Climate Change terms starting with L

28 terms

Land sky Land sky The relatively dark appearance of the underside of a cloud layer when it is over land that is not snow covered.
Landfill An open area where trash is buried. Facility in which solid waste from municipal and/or industrial sources is disposed; sanitary landfills are those that…
Lapse Rate The rate of change of an atmospheric variable, usually temperature, with height.
Large-scale atmospheric processes Large-scale atmospheric processes (circulation) Atmospheric processes with a representative scale (large-scale) of 10 000 km.
Latent Heat The change in heat content that occurs with a change in phase and without change in temperature.
Latent Heat Flux The flux of heat from the earth's surface to the atmosphere that is associated with evaporation or condensation of water vapor at the surface; a component…
Laurentide ice sheet the ice sheet that grew over a large part of North America during the last glacial period.
LIDAR An instrument similar to a radar but uses a laser to generate light pulses rather than radio waves, generally used to measure aerosol content and particle…
Lifetime (Atmospheric) The lifetime of a greenhouse gas refers to the approximate amount of time it would take for the anthropogenic increment to an atmospheric pollutant…
Light-duty vehicles Automobiles and light trucks combined.
Lightning (abbrev. LTNG) A visible electrical discharge produced by a thunderstorm. The discharge may occur within or between clouds, between the cloud and air…
Lignite A brownish-black coal of low rank with high inherent moisture and volatile matter content, used almost exclusively for electric power generation.
line of sight Usually refers to contributions of radiation from the atmosphere along the line-of-sight (path) that an instrument receives.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) Reducing the temperature of natural gas to -259 degrees Fahrenheit at atmospheric pressure will convert the gas into a liquid, with a volume about 1/600…
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) Ethane, ethylene, propane, propylene, normal butane, butylene, and isobutane produced at refineries or natural gas processing plants, including plants…
liquid water path (gm/m^2) A measure of the weight of the liquid water droplets in the atmosphere above a unit surface area on the earth, given in units of kg m-2.
Lithic Relating to stone or rock.
Litter Undecomposed plant residues on the soil surface. See decomposition.
Loess A group of windblown soils, largely comprising silt, weakly cemented by calcite.
longwave net radiation The difference between upwelling and downwelling broadband longwave radiation.
longwave radiance The rate at which light energy in the longwave portion of the spectrum is emitted in a particular direction per unit of projected surface area…
Longwave Radiation A term used to describe the infrared energy emitted by the earth and atmosphere at wavelengths between about 5 and 25 micrometers.
Low A region of low pressure, marked as "L" on a weather map. A low center is usually accompanied by precipitation, extensive cloudiness, and moderate winds.
Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) A vehicle meeting the low-emission vehicle standards.
Low Level Jet (abbrev. LLJ)- A region of relatively strong winds in the lower part of the atmosphere.
Low-level clouds Low-level clouds (St, Sc, Ns) Stratus, Stratocumulus, and in some degree, Nimbostratus are low clouds.
Lower heating value Quantity of heat liberated by the complete combustion of a unit volume or weight of a fuel assuming that the produced water remains as a vapor and the…
Lubricant (LOO-brih-kant) An oily or slippery substance.