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organic matter
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Appendix S
Glossary
The climate-based definitions are from the Oak Ridge National
Laboratory's (1990) glossary entitled "Carbon Dioxide and Climate."
The economic-based definitions are from Sharp, Register, and
Leftwich (1988), "Economics of Social Issues," Business
Publications, Inc., Plano, Texas.
Adaptation—The adjustment of an organism or
population to a new or altered environment through genetic changes
brought about by natural selection.
Aerosol—Particulate material, other than water or
ice, in the atmosphere ranging in size from approximately 10-3 to larger than 102 µm in radius. Aerosols are
important in the atmosphere as nuclei for the condensation of water
droplets and ice crystals, as participants in various chemical
cycles, and as absorbers and scatterers of solar radiation, thereby
influencing the radiation budget of the earth-atmosphere system,
which in turn influences the climate on the surface of the
earth.
Airborne fraction—The portion of CO2 released from all energy consumption and
land use activities that remains in the atmosphere as opposed to
the amounts absorbed by plants and oceans. How the world's total
carbon is partitioned among the oceanic, terrestrial, and
atmospheric pools is determined by complex biogeochemical and
climatological interactions.
Albedo—The fraction of the total solar radiation
incident on a body that is reflected by it.
Atmosphere—The envelope of air surrounding the earth
and bound to it by the earth's gravitational attraction. Studies of
the chemical properties, dynamic motions, and physical processes of
this system constitute the field of meteorology.
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Biological productivity—The amount of organic
matter, carbon, or energy content that is accumulated during a
given time period.
Biomass—The total dry organic matter or stored
energy content of living organisms that is present at a specific
time in a defined unit (community, ecosystem, crop, etc.) of the
earth's surface.
Biosphere—The portion of earth and its atmosphere
that can support life. The part (reservoir) of the global carbon
cycle that includes living organisms (plants and animals) and
life-derived organic matter (litter, detritus). The terrestrial
biosphere includes the living biota (plants and animals) and the
litter and soil organic matter on land, and the marine biosphere
includes the biota and detritus in the oceans.
Biota—The animal and plant (fauna and flora) life of
a given area.
Carbon-based resources—The recoverable fossil fuel
(coal, gas, crude oils, oil shale, and tar sands) and biomass that
can be used in fuel production and consumption.
Carbon budget—The balance of the exchanges (incomes
and losses) of carbon between the carbon reservoirs or between one
specific loop (e.g., atmosphere-biosphere) of the carbon cycle. An
examination of the carbon budget of a pool or reservoir can provide
information about whether the pool or reservoir is functioning as a
source or sink for CO2.
Carbon cycle—All parts (reservoirs) and fluxes of
carbon; usually thought of as a series of the four main reservoirs
of carbon interconnected by pathways of exchange. The four
reservoirs, regions of the earth in which carbon behaves in a
systematic manner, are the atmosphere, terrestrial biosphere
(usually includes freshwater systems), oceans, and sediments
(includes fossil fuels). Each of these global reservoirs may be
subdivided into smaller pools ranging in size from individual
communities or ecosystems to the total of all living organisms
(biota). Carbon exchanges from reservoir to reservoir by various
chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes.
Carbon density—The amount of carbon per unit area
for a given ecosystem or vegetation type, based on climatic
conditions, topography, vegetative-cover type and amount, soils,
and maturity of the vegetative stands.
Carbon dioxide fertilization—Enhancement of plant
growth or of the net primary production by CO2 enrichment that could occur in natural
or agricultural systems as a result of an increase in the
atmospheric concentration of CO2.
Carbon sink—A pool (reservoir) that absorbs or takes
up released carbon from another part of the carbon cycle. For
example, if the net exchange
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between the biosphere and the atmosphere is toward the
atmosphere, the biosphere is the source, and the atmosphere is the
sink.
Carbon source—A pool (reservoir) that releases
carbon to another part of the carbon cycle.
Chlorofluorocarbons—A family of inert nontoxic and
easily liquified chemicals used in refrigeration, air conditioning,
packaging, and insulation or as solvents or aerosol propellants.
Because they are not destroyed in the lower atmosphere, they drift
into the upper atmosphere, where their chlorine components destroy
ozone.
Climate—The statistical collection and
representation of the weather conditions for a specified area
during a specified time interval, usually decades, together with a
description of the state of the external system or boundary
conditions. The properties that characterize the climate are
thermal (temperatures of the surface air, water, land, and ice),
kinetic (wind and ocean currents, together with associated vertical
motions and the motions of air masses, aqueous humidity, cloudiness
and cloud water content, groundwater, lake lands, and water content
of snow on land and sea ice), and static (pressure and density of
the atmosphere and ocean, composition of the dry air, salinity of
the oceans, and the geometric boundaries and physical constants of
the system). These properties are interconnected by the various
physical processes such as precipitation, evaporation, infrared
radiation, convection, advection, and turbulence.
Climate change—The long-term fluctuations in
temperature, precipitation, wind, and all other aspects of the
earth's climate. External processes, such as solar-irradiance
variations, variations of the earth's orbital parameters
(eccentricity, precession, and inclination), lithosphere motions,
and volcanic activity, are factors in climatic variation. Internal
variations of the climate system also produce fluctuations of
sufficient magnitude and variability to explain observed climate
change through the feedback processes interrelating the components
of the climate system.
Cloud—A visible mass of condensed water vapor
particles or ice suspended above the earth's surface. Clouds may be
classified on their visual appearance, height, or form.
Cloud albedo—Reflectivity that varies from less than
10 to more than 90 percent of the insolation and depends on drop
sizes, liquid water content, water vapor content, thickness of the
cloud, and the sun's zenith angle. The smaller the drops and the
greater the liquid water content, the greater the cloud albedo, if
all other factors are the same.
Cloud feedback—The coupling between cloudiness and
surface air temperature in which a change in surface temperature
could lead to a change
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in clouds, which could then amplify or diminish the initial
temperature perturbation. For example, an increase in surface air
temperature could increase the evaporation; this in turn might
increase the extent of cloud cover. Increased cloud cover would
reduce the solar radiation reaching the earth's surface, thereby
lowering the surface temperature. This is an example of negative
feedback and does not include the effects of longwave radiation or
the advection in the oceans and the atmosphere, which must also be
considered in the overall relationship of the climate system.
Cost-benefit analysis—Determination of and
comparison of the costs and the benefits of an activity to evaluate
its economic worth and the extent, if any, to which it should be
carried on.
Deforestation—The removal of forest stands by
cutting and burning to provide land for agricultural purposes,
residential or industrial building sites, roads, etc., or by
harvesting the trees for building materials or fuel. Oxidation of
organic matter releases CO2 to the
atmosphere, and regional and global impacts may result.
Demand—The set of quantities of a good or service
per unit of time that buyers would be willing to purchase at
various alternative prices of the item, other things being
equal.
Developed countries—Countries with relatively higher
labor quality, relatively large accumulations of capital, and
relatively higher levels of technology, all leading to relatively
high living standards.
Discount rate—The rate of interest the Federal
Reserve banks, charge commercial banks when commercial banks borrow
from the Fed.
Ecosystem—The interacting system of a biological
community and its non-living environmental surroundings.
Efficiency—The extraction of the greatest possible
value of product output from given inputs of resources.
Elasticity of demand, price—The responsiveness of
the quantity demanded of a product to changes in its price.
Measured by the percentage change in quantity divided by the
percentage change in price.
Elasticity of supply, price—The responsiveness of
the quantity offered of a product to changes in its price. measured
by the percentage change in quantity divided by the percentage
change in price.
Emissions—Materials (gases, particles, vapors,
chemical compounds, etc.) that come out of smokestacks, chimneys,
and tailpipes.
Emissivity—The ratio of the radiation emitted by a
surface to that emitted by a black body at the same
temperature.
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Externalities—Benefits or costs incurred in the
production or consumption of goods and services that do not accrue
to the producing or consuming unit, but rather accrue to the
remainder of the society.
Feedback mechanisms—A sequence of interactions in
which the final interaction influences the original one.
Fossil fuel—Any hydrocarbon deposit that can be
burned for heat or power, such as petroleum, coal, and natural
gas.
Free riders—Those who receive social spillover
benefits without paying the costs of producing the goods or
services that yield them.
Full cost pricing—A situation in which the price of
a product is equal to its average costs of production.
Geosphere—The solid mass (lithosphere) of the earth
as distinct from the atmosphere and hydrosphere or all three of
these layers combined.
Greenhouse gases—Those gases, such as water vapor,
carbon dioxide, tropospheric ozone, nitrous oxide, and methane,
that are transparent to solar radiation but opaque to longwave
radiation. Their action is similar to that of glass in a
greenhouse.
Gross national product, current—The value of an
economy's annual output of goods and services in final form at
current prices.
Heat island effect—A ''dome" of elevated
temperatures over an urban area caused by the heat absorbed by
structures and pavement.
Implicit costs—Costs of production incurred by
producing a unit for the use of self-owned, self-employed
resources.
Infrared radiation—Electromagnetic radiation lying
in the wavelength interval from 0.7 µm to 1000 µm. Its
lower limit is bounded by visible radiation, and its upper limit by
microwave radiation. Most of the energy emitted by the earth and
its atmosphere is at infrared wavelength. Infrared radiation is
generated almost entirely by large-scale intramolecular processes.
The tri-atomic gases, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, and
ozone, absorb infrared radiation and play important roles in the
propagation of infrared radiation in the atmosphere.
Investment—The purchase by economic units of such
real assets as land, building, equipment, machinery, and raw and
semifinished materials.
Lesser developed countries—Countries with relatively
low living standards, usually the result of relatively low labor
quality, relatively scarce capital, and relatively low levels of
technology.
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Marginal benefits—The increase or decrease in the
total benefits yielded by an activity from a one-unit change in the
amount of the activity carried on.
Marginal costs—The change in total costs resulting
from a one-unit change in the output of a good or service.
Market—The area within which buyers and sellers of a
good or service can interact and engage in exchange.
Modeling—An investigative technique that uses a
mathematical or physical representation of a system or theory that
accounts for all or some of its known properties. Models are often
used to test the effects of changes of system components on the
overall performance of the system.
Negative feedback—An interaction that reduces or
dampens the response of the system in which it is incorporated.
Nutrient—Any substance assimilated by living things
that promotes growth.
Ocean mixing—Processes that involve rates of
advection, upwelling/downwelling, and eddy diffusion and that
determine how rapidly excess atmospheric carbon dioxide can be
taken up by the oceans.
Ozone—A molecule made up of three atoms of oxygen.
In the stratosphere, it occurs naturally and it provides a
protective layer shielding the earth from ultraviolet radiation and
subsequent harmful health effects on humans and the environment. In
the troposphere, it is a chemical oxidant and major component of
photochemical smog.
Photosynthesis—The manufacture by plants of
carbohydrates and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water in the
presence of chlorophyll with sunlight as the energy source. Oxygen
and water vapor are released in the process. Photosynthesis is
dependent on favorable temperature and moisture conditions as well
as on the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. Increased
levels of carbon dioxide can increase net photosynthesis in many
plants.
Phytoplankton—That portion of the plankton community
made up of tiny plants (e.g., algae and diatoms).
Planetary albedo—The fraction (approximately 30
percent) of incident solar radiation that is reflected by the
earth-atmosphere system and returned to space, mostly by
backscatter from clouds in the atmosphere.
Public goods—Goods and services of a collectively
consumed nature, usually provided by governmental units.
Soil Carbon—A major component of the terrestrial
biosphere pool in the
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carbon cycle. Organic soil carbon estimates, rather than total
soil carbon, are generally quoted. The amount of carbon in the soil
is a function of historical vegetative cover and productivity,
which in turn is dependent upon climatic variables.
Spillover benefits, social—Benefits from consumption
or production activities that accrue to persons other than those
doing the consuming or producing. Examples include the benefits of
education services to those other than the students receiving them.
See also, Externalities.
Spillover costs, social—Costs of consumption and
production imposed on persons or economic units other than those
doing the consuming or producing. See also, Externalities.
Supply—The set of quantities of a good or service
per unit of time that sellers would be willing to place on the
market at various alternative prices of the item, other things
being equal.
Supply curve of a firm—A curve showing the
quantities per unit of time a firm will place on the market at
alternative price levels, other things being equal. The concept is
valid for a competitive firm only, and coincides with its marginal
cost curve.
Technology—The know-how and the means and methods
available for combining resources to produce goods and
services.
Trace gas—A minor constituent of the atmosphere. The
most important trace gases contributing to the greenhouse effect
are water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone, methane, ammonia, nitric
acid, nitrous oxide, ethylene, sulfur dioxide, nitric oxide,
dichlorofluoromethane or Freon 12, trichlorofluoromethane or Freon
11, methyl chloride, carbon monoxide, and carbon tetrachloride.
Upwelling—The vertical motion of water in the ocean
by which subsurface water of lower temperature and greater density
moves toward the surface of the ocean. Upwelling occurs most
commonly among the western coastlines of continents, but may occur
anywhere in the ocean. Upwelling results when winds blowing nearly
parallel to a continental coastline transport the light surface
water away from the coast. Subsurface water of greater density and
lower temperature replaces the surface water, and exerts a
considerable influence on the weather of coastal regions. Carbon
dioxide is transferred to the atmosphere in regions of upwelling.
This is especially important in the Pacific equatorial regions,
where 1 to 2 Gt C/yr may be released to the atmosphere. Upwelling
also results in increased ocean productivity by transporting
nutrient-rich waters to the surface layer of the ocean.
