Research for the Environment

Glossary

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C

CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage)

Carbon Capture and Storage

Chlorohydrocarbons (CHC)

CHCs is collective terminology for organic compounds containing chlorine. CHCs are used as raw materials in the chemical industry.

Climate, as opposed to weather, means the state of the atmosphere and the land or water beneath it over long periods of time. Statements about climate are usually made on the basis of meteorological data. These include the temperature, air humidity and air pressure, wind conditions and water temperature in a particular region over a long period of time.

Climate change

Climate change (or climate variability) is the change in the earth’s climate over a long period of time. The climate has changed for as long as the earth has existed. A large number of cyclical and non-cyclical processes and events (e.g. the intensity of solar radiation or volcanic activity) affect the earth’s natural climate and can fundamentally change it. Alongside natural climate change, it is also possible for humans to change the climate. It is thought highly probable that the rise in global warming observed since the start of industrialisation has largely anthropogenic causes.

Climate impact research

Climate impact research deals with the effects of climate change and studies issues of scientific and social importance in the areas of global change, global warming and sustainable development.

Climate research

Climate research (or climatology) is an interdisciplinary science that combines meteorology and geography. It investigates climate principles, in other words the average state of the atmosphere in a particular region. Palaeoclimatology is a sub-discipline that studies climate history, i.e. past climates.

Climate research methods

Climate research uses long-term observation of radiation, temperature, air pressure, wind and wind systems and precipitation, as well as
geographic factors, such as longitude and latitude, altitude, terrain, soil characteristics and vegetation, to draw conclusions about
climatic conditions. In addition to this instrumental and historical data, palaeoclimate research uses climate proxies. A climate
proxy is an indirect climate indicator recorded in natural climate archives, such as tree rings, corals, lake or ocean sediments, pollen
or ice cores (cores drilled from the Greenland and Antarctic land ice sheets are some of the most important climate archives and are now
providing information about global climate changes over the past 800,000 years or so, including changes of CO₂-concentration in
the atmosphere. Ice cores from mountain glaciers in temperate zones are also analysed). Climate proxies can also be used to help
reconstruct climates of the past for periods before instrumental records were kept. Climate proxies usually have to be calibrated against
instrumental records to enable a quantitative picture of past climate conditions to be obtained.

Isotope ratios are an important climate proxy for palaeoclimatic conditions. For instance, the ratio of oxygen isotopes ¹⁶O
and ¹⁸O in calcitic fossils in marine sediments acts as a proxy for palaeotemperatures. The idea behind it is that the calcite
that is found in the sediments of the ocean floor - e.g. in the skeletons of fossilized protozoans - stores a different amount of the
two oxygen isotopes in warm and cold periods. This enables researchers to draw conclusions about past temperature changes based on ¹⁶O/¹⁸O ratios.
The ¹⁶O/¹⁸O ratio is also a proxy for palaeo-salinity.

Colloids / colloidal solutions

A colloid (Gr. kola "glue" and eidos "shape, appearance") is a particle with a typical radius between approx. 0.1 and 10 micrometers and finely distributed in another substance (the dispersant). Colloidal solutions may also be referred to as suspensions. In some cases they behave like genuine solutions. Wetting and dispersing agents as well as other additives are often included to maintain stability and to prevent precipitation in colloidal solutions.

Community ecology (synecology)

Community ecology (synecology) is a subdiscipline of ecology which studies the distribution, abundance, demography, and interactions between coexisting populations.

Constructed wetlands

Plant clarification facilities are water purification facilities using the self-purifying power of nature. The water to be purified passes vertically and horizontally though a soil bed composed of sandy/gravelly mineral materials and planted out with marsh vegetation (reeds, rushes, cat's tail and others). This process variant is known as an "overgrown soil filter". Where so-called technical wet areas and artificial floating islands are concerned, the water is fed for cleaning purposes into a body of water fully rooted by the occupying plants. Processes in the root region of the plants (interplay between plants, soil and microorganisms) filter out both organic and inorganic dissolved substances as well as suspended components in the wastewater by binding them to the body of the soil. During the passage of water through the fully rooted soil filter, fecal microorganisms present in domestic wastewater are also taken out of circulation. For this reason, water treated in plant clarification facilities is also considered suitable for reuse under increased hygienic requirements, e.g. for agricultural irrigation purposes. Process variants encountered in plant clarification facilities are also known as root-space procedures, reed/rush clarification facilities, overgrown/planted soil filters or hydrobotanic clarification facilities.

Cumulative

Cumulative indicates an amassment of material. The said material may consist of specific substances in an organism (it may be pollutants, for example, but may also be fats etc.). It may also occur as an enrichment of substances in groundwater, soil or other substrates however.