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Questions and Answers
What is the scale of air pollution that occurs due to sources like clusters of industrial facilities, power plants, and urban areas within a metropolitan region?
What is the term for the total amount of freshwater consumed or polluted during the production of goods or commodities?
What type of water resources are replenished through the natural hydrologic cycle?
What is a combined sample formed by mixing together multiple individual samples collected at different times or locations?
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What type of measurement involves the direct measurement and recording of physical properties or phenomena in the environment?
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What type of pollution originates from diffuse sources spread over a wide area?
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What represents the concentration ratio of a pollutant between two immiscible liquid phases at equilibrium?
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What is a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide or greenhouse gas emissions released per unit of economic output or activity?
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What is the primary consequence of eutrophication in water bodies?
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What does the Kaya Identity equation help analyze?
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What is the primary goal of conservation efforts for biodiversity?
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What is the purpose of restoration efforts for biodiversity?
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What does the term 'albedo' refer to?
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What is the Global Warming Potential (GWP) used to compare?
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What is the primary purpose of incineration?
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What type of environmental issue is associated with reactive nitrogen compounds?
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Study Notes
Air Pollution
- Meso scale air pollution occurs on a regional scale, larger than micro scale but smaller than macro scale, impacted by sources like clusters of industrial facilities, power plants, and urban areas within a metropolitan region.
Water Resources
- Virtual water refers to the total amount of freshwater consumed or polluted during the production of goods or commodities, especially agricultural and industrial products that are then traded internationally.
- Renewable water resources are sources of fresh water that are replenished through the natural hydrologic cycle, such as precipitation, surface water from rivers and lakes, and groundwater aquifers.
Environmental Monitoring
- Composite sample is a combined sample formed by mixing together multiple individual samples collected at different times or locations to represent an average level or concentration over the full sampling period or area.
- Physical measurements involve the direct measurement and recording of physical properties or phenomena in the environment, such as temperature, precipitation, wind speed/direction, soil moisture, etc.
Pollution
- Non-point source pollution originates from diffuse sources spread over a wide area, rather than from a single identifiable point source, making it difficult to identify and regulate sources.
- L50 Concentration is the liquid-liquid partition coefficient representing the concentration ratio of a pollutant between two immiscible liquid phases at equilibrium, used to assess pollutant behavior.
Climate Change
- Carbon intensity is a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide or greenhouse gas emissions released per unit of economic output or activity, used to track progress towards decarbonizing an economy or sector.
- Reactive nitrogen includes chemically reactive nitrogen compounds like nitrogen oxides, ammonia, etc. that can lead to environmental issues like eutrophication, acid rain, ozone depletion, and formation of particulate matter.
- Eutrophication and dead zones are the process of excessive nutrient enrichment of water bodies, often from agricultural runoff or wastewater, leading to excessive algal growth that depletes oxygen levels and creates "dead zones" unable to support most aquatic life.
- Kaya Identity is an equation expressing total greenhouse gas emissions as the product of population, GDP per capita, energy intensity of the economy, and carbon intensity of the energy supply.
Ecosystem Services
- Ecosystem services are the direct and indirect benefits that humans obtain from properly functioning ecosystems, categorized into provisioning (food, water), regulating (climate, water purification), supporting (nutrient cycling), and cultural (recreational, spiritual) services.
Biodiversity
- Conservation (biodiversity) is the protection, preservation, and sustainable management of biodiversity - the variety of plant and animal species, habitats, ecosystems, and genetic diversity - to prevent further declines and extinctions.
- Restoration (biodiversity) is the process of assisting the recovery of degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats through active intervention and management to re-establish their productivity, biodiversity, and ecological integrity.
Climate Change Metrics
- Global Warming Potential (GWP) is a metric representing the cumulative radiative forcing or heat-trapping potential of a greenhouse gas over a specified time period (e.g. 100 years) relative to carbon dioxide.
- Albedo is the fraction of incident solar radiation reflected from a surface, with higher albedo surfaces like snow and ice reflecting more radiation back to space and lower albedo surfaces absorbing more heat.
Waste Management
- Incineration is the controlled burning or combustion of waste materials, often used for energy generation.
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Description
Test your knowledge on air pollution at the meso scale and virtual water, which represents the hidden water content in traded goods. Explore the impact of industrial facilities, power plants, and urban areas on the environment.
