Atmospheric Composition and processes
The gas that makes up approximately 78% of the earth's atmosphere.
What is nitrogen?
The most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.
The term for water moving from the surface to the atmosphere through evaporation and transpiration
What is evapotranspiration?
The first stage of water treatment where large debris is removed using metal grids.
What is screening?
The greenhouse gas responsible for approximately 76% of global anthropogenic emissions, primarily produced by fossil fuel combustion and deforestation.
What is carbon dioxide?
The process by which water vapor is released into the atmosphere by plants.
The international agreement that phased out ozone-depleting substances like CFCs.
What is the Montreal Protocol?
The step in the hydrological cycle where water changes from a liquid to a gas.
What is evaporation?
The process where fine particles in water are clumped together using coagulants like alum.
What is coagulation and flocculation?
The greenhouse gas with a global warming potential approximately 28-36 times greater than carbon dioxide over 100 years.
What is methane?
The layer of the atmosphere where most weather occurs
What is the troposphere?
The main anthropogenic source of methane in the atmosphere
What is livestock and rice paddies?
The underground layer of water-saturated rock that stores groundwater.
What is an aquifer?
The water treatment stage where bacteria are killed, often using chlorine or UV light.
What is sterilisation?
The periodic climate phenomenon caused by weakening trade winds, leading to warmer sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean and disrupting global weather patterns.
What is El Niño?
The layer of the atmosphere where ozone absorbs harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation, protecting life on Earth.
What is the stratosphere?
The international agreement aimed at reducing the greenhouse gas emissions signed in 1997.
The boundary below which all pore spaces are filled with water.
What is the water table?
The process of passing water through sand or gravel to remove small suspended particles.
What is filtration?
A highly reactive atom or molecule with an unpaired electron, such as chlorine in its role in ozone depletion.
What is a radical?
The process that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stores it in ocean sediments
What is carbon sequestration?
The mechanism where increased global temperatures lead to the melting of ice, reducing Earth's albedo and further increasing warming.
What is a positive feedback loop?
The term for the movement of water across the surface into rivers and lakes.
What is surface runoff?
The term for the removal of dissolved minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, to prevent water hardness.
What is water softening?
The atmospheric process where ultraviolet light breaks down chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), releasing chlorine atoms that catalyze the destruction of ozone molecules.
What is photolysis?