OpenStem

@openstem · Joined Jul 2026

7420 public items8 groups

Note~273 words · 1 min

The Linear Feedback Framework Climate sensitivity is quantified by linearizing the global top-of-atmosphere energy budget around an equilibrium state: ΔN is radiative imbalance, ΔF the applied forcing (e.g. from CO₂), ΔT the resulting globa

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Quantifying Earth System Feedbacks

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Note~309 words · 2 min

Governing Physics: The Richards Equation Water movement through the unsaturated (vadose) zone — between the land surface and the water table — is governed by the Richards equation, combining mass conservation with Darcy's law generalized to

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Hydrological Modeling: From Richards' Equation to Watershed Models

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Note~330 words · 2 min

Modeling the Dose-Response Curve A population's response to a toxicant (mortality, growth impairment, reproductive failure) typically follows a sigmoid curve against log-dose — few individuals respond at very low doses, most respond in a mi

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Quantitative Ecotoxicology and Risk Assessment

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Note~266 words · 1 min

Atmospheric Correction: Inverting the Radiative Transfer Equation What a satellite sensor records — top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiance — is not the true surface reflectance scientists usually want. Sunlight is scattered and absorbed traveling

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Remote Sensing Retrieval and Inversion

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Note~359 words · 2 min

Integrated Assessment Models: Coupling Economy, Climate, and Damages An Integrated Assessment Model (IAM) links three sub-modules into a single framework for exploring climate-economy trade-offs: an economic module projecting growth and emi

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Integrated Assessment Models and the Social Cost of Carbon

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Note~335 words · 2 min

Glen's Flow Law: Ice as a Non-Newtonian Fluid Glacial ice deforms under its own weight and applied stress according to a power-law rheology, not simple linear viscosity: Because n ≈ 3, deformation rate is highly sensitive to stress — small

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Ice Sheet Dynamics and Mass Balance

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Note~339 words · 2 min

The Closure Problem Reynolds-averaging the governing fluid equations to separate mean flow from turbulent fluctuations introduces new unknown turbulent flux terms (Reynolds stresses, e.g. u'w') that have no equation of their own within the

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Boundary Layer Turbulence and Monin-Obukhov Similarity Theory

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Note~319 words · 2 min

The Global Meteoric Water Line Stable isotopes of hydrogen (²H, or deuterium) and oxygen (¹⁸O) in the water molecule itself — not just dissolved tracers — fractionate together during evaporation and condensation in the hydrological cycle, p

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Isotope Hydrology: Tracing Water Sources and Ages

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Note~514 words · 3 min

What an SDM Actually Estimates A species distribution model fits a statistical relationship between known occurrence records and environmental predictor layers, producing a suitability surface used for conservation planning, invasive-specie

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Species Distribution Modeling: Niche Theory and Model Transferability

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Note~362 words · 2 min

The Species Continuity Equation A chemical transport model (CTM) tracks pollutant concentration C(x,y,z,t) by solving a continuity equation on a 3D grid: transport by resolved winds, turbulent diffusion, chemical production/loss, emissions,

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Atmospheric Chemistry & Chemical Transport Modeling

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Note~386 words · 2 min

The Advection-Diffusion Equation Environmental fluid mechanics applies one governing equation — advection by the mean flow plus Fickian diffusion plus sources — across air, river, and groundwater contexts: In turbulent environmental flows,

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Turbulent Dispersion and the Gaussian Plume Model

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Note~437 words · 2 min

The Community Matrix Ecological network analysis formalizes a food web's dynamics near equilibrium with a community (Jacobian) matrix A, where a_ij captures how a small change in species j's abundance affects species i's per-capita growth r

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Ecological Network Analysis: May's Paradox and Real-World Food Web Structure

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Note~460 words · 2 min

Cohort vs Case-Control: The Core Design Trade-off Environmental epidemiology studies typically choose between two core designs. A cohort study follows exposed and unexposed groups forward in time, measuring exposure before disease onset — t

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Study Design and Causal Inference in Environmental Epidemiology

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Note~336 words · 2 min

Darcy's Law and the Flow Equation Groundwater flow modeling starts from Darcy's law — flow proportional to the hydraulic head gradient, scaled by hydraulic conductivity K: Extended to a full aquifer and combined with mass conservation, this

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Groundwater Flow and Contaminant Transport Modeling

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Note~476 words · 2 min

Three Sources of Climate Projection Uncertainty Climate projections carry uncertainty from three distinct sources, each behaving differently across the projection horizon. Because internal variability dominates near-term uncertainty while s

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Climate Model Uncertainty Quantification and Bayesian Calibration

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Environmental

Atmospheric CO₂ Rise Since 1960 (Keeling Curve)

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Environmental

Global Mean Sea-Level Rise Since 1900

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Environmental

Radiative Forcing vs CO₂ Concentration

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Environmental

Radioactive Decay: y = e^(−k·x)

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Environmental

Temperature vs Altitude (Troposphere)

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Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Radioactive Decay Curve: N(t) = N₀ exp(−λ t)

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Environmental

Environmental · L1 · Air Pollution & Clean Air Quiz · flowchart

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Environmental

Environmental · L1 · Earthquakes Quiz · flowchart

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Environmental

Environmental · L4 · Solid Waste Management Engineering · flowchart

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Environmental

Environmental · L1 · Farming & Growing Our Food Quiz · flowchart

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Environmental

Environmental · L1 · Deserts Quiz · flowchart

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Environmental

Environmental · L1 · Air Pollution & Clean Air · flowchart

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Environmental

Environmental · L1 · Earthquakes: Earth's Shaking Ground · flowchart

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Environmental

Environmental · L3 · The Nitrogen Cycle · flowchart

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Environmental

Environmental · L3 · The Nitrogen Cycle · flowchart

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