Climate Change terms starting with F

32 terms

  1. fall streaks The falling ice crystals that evaporate before reaching the ground.
  2. feedback the process by which an initial change brings about additional change that either reinforces or counteracts the initial change.
  3. Feedback Mechanisms Factors which increase or amplify (positive feedback) or decrease (negative feedback) the rate of a process.
  4. Feedlot Confined outdoor or indoor space used to raise hundreds to thousands of domesticated livestock. See rangeland.
  5. Fertilization The union of two gametes from opposite sexes to form a zygote. Typically, each gamete contains a haploid set of chromosomes.
  6. Fertilization, Carbon Dioxide An expression (sometimes reduced to fertilization) used to denote increased plant growth due to a higher carbon dioxide concentration.
  7. Fertilizer Any substance that is added to soil in order to increase its productivity. Fertilizers can be of biological origin (e.g.
  8. field Field A region of space at each point of which a given physical or mathematical quantity has some definite value.
  9. field campaign A scheduled period of time, or a field campaign, when the frequency of observations is changed to augment routine data acquisition at a site or to satisfy…
  10. Flaring The burning of waste gases through a flare stack or other device before releasing them to the air.
  11. Floe An accumulation of frazil flocs (also known as a "pan") or a single piece of broken ice.
  12. Fluidized Bed Combustion (FBC) A type of furnace or reactor in which fuel particles are combusted while suspended in a stream of hot gas.
  13. Fluorocarbons Carbon-fluorine compounds that often contain other elements such as hydrogen, chlorine, or bromine.
  14. Flux The amount of energy passing through a unit area (for example, 1m2) per time. On this website, we will be discussing the flux of light energy due to…
  15. Fog Fine particles of liquid suspended in the air, such as of water in a fog chamber used for acclimatizing recent ex vitro transplants. See: mist propagation.
  16. forcing factors that drive or "force" a system to change. Forcings that affect our climate system include changes in solar radiation and in greenhouse gas…
  17. Forcing Mechanism A process that alters the energy balance of the climate system, i.e. changes the relative balance between incoming solar radiation and outgoing infrared…
  18. Forest Terrestrial ecosystem (biome) with enough average annual precipitation (at least 76 centimeters or 30 inches) to support growth of various species of…
  19. Fossil fuel Solid, liquid or gaseous fuels formed in the ground after millions of years by chemical and physical changes in plant and animal residues under high…
  20. Fossil fuel combustion Burning of coal, oil (including gasoline), or natural gas. This burning, usually to generate energy, releases carbon dioxide, as well as combustion by…
  21. Free Atmosphere The part of the atmosphere that lies above the frictional influence of the earth's surface.
  22. Freezing Level The altitude at which the air temperature first drops below freezing.
  23. Freon A registered trademark for a cholorfluorocarbon (CFC) gas that is highly stable and that has been historically used as a refrigerant.
  24. freshwater A term referring to bodies of water that do not have salt.
  25. friction velocity A measure of the surface stress reflecting the effects of surface roughness and wind velocity.
  26. Front Weather system that causes changes in temperature, cloud cover, precipitation, wind and barometric pressure.
  27. front (or frontal zone) An interface or zone of transition between two distinct air masses.
  28. Frontal Inversion A temperature inversion that develops aloft when warm air overruns the cold air behind a front.
  29. Frost (Abbrev. FRST) - Frost describes the formation of thin ice crystals on the ground or other surfaces in the form of scales, needles, feathers, or fans.
  30. Frost Point Dew point below freezing.
  31. Fugitive emissions Unintended gas leaks from the processing, transmission, and/or transportation of fossil fuels, CFCs from refrigeration leaks, SF6 from electrical power…
  32. Fusion The combining of lighter elements into heavier ones. For lighter elements (e.g., hydrogen, helium) this process releases energy.