AQA Geography - Water and Carbon Cycle keywords

Acidification - The gradual reduction of pH of the oceans, due to dissolving carbon

dioxide from the atmosphere.

Afforestation - Planting trees and vegetation in the aim of increasing forest cover.

Anticyclone - A system of high pressure, causing high temperatures and

unseasonably high evaporation rates.

Aquifer - A permeable or porous rock which stores water.

Biofuel - Burning crops and vegetation for electricity and heat.

Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) - The capture of carbon dioxide emissions

directly from the factory, pumped into disused mines rather than being released into

the atmosphere.

Carbon Fluxes - The movement of carbon between stores.

Carbon Neutral - A process that has no net addition of carbon dioxide to the

environment.

Carbon Stores - Places where carbon accumulates for a period of time such as

rocks and plant matter.

Channel Flow - Water flowing in a rivulet, stream or river.

Choke Points - Points in the logistics of energy and fuel that are prone to restriction.

Combustion - The process of burning a substance, in the presence of oxygen, to

release energy.

Convectional Precipitation - Solar radiation heats the air above the ground,

causing it to rise, cool & condense forming precipitation (often as thunderstorms).

Cryosphere - The global water volume locked up within a frozen state (i.e. snow and

ice).

Decomposition - The break down of matter, often by a decomposer which releases

carbon dioxide through their own respiration.

Depression - A system of low pressure, with fronts of precipitation where low and

high pressure air masses meet.

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Desalination Plant - The conversion of seawater to freshwater, suitable for human

consumption.

Desublimation - The change of state of water from gas to solid, without being a

liquid (the opposite process to sublimation).

Drainage Basin - The area of land drained by a river and its tributaries.

Drainage Density - The total length of all rivers & streams divided by the area of the

drainage basin.

Drought - An extended period of deficient rainfall relative to the statistical average

for the region (UN).

Economic Water Scarcity - When water resources are available but insufficient

economic wealth limits access to it.

Energy Mix - The composition of a country’s energy sources.

Energy Security - The ownership and full control of a country’s energy source,

production and transportation.

Energy Pathway - The movement of energy from its extraction or source, through

pipes, freight logistics or cabling.

Energy Players - Key companies and individuals who own, distribute and sell

energy and energy sources.

Enhanced Greenhouse Effect - The build-up of greenhouse gases in the

atmosphere, reducing the amount of solar radiation reflected into space.

ENSO Cycles - El Niño Southern Oscillations - naturally occurring phenomena that

involves the movement of warm water in the Equatorial Pacific.

Evapotranspiration - The combined total moisture transferred from the Earth to the

atmosphere, through evaporation and transpiration.

Frontal Precipitation - Where air masses of different temperatures meet at a front,

one mass will be forced over another, causing precipitation…