Climate literacy as well as basic scientific literacy are needed to understand the complexity of Earth systems and climate change. Knowledge of key vocabulary, scientific symbols and conventions help ākonga build these literacies.
Drive it Down! – the carbon cycle and climate change
This interactive provides an overview of climate change, greenhouse gases, the carbon cycle and other related concepts. To use this interactive, move your mouse or finger over any of the labelled boxes and click to obtain more information.
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This resource provides explanations of the key concepts encountered when looking at the science of climate change and the carbon cycle. As knowledge about the drivers and potential solutions of climate change continue to grow, so does the associated vocabulary.
Additional terms, with references to New Zealand’s greenhouse gas profile, can be found in Climate change – key terms.
- Atmosphere
- Atmospheric boundary layer (ABL)
- Atmospheric concentration
- Atmospheric lifetime
- Carbon dioxide
- Carbon footprint
- Carbon sink
- Carbon source
- Electric vehicle (EV)
- Emissions
- Environmental footprint
- Feedback loop
- Fluorinated gases
- Fossil fuel
- Fossil fuel vehicle
- Global warming potential
- Greenhouse gas
- Methane
- Nitrous oxide
- Ozone
- Photosynthesis
- Rock weathering
- Water
The Earth’s atmosphere is a layer of gases held close to its surface by gravity. It plays a crucial role in supporting plant and animal life, helps to maintain a global average surface temperature of about 14°C, plays a major part in determining weather and climate and screens out harmful radiation from the Sun. Learn more in the article Gaseous atmosphere.
Atmospheric boundary layer (ABL)
The atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is a thin layer of air close to the ground. It can range from 100 metres to 3,000 metres. Greenhouse gases are mostly emitted close to the Earth’s surface, within the ABL. Understanding the ABL is important for understanding atmospheric mixing.
Vertical structure of the atmosphere
The line at 100 km above the Earth’s surface is the official start of space. Theodore Kármán calculated that a plane flying at this altitude needs an air speed that matches the orbital speed for 100 km.
Download a PDF version of this diagram.
When we measure gases like carbon dioxide (CO2), we measure the concentration, not the emissions. The concentration is the amount of gas in proportion to the total volume of the air. The emissions are how much CO2 is being put into the atmosphere. Understanding atmospheric concentration is important when measuring gases like CO2.
Different gases can remain in the atmosphere for different amounts of time, ranging from a few years to thousands of years. Atmospheric lifetime refers to the average timescale for any molecule of that gas to remain in the atmosphere before it is chemically transformed or deposited out of the atmosphere to the Earth’s surface.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important of the greenhouse gases as it is emitted in large quantities and has a long-lasting influence. CO2 stays in the atmosphere for thousands of years (also known as atmospheric lifetime). This is one of the reasons why it builds up in the atmosphere and why we need to reduce emissions.
A carbon footprint is a method to measure the total amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are released into the air because of our activities. A carbon footprint can measure the impact of one person through to a household, a community, a business or your school! You can calculate your individual carbon footprint on Gen Less or find out details of your school carbon footprint from the Ministry of Education.
A system that takes in more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases. Forests are an example of a natural carbon sink. Trees and plants in the forest absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere during photosynthesis and store it in their leaves, trunks, roots and the soil. Carbon sinks and carbon sources control the amount of carbon in the form of CO2 that is in the atmosphere.
A system that releases more carbon than it takes in. A carbon source is fossil fuels, which humans burn to create energy and heat. The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Carbon sources and carbon sinks control the amount of carbon in the form of CO2 that is in the atmosphere.
An electric vehicle (EV) is a type of vehicle that is powered entirely or primarily by electricity using one or more electric motors instead of an internal combustion engine that requires fossil fuels to generate power. Read about the history of electric vehicles in this timeline. Learn about the environmental footprint of electric versus fossil fuel cars. Understand how electric motors work here.
In climate change science, emissions refer to the release of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.
An environmental footprint is the total impact that an individual, organisation or activity has on the environment, typically measured in terms of resource consumption, waste generation and greenhouse gas emissions. Unlike a carbon footprint, it includes all environmental impacts, not just greenhouse gas emissions.
In climate change science, a feedback loop refers to a process where an initial change in the climate system triggers effects that either amplify (positive feedback) or dampen (negative feedback) the original change. For example, in a positive feedback loop, rising global temperatures cause sea ice to melt. When sea ice melts, it exposes darker ocean water, which absorbs more heat and causes more ice to melt.
Fluorinated gases are a group of synthetic greenhouse gases, including hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), that are used in industrial applications like refrigeration, air conditioning and insulation. They are present in small concentrations in the atmosphere. However, they have a much higher global warming potential than carbon dioxide.
Materials such as coal, oil and natural gas formed from the fossilised remains of plants that lived many millions of years ago and are often burned as fuel. There is a limited amount of fossil fuels – they are non-renewable energy sources.
Fossil fuel vehicles are powered by energy derived from fossil fuels such as petrol or diesel. These are burned in an internal combustion engine to produce power for movement. Transport is a leading contributor to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Transport contributes 90% of the average New Zealander’s personal, direct carbon dioxide emissions.
Global warming potential (GWP) is a metric developed to measure the global warming impacts of different greenhouse gases. It measures how much energy 1 tonne of a gas absorbs over a specific period, typically 100 years, compared to 1 tonne of carbon dioxide. Gases with higher GWP values absorb more energy and therefore warm the Earth more.
A natural or manmade gas that traps heat in the Earth’s atmosphere and contributes to the greenhouse effect. The main greenhouse gases are water vapour (H₂O), carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), ozone (O₃) and industrial gases such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). These gases in the Earth’s atmosphere trap warmth from the Sun and make life possible. An overabundance of greenhouse gases leads to a rise in global temperatures – known as the greenhouse effect. The article Greenhouse gases and the atmosphere looks at the different greenhouse gases and how they impact the temperature on Earth.
Methane (CH4) is a greenhouse gas. It is the second-most abundant greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide (CO2). Although methane is emitted in smaller quantities than carbon dioxide, its global warming potential is around 25 times that of CO2.
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a naturally occurring atmospheric gas. It is used as a mild anaesthetic and as a fuel. It is also a greenhouse gas. Read more about some sources of nitrous oxide and work to reduce emissions in the article Inhibiting nitrous oxide emissions.
Ozone (O3) is a highly reactive pale blue gas with a noticeable odour. Ozone forms a thin layer in the part of the atmosphere known as the stratosphere. This layer protects life on Earth from ultraviolet rays. Changes in ozone and climate are directly linked because ozone absorbs solar radiation and is also a greenhouse gas.
A process that uses the energy from sunlight to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) and water into carbohydrates, releasing oxygen as a byproduct. Photosynthesis occurs in the green parts of plants, in algae and in some microorganisms. Natural carbon sinks such as forests, oceans, and wetlands rely on photosynthesis to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.
Rock weathering naturally traps carbon in mineral storage. This weathering process is slow but plays an important long-term role in regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, particularly over geological time scales (thousands to millions of years).
Water plays a key role in climate change both as a precious resource and as a driver of climate processes. Rising temperatures due to climate change lead to melting ice (glaciers and polar ice caps), changing rain patterns and more frequent extreme weather events like floods and droughts, all of which affect the availability and distribution of freshwater resources. Additionally, water vapour is a potent greenhouse gas that amplifies warming in a feedback loop as warmer air can hold more moisture, which then traps more heat. The water cycle explains the processes that transform and transfer water within Earth’s system. Learn more in the article Earth systems and climate change.
Related content
In the Greenhouse simulation activity, students can use a plastic soda bottle to make and test the temperature of a bottle ‘greenhouse’ and demonstrate how light energy is transformed into heat energy.
Discover more climate change resources for younger learners in Drive it Down! – a context for learning.
Climate change resources – planning pathways provides pedagogical advice and links to the New Zealand Curriculum. It includes an interactive planner that groups Hub resources into key science and teaching concepts.
Useful link
Facilitate student learning of scientific vocabulary related to greenhouse gases in the Drive it Down! memory card game. The card game and teacher’s guidelines for the activity are found here.
Acknowledgement
This resource has been adapted from resources created for the Drive it Down! Measuring and mitigating school-gate emissions project. Scientists from GNS Science alongside educators developed the project and resources with funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment through the Unlocking Curious Minds fund and Te Herenga Waka University of Wellington Doctoral Scholarship. Further funding was provided by the Royal Society Te Apārangi Catalyst Fund (2020).
Contributors to Drive it Down!
Scientists from GNS Science developed the Drive it Down! project and resources. Funding was through the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Unlocking Curious Minds fund, Te Herenga Waka University of Wellington Doctoral Scholarship and the Royal Society Te Apārangi Catalyst Fund (2020).
