on climate Change (IPCC) Established jointly by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization in 1988. The purpose is to assess information in the scientific and technical literature related to all significant components of the issue of climate change. Methane a colorless, odorless gas that is produced when plants, animals, and garbage decay. It is produced naturally and as a result of people’s activities. Mitigation A human intervention to reduce the human impact on the climate system; it includes strategies to reduce greenhouse gas sources and emissions and enhancing greenhouse gas sinks. Natural Variability Variations in the mean state and other statistics (such as standard deviations or statistics of extremes) of the climate on all time and space scales beyond that of individual weather events. Ocean Acidification Increased concentrations of carbon dioxide in sea water causing a measurable increase in acidity (i.e., a reduction in ocean pH). This may lead to reduced calcification rates of calcifying organisms such as corals, mollusks, algae and crustaceans. Ozone a gas made up of three atoms of oxygen bonded together. High in the atmosphere it protects the Earth’s surface from harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Close to earth, it is a pollutant created from other pollutants that react with each other. It can cause health problems in humans and is an example of a greenhouse gas. Renewable Resource a natural resource that can be made or regrown as fast as it is being used. Some examples are wind power or solar energy, which are both used to make electricity. Sink Any process, activity or mechanism which removes a greenhouse gas, an aerosol or a precursor of a greenhouse gas or aerosol from the atmosphere Stratosphere Region of the atmosphere between the troposphere and mesosphere, having a lower boundary of approximately 8 km at the poles to 15 km at the equator and an upper boundary of approximately 50 km. Troposphere The lowest part of the atmosphere from the surface to about 10 km in altitude in mid-latitudes (ranging from 9 km in high latitudes to 16 km in the tropics on average) where clouds and weather phenomena occur. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenge posed by climate change. It recognizes that the climate system is a shared resource whose stability can be affected by industrial and other emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Near universal membership, with 189 countries having ratified. Weather Atmospheric condition at any given time or place. It is measured in terms of such things as wind, temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, cloudiness, and precipitation.

Before You Buy a German Dictionary

Before You Buy a German Dictionary German dictionaries come in many shapes, sizes, price ranges, and language variations. They range in format from online and CD-ROM software to large multivolume print editions resembling an encyclopedia. Smaller editions may have only 5,000 to 10,000 entries, while larger hardcover versions offer over 800,000 entries. You get what you pay for: the more words, the more money. Choose wisely! But its not the mere amount of words alone that make a good German dictionary. There are a few other factors that need to be considered. Here are a few tips on how to pick the right dictionary for your German learning. Consider Your Needs Not everyone needs a German dictionary with 500,000 entries, but the typical paperback dictionary has only 40,000 entries or less. Youll get very frustrated using a dictionary thats not up to your needs. Note that a dual-language dictionary with 500,000 entries is actually only 250,000 for each language. Dont get a dictionary with fewer than 40,000 entries. One Language or Two Monolingual, German-only dictionaries offer several disadvantages, especially when you are just at the beginning of your German learning. For intermediate and advanced learners they might serve as additional dictionaries to broaden ones ability to circumscribe certain things. While they usually contain more entries they are also very heavy and impractical for daily use. Those are dictionaries for serious language students, not for the average German learners. If you are a beginner I strongly recommend that you get a German-English dictionary to be very clear about what a word might mean. Take a look at a few Buying It At Home or in Germany At times I have come across German learners who bought their dictionaries in Germany because they were simply very expensive in their home country. The problem often was that those were English-German dictionaries, meaning they were made for Germans who were learning English. Which had some huge disadvantages. As the user was German they didnt need to write the German articles or plural forms into the dictionary which made those books simply useless for German learners. So be aware of such issues and pick a dictionary that was written for learners of German as a foreign language (Deutsch als Fremdsprache). Software or Print Versions Even a few years ago there was no substitute for a real print dictionary you could hold in your hands, but nowadays online German dictionaries are the way to go. They are extremely helpful and can save you a lot of time. They also have one huge advantage over any paper dictionary: They weigh absolutely nothing. In the age of the smartphone, youll always have some of the best dictionaries right at hand wherever you are. The advantages of those dictionaries are just amazing. Nevertheless, about.com offers its own English-German glossaries and links to many online German dictionaries that can still be quite helpful. Dictionaries for Special Purposes Sometimes a regular German dictionary, no matter how good it may be, just isnt adequate for the job. Thats when a medical, technical, business, scientific or other industrial-strength dictionary is called for. Such specialized dictionaries tend to be expensive, but they fill a need. Some are available online. The Essentials Whatever kind of dictionary you decide on, make sure it has the basics: the article, which means the gender of nouns, noun plurals, genitive endings of nouns, the cases for the German prepositions and at least 40,000 entries. Cheap print dictionaries often lack such information and are not worth buying. Most online dictionaries even provide you with audio samples of how a word is pronounced. Its advisable to look for a natural pronunciation like e.g. linguee. Original Article by: Hyde Flippo Edited, 23rd of June 2015 by: Michael Schmitz