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Environmental: explore STEM content (page 6 of 27) · openstem

All fields Software Mathematics Physics Chemistry Biology Engineering Astronomy Environmental Other Environmental Environmental groups

Explore STEM Content

Search the community's STEM library — free to study, yours to make your own.

Environmental

Geology, climate and the environment on openstem — flashcards, notes, quizzes, plots and sketches shared by the community. Study free, or clone anything into your library.

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Note~271 words · 1 min

What an Aquifer Is An aquifer is an underground layer of permeable rock or sediment — sand, gravel, sandstone, fractured limestone — that can store and transmit meaningful amounts of water. Aquifers come in two broad types. Darcy's Law, Con

Environmental

Environmental · L3 · Groundwater Hydrology

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Environmental · L3 · Groundwater Hydrology

Flowchart5 objects

Environmental

Environmental · L1 · Deserts Quiz · flowchart

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Environmental · L1 · Deserts Quiz · flowchart

Collection4 items

01Environmental · L1 · Wetlands & Swamps

02Environmental · L1 · Wetlands & Swamps

03Environmental · L1 · How Wetlands Prevent Floods

+1 more

Environmental

Environmental · L1 · Wetlands & Swamps

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Environmental · L1 · Wetlands & Swamps

Note~343 words · 2 min

Environmental Economics: Pricing What Markets Miss Environmental economics starts from a diagnosis: markets routinely fail to price environmental harm, because the cost of pollution falls on third parties outside the transaction that caused

Environmental

Environmental · L4 · Environmental Economics: Pricing What Markets Miss

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Environmental · L4 · Environmental Economics: Pricing What Markets Miss

Flashcards8 cards

State the Global Meteoric Water Line (GMWL) equation and what it describes.1 / 8

The GMWL (Craig, 1961) is the global-average linear relationship between δ²H and δ¹⁸O in precipitation, arising because both isotopes fractionate together during evaporation and condensation, with a well-established ratio between their fractionation factors. The slope of 8 reflects equilibrium fractionation; the intercept of 10 (the 'deuterium excess' baseline) reflects kinetic fractionation during evaporation from the ocean surface under typical humidity conditions.

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Isotope Hydrology & Water Tracing

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Environmental · L5 · Isotope Hydrology & Water Tracing

Quiz4 questions

What gas do trees release that people and animals need to breathe?

ACarbon dioxideBOxygenCNitrogenDSmoke

Environmental

Environmental · L1 · Forests & Deforestation Quiz

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Environmental · L1 · Forests & Deforestation Quiz

Note~337 words · 2 min

Climate Modeling: How Projections Are Actually Built A climate projection isn't a single forecast — it's the output of a physical simulation run under a defined future scenario, checked against the past, and compared across many independent

Environmental

Environmental · L4 · Climate Modeling: How Projections Are Actually Built

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Environmental · L4 · Climate Modeling: How Projections Are Actually Built

Flashcards8 cards

What is a species distribution model (SDM), and what does it output?1 / 8

An SDM statistically relates a species' known occurrence records to a set of environmental predictor layers (temperature, precipitation, elevation, land cover) to estimate the species' environmental suitability across a landscape. Its output is typically a continuous suitability surface (0 to 1) that can be thresholded into a binary predicted presence/absence map, used for conservation planning, invasive-species risk mapping, or climate-change range forecasting.

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Species Distribution Modeling & Niche Theory

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Environmental · L5 · Species Distribution Modeling & Niche Theory

Collection4 items

01Environmental · L3 · Glacial Mass Balance & Sea-Level Contribution

02Environmental · L3 · Glacial Mass Balance & Sea-Level Contribution

03Environmental · L3 · Glacier Mass Balance: Accumulation to Sea-Level Rise

+1 more

Environmental

Environmental · L3 · Glacial Mass Balance & Sea-Level Contribution

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Environmental · L3 · Glacial Mass Balance & Sea-Level Contribution

Quiz5 questions

Why is topsoil considered a resource worth actively protecting, rather than something that can just be replaced?

ABecause topsoil is expensive to purchaseBBecause it takes centuries to form naturally, far slower than it can erode awayCBecause topsoil is illegal to disturbDBecause it contains no organic matter

Environmental

Environmental · L2 · Soil Conservation & Erosion Control

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Environmental · L2 · Soil Conservation & Erosion Control

Note~446 words · 2 min

Farming That Lasts Sustainable agriculture describes farming practices aimed at producing food without wearing down the soil, water, and biodiversity that future harvests depend on. It's less a single technique than a set of complementary p

Environmental

Environmental · L2 · Sustainable Agriculture

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Environmental · L2 · Sustainable Agriculture

Flowchart11 objects

Environmental

Environmental · L2 · Invasive Species · flowchart

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Environmental · L2 · Invasive Species · flowchart

Flashcards7 cards

What gas do trees breathe in that people breathe out?1 / 7

Carbon dioxide. Trees take it in and release oxygen, which people and animals need to breathe.

Environmental

Environmental · L1 · Forests & Why Trees Matter

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Environmental · L1 · Forests & Why Trees Matter

Quiz5 questions

What is the equilibrium line altitude (ELA) on a glacier?

AThe elevation where accumulation exactly equals ablation over a yearBThe highest point on the glacierCThe sea-level elevation the glacier's meltwater eventually reachesDThe average annual snowfall depth

Environmental

Environmental · L3 · Glacial Mass Balance & Sea-Level Contribution

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Environmental · L3 · Glacial Mass Balance & Sea-Level Contribution

Quiz5 questions

What basic principle does material flow analysis (MFA) apply to a system like a factory or a city?

ASupply and demand pricingBMass balance: Inputs = Outputs + AccumulationCCarbon datingDLife-cycle discount rates

Environmental

Environmental · L4 · Industrial Ecology — 5 Q

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Environmental · L4 · Industrial Ecology — 5 Q

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

Flashcards8 cards

What is a solar photovoltaic (PV) cell made from, and what does it do?1 / 8

A PV cell is a thin wafer of silicon, a semiconductor material. When sunlight (made of particles called photons) strikes the silicon, it knocks electrons loose, and those freed electrons flow as an electric current — the photovoltaic effect.

Environmental

Environmental · L2 · How Renewable Energy Systems Work

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Environmental · L2 · How Renewable Energy Systems Work

Flowchart5 objects

Environmental

Environmental · L3 · The Phosphorus Cycle · flowchart

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Environmental · L3 · The Phosphorus Cycle · flowchart

Flashcards9 cards

What was the Kyoto Protocol (1997), and what was its central structure?1 / 9

An international treaty under the UN that set legally binding greenhouse-gas emission-reduction targets — but only for developed ('Annex I') countries. Developing nations had no binding targets, and the United States never ratified it.

Environmental

Environmental · L3 · Environmental Policy & International Agreements

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Environmental · L3 · Environmental Policy & International Agreements

Quiz4 questions

What mainly causes an earthquake?

AHeavy rainBTectonic plates suddenly slippingCStrong windDThe Moon's gravity

Environmental

Environmental · L1 · Earthquakes Quiz

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Environmental · L1 · Earthquakes Quiz

Quiz6 questions

For a near-term (next-decade) regional climate projection, which uncertainty source typically dominates?

AScenario uncertaintyBInternal variabilityCThere is no meaningful uncertainty at short horizonsDModel uncertainty always dominates at every horizon equally

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Climate Model Uncertainty Quantification & Bayesian Calibration — 6 Q

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Environmental · L5 · Climate Model Uncertainty Quantification & Bayesian Calibration — 6 Q

Flashcards7 cards

What does 'endangered' mean?1 / 7

An endangered animal is one with so few left in the wild that the whole species could disappear forever.

Environmental

Environmental · L1 · Endangered Animals & Conservation

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Environmental · L1 · Endangered Animals & Conservation

Quiz5 questions

In the water balance equation P = ET + Q + ΔS, what does ΔS represent?

ATotal streamflow leaving the watershedBThe change in water storage (soil moisture, groundwater, surface water)CSolar radiation reaching the watershedDThe runoff coefficient

Environmental

Environmental · L4 · Quantitative Hydrology — 5 Q

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Environmental · L4 · Quantitative Hydrology — 5 Q

Flowchart7 objects

Environmental

Environmental · L1 · Why Animals Migrate

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Environmental · L1 · Why Animals Migrate

Note~124 words · 1 min

The Problem With 'Use Once, Throw Away' A single-use plastic item — a bag, a straw, a bottle — might only be held for a few minutes. But once it is made, that plastic can stick around in the environment for hundreds of years, because most p

Environmental

Environmental · L1 · Plastic Alternatives

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Environmental · L1 · Plastic Alternatives

Collection4 items

01Environmental · L3 · Ocean Acidification

02Environmental · L3 · Ocean Acidification

03Environmental · L3 · Ocean Acidification: CO₂ to Falling Carbonate Availability

+1 more

Environmental

Environmental · L3 · Ocean Acidification

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Environmental · L3 · Ocean Acidification

Flowchart9 objects

Environmental

Environmental · L3 · Ecological Footprint & Biocapacity · flowchart

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Environmental · L3 · Ecological Footprint & Biocapacity · flowchart

Note~256 words · 1 min

Why Cities Run Hotter The urban heat island (UHI) effect describes how cities measurably run warmer than their rural surroundings — typically by about 1–7 °C, with the gap usually widest at night. Three quantifiable drivers explain most of

Environmental

Environmental · L3 · Urban Heat Island: Quantitative Drivers & Mitigation

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Environmental · L3 · Urban Heat Island: Quantitative Drivers & Mitigation

Note~216 words · 1 min

The Rotating-Frame Navier–Stokes Equations In a frame rotating with angular velocity Ω (e.g. Earth), the momentum equation per unit mass for an incompressible fluid is: The centrifugal term Ω×(Ω×r) is absorbed into the effective gravity g.

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Rotating Fluid Dynamics: Geostrophy and Ekman Balance

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Environmental · L5 · Rotating Fluid Dynamics: Geostrophy and Ekman Balance

Flowchart13 objects

Environmental

Environmental · L5 · Gaussian Plume Dispersion Pipeline

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Environmental · L5 · Gaussian Plume Dispersion Pipeline

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