Chapter 10 Flashcards
(22 cards)
Primary Pollutants
Air pollutants that enter the atmosphere directly. Compare with secondary pollutant.
Secondary Pollutants
Atmospheric pollutants that are created chemically in the atmosphere when primary pollutants and other components of the air react. Compare with primary pollutant.
Acid deposition
The atmospheric deposition of acids in solid or liquid form on the Earth’s surface. Also see acid precipitation
Volatile organic compounds
Organic molecules that are mainly composed of carbon and hydrogen atoms (hydrocarbons). The most common volatile organic compound release into the atmosphere is methane. Involved in the formation of photochemical smog.
Carcinogen
Substance or thing that has the potential ability to cause cancer in an organism.
Particulate matter
Particles of dust, soot, salt, sulfate compounds, pollen, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere.
Photochemical smog
Photochemical smog is a condition that develops when primary pollutants (oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds created from fossil fuel combustion) interact under the influence of sunlight to produce a mixture of hundreds of different and hazardous chemicals known as secondary pollutants.
Atmospheric stability
Relative stability of parcels of air relative to the atmosphere that surrounds them. Three conditions of atmospheric stability are generally described: stable, unstable, and neutral.
Temperature inversions
Situation where a layer of warmer air exists above the Earth’s surface in a normal atmosphere where air temperature decreases with altitude. In the warmer layer of air, temperature increases with altitude
Industrial smog
Form of air pollution that develops in urban areas. This type of air pollution consists of a combination of sulfur dioxide, suspended droplets of sulfuric acid, and a variety of suspended solid particles
Acid shock
A sudden acidification of runoff waters from the spring melting of accumulated snow in the middle latitudes because of the winter accumulation of acid precipitation.
Leaching
Process in which water removes and transports soil humus and inorganic nutrients in solution.
Nitrogen saturation
An over abundance of nitrogen in the forms of ammonium and nitrate in a natural ecosystem usually because of human induced inputs related to agriculture and fossil fuel combustion
Clean Air Acts
Federal laws created to stop, reduce, and regulate air pollution at a national level in the United States. This Act was first passed in 1963 and expanded in 1967. Major amendments to the Clean Air Act occurred in 1970, 1977, and 1990. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the main agency that enforces these laws
Catalytic Converters
A device found in most vehicle exhaust systems that uses a chemical catalyst to convert harmful air pollutants from fossil fuel combustion into less harmful substances.
Annual mean global temperature
Normally, it is the annual mean temperature value calculated from all of Earth’s surface (terrestrial and ocean) meteorological stations for a particular year. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) calculated the annual mean global temperature for 2011 to be 14.41°C (57.94°F).
Representative Concentration Pathway
- Four new future emission scenarios used to model future climate change on Earth in the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. These four scenarios are specifically called Representative Concentration Pathway 2.6 (RCP 2.6), 4.5 (RCP 4.5) 6.0 (RCP 6.0), and 8.5 (RCP 8.5) and are based on four assumptions of how future human population growth and socioeconomic development will play out from now until the year 2100
Kyoto Protocol
Is an international agreement associated with the United Nations Framework on Climate Change aimed at mitigating human caused climate change. This agreement achieves its goals by having signing nations reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere on a specific agreed timeline.(came into effect in 2005)
Conference of the Parties
An official meeting of all the parties (nation states) involved in the United Nations Framework on Climate Change that is held annually. This event started in 1995 to guarantee that the process of mitigating human caused global climate change was always ongoing as new information and recommendations from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Reports were considered by nation governments.
Paris Agreement
International climate change treaty negotiated at the Conference of the Parties in Paris, France, from November 30 to December 11, 2015. This treaty was then signed by 177 parties (individual nation states and the European Union) on April 22, 2016 (Earth Day). The main goal of this legally binding agreement is to restrict the increase in annual mean global temperature to well below 2.0°C (relative to the pre-industrial temperature level) and to vigorously pursue efforts to limit this temperature increase to just 1.5°C.
chlorofluorocarbons
Is a human created gas that has become concentrated in the Earth’s atmosphere. This very strong greenhouse gas is released from aerosol sprays, refrigerants, and the production of foams. Chlorofluorocarbons play a role in the seasonal development of ozone holes at the Earth’s polar regions. The basic chemical formula for chlorofluorocarbons is CFXClX.
Montreal Protocol
A United Nations international treaty first signed in 1987 by 24 nations in Montreal, Canada to cut the emissions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) into the atmosphere. This treaty is an outc
