An aspect of cultural globalization, listed as one of its main characteristics, and refers to the reduction in cultural diversity through the popularization and diffusion of a wide array of cultural symbols - not only physical objects but customs, ideas and values.
(Raw) materials
Raw materials are materials or substances used in the primary production or manufacturing of goods. Examples of raw materials include steel, oil, corn, grain, gasoline, lumber, forest resources, plastic, natural gas, coal, and minerals.
3D Printing
The creation of a physical object from a digital model by laying down a sequence of layers of material.
Ablation
The process by which a glacier loses mass or ice.
Abrasion
The scrapping, scouring, rubbing and grinding action of materials being carried along by moving natural features such as rivers, glaciers, waves and strong winds.
Access to safe water
Measured by the percentage of the population having access to and using improved drinking water sources.
Access to sanitation
The percentage of the population which has access and are using improved sanitation facilities.
Accumulation
The process by which snow and ice accumulate and build up in a glacier or ice sheet over time.
Adaptation
Means anticipating the adverse effects of climate change and taking appropriate action to prevent or minimise the damage they can cause, or taking advantage of opportunities that may arise.
Affirmative action
Refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking to include particular groups based on their gender, race, sexuality, creed or nationality in areas in which they are underrepresented such as education and employment.
Afforestation
The deliberate and planned process of planting and establishing trees and other vegetation on land that was previously devoid of forest cover, typically with the aim of mitigating environmental issues.
Age dependency ratio
The sum of the young population (under age 15) and elderly population (age 65 and over) relative to the working-age population (ages 15 to 64).
Agribusiness
The business sector encompassing farming and farming-related commercial activities. It involves all the steps required to send an agricultural good to market, namely production, processing, and distribution.
Anthropocene
A proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems, including, but not limited to, anthropogenic climate change.
Anti-globalization
A social movement critical of economic globalization.
Aquifer
A body of rock and/or sediment that holds groundwater.
Arête
The name given to a narrow, knife-edged ridge with steep sides found in glaciated upland regions. Results from the formation of cirques.
Aridity
Usually expressed as a function of rainfall and temperature. A useful "representation" is p/ETP where: P = precipitation ETP = potential evapotranspiration taking into account atmospheric humidity, solar radiation, and wind.
Atmospheric storage
The storage of water in the atmosphere in the form of water vapor, clouds, and precipitation.
Attrition
The process by which rocks and sediment are worn down and smoothed by the constant rubbing and grinding against each other during transportation.
Bandwidth
The maximum amount of data transmitted over an internet connection in a given amount of time.
Belt and Road Initiative
A global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in nearly 70 countries and international organizations. "Belt" is short for the "Silk Road Economic Belt," referring to the proposed overland routes for road and rail transportation through landlocked Central Asia; whereas "road" is short for the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road", referring to the Indo-Pacific sea routes through Southeast Asia to South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights
Drone activities that are beyond the visual line of sight of the operator.
Biome
A biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader term than habitat and can comprise a variety of habitats.
Blue water
Fresh surface and groundwater, in other words, the water in freshwater lakes, rivers and aquifers.
Boserup's theory
Boserup is known for her theory of agricultural intensification, also known as Boserup's theory, which posits that population change drives the intensity of agricultural production. Her position countered the Malthusian theory that agricultural methods determine population via limits on food supply. A major point of her book is that "necessity is the mother of invention".
BRICS
The acronym coined to associate five major emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
Buttes
A tall, narrow hill with steep sides and a flat top, similar to a mesa but with a smaller area at the top. It is typically taller than it is wide and often rises abruptly from the surrounding landscape.
Carbon cycle
The series of processes by which carbon compounds are interconverted in the environment, involving the incorporation of carbon dioxide into living tissue by photosynthesis and its return to the atmosphere through respiration, the decay of dead organisms, and the burning of fossil fuels.
Carbon emissions offsetting
A mitigation strategy that aims to compensate for carbon dioxide emissions produced by an activity by funding an equivalent carbon dioxide saving elsewhere. It typically involves paying a commercial organisation to invest in projects that reduce or remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Carbon footprint
A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) that are generated by our actions.
Carbon sequestration
The process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide to prevent it from contributing to the greenhouse effect and global warming.
Carbon trading
Carbon emissions trading (CET), also known as emissions trading, is a market-based approach to mitigating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. CET schemes aim to create financial incentives for businesses to reduce their emissions by putting a price on carbon.
Censorship
The suppression of speech, public communication, or other information.
Challenges
Refers to the difficulties or obstacles that arise in the interaction between human societies and their physical environments.
Channel bed roughness
The roughness of the channel bed.
Channel flow
The movement of water within the river or stream channel.
Channel modifications
Alteration of a channel by changing the physical dimensions or materials of its bed or banks. Channel modification includes damming, rip-rapping (or other armoring), widening, deepening, straightening, relocating, lining and significant removal of native vegetation from the bottom or banks.
Channel storage
The water held in a river or stream channel, including pools and slower-moving sections.
Chemical weathering
Involves the decay and decomposition of rocks in situ. It usually occurs in the presence of water, which acts as a dilute acid. The rate tends to increase with rising temperatures and humidity levels.
Chinatown
An ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore or Taiwan, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Australasia.
Circular economy
A model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible.
Cirque
This is a semi-circular hollow high up at the head of a glacial valley on the flanks of a glacial mountain. It was formerly a massive collecting ground for ice that flowed into a glacial valley below. It has a steep headwall to the rear, a bowl-shaped rock basin in its centre and a rock lip at its lower end.
Civil society
The aggregate of non-governmental organizations and institutions that manifest interests and will of citizens.
Climate
The long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years.
Climate modelling
The use of mathematical and computer-based techniques to simulate and predict long-term patterns and trends in atmospheric conditions, temperature, precipitation, and other climate-related variables in specific geographic regions or globally.
Closed system
A system that does not exchange matter with its surroundings, but can exchange energy.
Composite index
A mathematical combinations (or aggregations) of a set of indicators.
Confluence
The point where two or more rivers or streams meet and merge into a single watercourse.
Consumer item
Consumer goods are products bought for consumption by the average consumer. Alternatively called final goods, consumer goods are the end result of production and manufacturing and are what a consumer will see stocked on the store shelf.
Contagious diffusion
Infectious diseases are a prime example. A disease follows no rules, nor does it recognise borders as it spreads. A forest fire is another example that fits this category. A kind of expansion diffusion.
Containerization
A system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers). The containers have standardized dimensions. They can be loaded and unloaded, stacked, transported efficiently over long distances, and transferred from one mode of transport to another without being opened.
Contemporary
Belonging to or occurring in the present.
Core
A central region in an economy, with good communications and high population density, which conduce to its prosperity.
Core and periphery
The concept of a developed core surrounded by an undeveloped periphery. The concept can be applied at various scales.
Corporate social responsibility
A self-regulatory business model practiced by large and small companies. The concept allows businesses to be socially accountable to their stakeholders and the public. By adopting clear CSR strategies, companies accept responsibility for their impact on society – including all economic, social, and environmental aspects.
Corporation tax
A direct tax imposed on the net income or profit that enterprises make from their businesses.
Corrasion
An alternative name for abrasion.
Counterfeit goods
Counterfeit goods contain a trademark or logo that is identical to or substantially indistinguishable from the trademark of another. They mimic the brand features of the product in an attempt to pass themselves off as a genuine product of the brand owner.
Creep
The slow downhill movement of soil and other material such as scree (talus). Can be caused by the expansion and contraction of the soil caused by either seasonal wetting and drying (especially clays) or seasonal and diurnal freezing and thawing of the soil surface.
Crop yields
A measurement of the amount of a crop grown, or product such as wool, meat or milk produced, per unit area of land.
Cross-border flows
Flows of products, services, capital, information and people across political (country) borders.
Cross-sectional area
The area of a the cross-section of water flowing in a channel.
Crowd-sourcing
Involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services - including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances - for payment or as volunteers. Often involves digital platforms to attract and divide work between participants to achieve a cumulative result.
Cultural diversity
The quality of diverse or different cultures, as opposed to monoculture, the global monoculture, or a homogenization of cultures, akin to cultural evolution.
Cultural hybridity
A concept that describes the blending of different cultural traits and practices to form new and unique cultural expressions. It acknowledges that cultures are not static entities but are constantly evolving and adapting in response to interactions with other cultures.
Cultural imperialism
The practice of promoting the culture, values or language of one nation in another, less powerful one.
Cultural trait
A single identifiable material or non-material element within a culture.
Cybersecurity
The art of protecting networks, devices, and data from unauthorized access or criminal use and the practice of ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.
Daily per capita calorie supply
The total calorie supply available for human consumption divided by the total number of actual population utilizing it.
Debt relief
The partial or total remission of debts, especially those owed by developing countries to external creditors.
Deepfake
A blend of "deep learning" and "fake" are synthetic media in which a person in an existing image or video is replaced with someone else's likeness. While the act of creating fake content is not new, deepfakes leverage powerful techniques from machine learning and artificial intelligence to manipulate or generate visual and audio content that can more easily deceive.
Deforestation
The removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use.
Delta
a landform created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river as the flow leaves its mouth and enters slower-moving or stagnant water.
Demographic dividend
The accelerated economic growth that may result from a decline in a country’s birth and death rates and the subsequent change in the age structure of the population. With fewer births each year, a country’s young dependent population declines in relation to the working-age population. With fewer people to support, a country has a window of opportunity for rapid economic growth if the right social and economic policies are developed and investments made.
Demographic transition
The changes in key population parameters over time, primarily focusing on birth rates, death rates, and overall population growth within a society or country as it undergoes social and economic changes.
Deposition
The process by which sediment or other materials are deposited or settled in a new location, often as a result of the loss of energy by the agent of transportation.
Desalination
A process that takes away mineral components from saline water. Saltwater (especially sea water) is desalinated to produce water suitable for human consumption or irrigation.
Desertification
Land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. This degradation includes the temporary or permanent decline in the quality of soil, vegetation, water resources or wildlife, for example. It also includes the deterioration of the economic productivity of the land – such as the ability to farm the land for commercial or subsistence purposes.
Development gap
The widening difference in levels of development between the world's richest and poorest countries.
Diasporas
A scattered population whose origin lies in a separate geographic locale. Historically, the word diaspora was used to refer to the mass dispersion of a population from its indigenous territories. Whilst the word was originally used to describe the forced displacement of certain peoples, "diasporas" is now generally used to describe those who identify with a geographic location, but now reside elsewhere.
Differential erosion
Erosion that occurs at irregular or varying rates, caused by the differences in the resistance and hardness of surface materials: softer and weaker rocks are rapidly worn away, whereas harder and more resistant rocks remain to form ridges, hills, or mountains.
Diffusion
The spread of a phenomenon, such as an idea, a technological innovation, or a disease, over space and time.
Diffusion of innovations
The leading theory in agricultural extension post World War II until the 1970s. It is still used today in agricultural extension, particularly when extension is concerned with an adoption of a particular technology. It is proposed that five main elements influence the spread of a new idea: the innovation itself, adopters, communication channels, time, and a social system. The categories of adopters are innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.
Direct action
Can take many different forms, from occupying buildings or blocking roads, to more disruptive actions such as property damage or violence. It is often seen as a last resort by those taking part, when other methods of protest, such as petitions or letter-writing, have failed.
Discharge
The volume of flow of water in a channel, measured in cubic metres per second (cumecs).
Disease burden
The impact of a health problem on a given population, and can be measured using a variety of indicators such as mortality, morbidity or financial cost. This allows the burden of disease to be compared between different areas, for example regions, towns or electoral wards.
Disease continuum
The continuum from diseases of poverty to diseases of affluence.
Diseases of affluence
Those so-called chronic "degenerative" diseases whose incidence has been rising conspicuously in industrialized societies as incomes have risen, as living standards have gone up and even as health indices have improved. Examples of diseases of affluence include mostly chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and other physical health conditions for which personal lifestyles and societal conditions associated with economic development are believed to be an important risk factor — such as type 2 diabetes, asthma, coronary heart disease etc.
Diseases of poverty
Diseases that are more prevalent in low-income populations. They include infectious diseases, as well as diseases related to malnutrition and poor health behaviour. HIV, Malaria and Tuberculosis (TB) also known as “the big three” have been acknowledged as infectious diseases that disproportionately affect developing countries.
Disposable income
Household disposable income measures the income of households (wages and salaries, self-employed income, social benefits, etc.), after taking into account the payment of taxes and social contributions.
Disruptive technological innovations
A disruptive technology is one that displaces an established technology and shakes up the industry or a ground-breaking product that creates a completely new industry.
Dissolved load
Products of solution can be carried by the water even during low flows.
Distribution
Spread over an area.
Divergent thinking
The process of creating multiple, unique ideas or solutions to a problem that you are trying to solve.
Drainage basin
The area of land drained by a river.
Dredging
Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment.
Drone
An unmanned aircraft or ship that can navigate autonomously, without human control or beyond line of sight.
Drought
A prolonged and abnormal deficiency in precipitation relative to the statistical multi-year average for a particular region, leading to water scarcity, reduced soil moisture, and adverse impacts on ecosystems, agriculture, and human activities.
Dry cargo
Goods, such as coal, metals, and grain, that are not liquid and are carried in large quantities by ship.
Dunes
Sand formations found in desert regions that have been shaped by wind over time. They are typically composed of loose, dry sand and can range in size from small ripples to large hills that can be several hundred meters high. They are formed through a process called aeolian transport, in which wind moves sand particles across the surface of the desert. When the wind encounters an obstacle, such as a rock or vegetation, the sand is deposited, and over time, this accumulation can build up to form a dune. Can take on different shapes and forms depending on the direction and strength of the wind. Barchan dunes, for example, are crescent-shaped dunes that form when wind blows in a single direction, while longitudinal dunes form parallel to the prevailing wind direction.
E-passport
A biometric passport is a traditional passport that has an embedded electronic microprocessor chip which contains biometric information that can be used to authenticate the identity of the passport holder.
Ecological footprint
The theoretical measurement of the amount of land and water a population requires to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb its waste under prevailing technology.
Economic development
The process whereby simple, low-income national economies are transformed into modern industrial economies.
Economic migrant
A person who leaves their country of origin purely for economic reasons that are not in any way related to the refugee definition, in order to seek material improvements in their livelihood.
Economic risk
The potential for financial loss or instability due to factors such as currency fluctuations, trade restrictions, demand shocks, and price volatility, which may disrupt businesses, supply chains, and economic sovereignty.
Economic sovereignty of states
The freedom of a state from outside intervention in its markets and trading relationships, though no state has complete economic sovereignty due to the complexities of world trade and trading agreements.
Economic water scarcity
Where water is available locally but not accessible for human, institutional or financial capital reasons.
Ecosystem
Consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Ecosystems are controlled by external and internal factors. External factors such as climate, parent material which forms the soil and topography, control the overall structure of an ecosystem but are not themselves influenced by the ecosystem.
Emerging economies
There is no official definition of an emerging market. The IMF World Economic Outlook classifies 39 economies as “advanced,” based on such factors as high per capita income, exports of diversified goods and services, and greater integration into the global financial system. The following countries are in the emerging market group, in alphabetical order: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.
Emerging world
Emerging markets are typically countries with low to middle per capita income that have undertaken economic development and reform programs and have begun to 'emerge' as significant players in the global economy.
Emissions
The release of substances — gases, particulates, or other materials — into the environment.
Empower
Make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights.
Energy balance
The equilibrium between incoming (shortwave) solar radiation and outgoing (longwave) terrestrial radiation.
Energy efficiency ratio
A property of agricultural systems. It is defined as the ratio of energy out to energy in. The energy out is the energy that the system outputs in the food we eat. The energy in is the energy that the system consumes in order to produce the food. Different types of agriculture systems vary widely in energy efficiency, a fact that has important implications.
Energy grid
An energy grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents.
Energy pathways
The flows of energy from producer to consumer. Pathways can take the form of oil pipelines, gas pipelines, electricity power lines and sea routes of tankers.
Energy policy
The strategies and decisions made by a government or organization to manage energy production, distribution, and consumption, with the aim of ensuring a secure, sustainable, and affordable energy supply.
Energy security
A country's ability to secure all its energy needs.
Englacial
“Within” the ice.
Enhanced greenhouse effect
The impact of increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as a result of human activities. It is often referred to as global warming, and it's important to distinguish it from the natural greenhouse effect, which is essential for life on Earth.
Environmental push factors
Environmental (relating to the natural world and the impact of human activity on its condition) factors which initiate and influence the decision to migrate by impelling or stimulating emigration
Epidemic
An unexpected increase in the number of disease cases in a specific geographical area.
Epidemiological
The study (scientific, systematic, and data-driven) of the distribution (frequency, pattern) and determinants (causes, risk factors) of health-related states and events (not just diseases) in specified populations (neighborhood, school, city, state, country, global).
Erosion
Involves the removal of weathered material by the action of gravity, water, wind or ice.
Erratic
The name given to a rock which has been transported by a glacier and deposited in an area of different geology than that of its source.
Eutrophication
A process in which excessive nutrient runoff, typically from agricultural or urban areas, enters a water body, leading to an overabundance of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. This nutrient enrichment promotes the rapid growth of algae and aquatic plants, often resulting in oxygen depletion and negative ecological impacts in aquatic ecosystems.
Evaporation
The process by which water is transformed from liquid to vapor, transferring from surfaces like lakes, rivers, or moist soil into the atmosphere.
Evapotranspiration
The sum of evaporation from the land surface plus transpiration from plants.
Expansion diffusion
When innovations spread to new places while staying strong in their original locations.
Extreme weather event
An occurrence of a weather or climate variable that significantly deviates from historical norms, reaching values at the extreme ends of what has been previously recorded.
Fairtrade
A system of certification that aims to ensure a set of standards are met in the production and supply of a product or ingredient. For farmers and workers, Fairtrade means workers’ rights, safer working conditions and fairer pay. For shoppers it means high quality, ethically produced products.
Falling limb
The period of time when the river’s discharge is falling after it has reached Peak Discharge.
Famine
It can be declared only when certain measures of mortality, malnutrition and hunger are met. They are: at least 20 per cent of households in an area face extreme food shortages with a limited ability to cope; acute malnutrition rates exceed 30 per cent; and the death rate exceeds two persons per day per 10,000 persons.
Feedback loops
Occur when the outputs of a system circulate back and become inputs in a series of cause-and-effect cycles.
Fertile
Producing or bearing many crops in great quantities.
Fertility rate
The total fertility rate in a specific year is defined as the total number of children that would be born to each woman if she were to live to the end of her child-bearing years and give birth to children in alignment with the prevailing age-specific fertility rates. Assuming no net migration and unchanged mortality, a total fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman ensures a broadly stable population.
Fiber optics
The technology used to transmit information as pulses of light through strands of fiber made of glass or plastic over long distances.
Flash flood
Flooding that begins within 6 hours, and often within 3 hours, of the heavy rainfall (or other cause). The intensity of the rainfall, the location and distribution of the rainfall, the land use and topography, vegetation types and growth/density, soil type, and soil water-content all determine just how quickly the Flash Flooding may occur, and influence where it may occur.
Flood preparation
Involves implementing strategies and measures to reduce the vulnerability of communities and infrastructure to flooding, such as constructing flood defenses and levees, and implementing land-use planning to avoid flood-prone areas.
Flood risk
The measure of vulnerability to flood with consideration to the likelihood of flooding and the total value of the assets at risk.
Flood warning technology
The use of advanced meteorological and hydrological systems, such as rainfall and river level monitoring, to provide timely alerts and forecasts to communities in flood-prone areas.
Floodplain
A floodplain is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge. The soils usually consist of clays, silts, sands, and gravels deposited during floods.
Food acquisition
Refers to the process of obtaining food, either through growing it, raising it, hunting it, or purchasing it from a market. It involves a combination of activities, including cultivation, harvesting, storage, transportation, and processing of food to make it safe and usable for consumption.
Food availability
Food availability in the simplest term is the situation where food is made to exist for consumption at local levels where local individuals or households can locate their needed foods without striving. It depicts the production and supply of varieties of foods.
Food consumption
The amount and dietary composition of food consumed by an individual or population.
Food indicators
Measures that relate to the quantity, quality, availability, and accessibility of food.
Food insecurity
A lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life.
Food security
Exists for a population when all its people, at all times, have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and health life.
Food security index
The index is based on a dynamic benchmarking model constructed from 68 qualitative and quantitative drivers of food security including Political stability risk, Sufficiency of supply, Proportion of population under the global poverty line and Food consumption as a share of household expenditure.
Food waste
Food that is fit for consumption but consciously discarded at the retail or consumption phases.
Forced migrant
A person subject to a migratory movement in which an element of coercion exists, including threats to life and livelihood, whether arising from natural or man-made causes (e.g. movements of refugees and internally displaced persons as well as people displaced by natural or environmental disasters, chemical or nuclear disasters, famine or development projects).
Foreign direct investment
Investment by a company into the structures, equipment or organizations of a foreign country. It does not include investment in shares of companies of other countries.
Foreign direct investment
Investment by a company into the structures, equipment or organizations of a foreign country.
Fossil fuel
Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons, primarily coal, fuel oil or natural gas, formed from the remains of dead plants and animals.
Franchise
A type of license that grants a franchisee access to a franchisor's proprietary business knowledge, processes, and trademarks, thus allowing the franchisee to sell a product or service under the franchisor's business name. In exchange for acquiring a franchise, the franchisee usually pays the franchisor an initial start-up fee and annual licensing fees.
Free trade zone
A designated area within a country where goods can be imported, manufactured, and re-exported without the usual customs regulations, tariffs, and import/export duties, aimed at encouraging international trade and investment.
Freeze-thaw
A mechanical weathering process caused by the alternative or repeated cycles of freezing and thawing of water in pores, cracks and other openings. The expansion of water upon freezing (approximately 9% by volume) forces materials apart.
Frequency
The rate at which something occurs over a particular period of time.
Frost heave
The upfreezing of objects usually associated with the active layer. The predominantly upward movement of material during freezing caused by the migration of water to the freezing plane and it's subsequent expansion upon freezing.
Frost shattering
A glacial process that occurs when water enters cracks in rocks and freezes. As the water freezes, it expands and puts pressure on the rock, causing it to break or shatter. Over time, this process can break down and erode large rock formations into smaller pieces, which the glacier can then transport.
G7
The Group of Seven (G7) is an inter-governmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Gender equality
When people of all genders have equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities.
Gender Inequality Index
Created by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), it measures the disparity between men and women across three key dimensions of human development. These are reproductive health, empowerment, and economic status.
Gender roles
The role or behaviour considered appropriate to a particular gender as determined by prevailing cultural norms.
Genetically modified organisms
An animal, plant, or microbe whose DNA has been altered using genetic engineering techniques.
Geoengineering
The deliberate large-scale intervention in the Earth’s natural systems to counteract climate change.
Geographic factors
Encompasses demographic, environmental, social, cultural, economic, and political elements that can influence or be influenced by the geography of an area.
Geographic isolation
Refers to a situation where a population or area is separated from others by physical barriers such as mountains, oceans, or deserts, leading to limited interaction and exchange, which can impact social and economic processes.
Geographical concept
A concept is a classifier that helps to organise thinking. It is a generalised idea about a class of objects, situations, actions, processes, relationships, qualities or whatever.
Geopolitical
Focuses on political power linked to geographic space. At the level of international relations, geopolitics is a method of studying foreign policy to understand, explain, and predict international political behaviour through geographical variables. These include area studies, climate, topography, demography and natural resources.
Geopolitical risk
The risk stemming from political relations among nations, particularly regarding disputes over borders, territories, and resources.
Geopolitics
The struggle over the control of geographical entities with an international and global dimension, and the use of such geographical entities for political advantage.
Glacial abrasion
A type of glacial erosion that occurs when rocks, sand, and other particles carried by a glacier act like sandpaper, grinding and scraping against the underlying rock and soil. This abrasive action wears away and erodes the surface, sculpting and shaping the landscape. Over time, the repeated grinding and scraping of the glacier can result in the formation of smooth, polished rock surfaces, and the creation of glacial landforms such as U-shaped valleys and cirques.
Glacial areas
Areas with and influenced by glaciers.
Glacial deposition
The process by which glaciers drop, lay down or leave behind the sediment, rocks, and other material that they have transported. This occurs as the ice melts, slows down, or changes direction, causing the material to be deposited in a variety of landforms, including moraines and drumlins.
Glacial erosion
Involves the removal and transport of bedrock or sediment by three main processes: quarrying (also known as plucking), abrasion, and melt water erosion.
Glacial lake
A body of water that is formed by the melting of a glacier. These can form in various ways, such as by the accumulation of meltwater in depression in the landscape created by glacial erosion or by the damming of a valley by a glacial moraine. Ribbon lakes are a type of glacial lake that are long and narrow in shape, and are formed when a glacier erodes a valley and then melts, leaving a lake in its place.
Glacial till
A type of sediment that is deposited directly by a glacier. It is a mixture of rock fragments, sand, gravel, and clay, that has been picked up and carried by the ice as it moves - often deposited in a random and unstratified manner, meaning that the different sizes and types of sediment are mixed and not sorted by size or type. This results in a heterogeneous mixture of sediment different from other sediment types, such as river deposits or beach sand.
Glacial transportation
Relates to the movement of ice and rock debris from one place to another by glaciers. The ice in a glacier acts as a conveyor belt, transporting and depositing sediment and rocks in various landforms and depositional environments.
Glacial troughs
This is a steep-sided, wide and flat-bottomed valley that was previously occupied by a glacier.
Glacifluvial material
Sediment that has been transported and deposited by glacial meltwater. This material can include a range of sediment types, including rock fragments, sand, gravel, and clay, that have been carried by meltwater streams and deposited in areas such as outwash plains, river valleys, and deltas. Glacifluvial material is different from glacial till in that it is sorted by size and type, meaning that larger rock fragments are typically found at the bottom of the deposit and smaller, finer material is found at the top.
Glacigenetic sediment
A term is used to describe sediment deposited or re-deposited by a glacier. This sediment can include a wide range of materials, including rock fragments, sand, gravel, and clay, as well as meltwater deposits like outwash plains. Can be deposited in a variety of environments, including on the surface of a glacier, at the base of a glacier, and in areas where glaciers have retreated or melted.
Global connectedness
Refers to the depth and breadth of a country's integration with the rest of the world, as manifested by its participation in international flows of products and services, capital, information , and people.
Global dimming
The decrease in the amount of sunlight reaching the surface of the Earth due to pollution and other particles in the atmosphere. The phenomenon can also occur naturally because of volcanic emissions.
Global Hunger Index
A tool designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at global, regional, and national levels, reflecting multiple dimensions of hunger over time. Each country’s GHI score is calculated based on a formula that combines four indicators that together capture the multidimensional nature of hunger: Undernourishment, Child stunting, Child wasting and Child mortality.
Global interactions
A two-way and complex process whereby cultural traits and commodities may be adopted, adapted or resisted by societies. The process is neither inevitable nor universal.
Global lending institutions
International financial organizations that provide loans and financial assistance to countries and regions to support economic development, reduce poverty, and foster financial stability.
Global strategy
Refers to the plans an organization has developed to target growth beyond its borders. Specifically, it aims to increase the sales of goods or services abroad.
Global supply chain
The worldwide system that a business uses to produce products or services.
Globalization
”the growing interdependence of countries worldwide through the increasing volume and variety of cross-border transactions in goods and services and of international capital flows, and through the more rapid and widespread diffusion of technology” [IMF]
Globalization index
The KOF Globalisation Index is one of several measures of globalization. It measures the economic, social and political dimensions of globalisation.
Glocalization
A term invented in order to emphasize that the globalization of a product is more likely to succeed when the product or service is adapted to the specific locality or culture in which it is marketed.
Goods
Merchandise or other physical items for common or daily use, usually bought by individuals or households for private consumption, and can include materials and manufactured goods.
Gradient
The slope of the river profile (slope angle).
Green water
The precipitation on land that does not run off or recharge the groundwater but is stored in the soil or temporarily stays on top of the soil or vegetation.
Greenhouse gas
Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere are called greenhouse gases.
Grey water
Refers to domestic wastewater generated in households or office buildings from streams without fecal contamination, i.e., all streams except for the wastewater from toilets. Sources of greywater include sinks, showers, baths, washing machines or dishwashers.
Gross Domestic Product
A key economic indicator that measures the total value of all goods and services produced within a country's borders over a specified period, usually a year or a quarter.
Gross National Income
An economic metric that measures the total income earned by a nation's people and businesses, regardless of whether they are located within the country or abroad.
Groundwater
The water that resides under the surface of the earth, typically in porous rock formations known as aquifers.
Groundwater discharge
The natural or artificial removal of groundwater, such as springs or wells, to the earth's surface or into bodies of surface water.
Groundwater flow
The movement of groundwater through the soil and rock layers beneath the earth's surface.
Groundwater storage
Water stored underground in the zone of saturation.
Habitat
Summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ecological niche.
Hacking
Refers to activities that seek to compromise digital devices, such as computers, smartphones and even entire networks. And while hacking might not always be for malicious purposes, nowadays most references to hacking, and hackers, characterize it/them as unlawful activity by cybercriminals—motivated by financial gain, protest and information gathering (spying).
Harmful algal bloom
Occur when colonies of algae - simple plants that live in the sea and freshwater - grow out of control and produce toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals and birds. The human illnesses caused by HABs, though rare, can be debilitating or even fatal.
Healthy life expectancy (HALE) at birth
Average number of years that a person can expect to live in "full health" by taking into account years lived in less than full health due to disease and/or injury.
Hegemony
the political, economic, or military predominance of one state over other states
Hierarchical diffusion
Follows a chain of command, something you see in business, government, and the military. The CEO of a company or the leader of a government body generally knows information before it is disseminated among a wider employee base or the general public. Fads and trends that start with one community before spreading to the wider public can also be hierarchical. A kind of expansion diffusion.
High altitude
Areas are often considered "high-altitude" if they reach at least 2,400 meters (8,000 feet) into the atmosphere.
High-income economies
Those with a GNI per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method, of $13,846 or more. in 2022.
Hot deserts
Have less than 250mm precipitation per year and daytime temperatures that may approach 50°C. Cover 14.2% of the Earth’s surface, their distribution largely determined by the global atmospheric circulation.
Household / Family size
A group of persons who make common provision of food, shelter and other essentials for living, is a fundamental socioeconomic unit in human societies.
Family size refers to the number of persons in the family. Economic family refers to a group of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling and are related to each other by blood, marriage, common-law union, adoption or a foster relationship.
Hub port
A port at mainly which concentration and distribution operations are carried out on cargo the origin and/or destination of which is outside the hinterland of the port. A Hub port concentrates its resources essentially on ship-to-ship transshipments; local cargo plays only a minor role. Hub ports are ports that are strategically located along the major shipping routes where these transshipment operations take place.
Human development
A multi-dimensional process that focuses on improving the quality of life for a country's inhabitants. It encompasses more than just economic progress, and includes social and political criteria as well.
Human Development Index
A composite measure created by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to assess a country's level of development. Unlike single indicators like Gross National Income (GNI) per capita, the HDI combines economic and social factors to provide a more holistic picture of development.
Human discomfort
Humans generally feel comfortable between temperatures of 22 °C to 27 °C and a relative humidity of 40% to 60%.
Human factor
The various ways that human activities and decisions influence geographical phenomena.
Human habitation
The use of a structure for living for any period of time for activities such as sleeping, eating or cooking, or combinations thereof.
Hydration
A chemical weathering process involving water being added to the chemical structure of a mineral. A consequence of hydration is that the resulting mineral has a greater volume than the original mineral. The increase in volume applies force to overlying layers, breaking them into pieces.
Hydraulic action
The force of the water can dislodge materials. Air bubbles forced into cracks can suddenly collapse and the vibrations caused can weaken the rocks. This only occurs where water flow is fast.
Hydraulic radius
The ratio between the area of the cross-section of a river channel and the wetted perimeter.
Hydro-diplomacy
A branch of foreign relations that involves the use of diplomatic instruments to make shared water sources a domain for peace and cooperation rather than for conflict.
Hydrograph
A means of showing the discharge of a river at a given point over a short period of time.
Hydrosphere
The combined mass of water found on, under, and above the surface of a planet.
Ice storage
Water stored in the form of ice, such as in glaciers, ice caps, and ice sheets.
Identity theft
Occurs when someone uses another person's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes.
Illegal flows
Refer to the movement of goods, money, or people across borders in violation of laws or regulations, including activities such as smuggling, human trafficking, and the transfer of illicit funds.
IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.
Imperialism
a policy or ideology of extending the rule over peoples and other countries, for extending political and economic access, power and control, often through employing hard power, especially military force, but also soft power
Impermeable
Not permeable.
In vitro meat
Involves injecting muscle tissue from an animal into a cell culture, allowing cells to “grow” outside the animal’s body. Sometimes referred to as cultured, synthetic, or cell-cultured meat.
Inaccessibility
Difficult to reach or get to.
Incidence
Frequency or rate of occurrence of an event.
Incidental pollution
Pollution caused by oil spills, by the accidental release of radioactive substances, by the immission in water bodies or in the atmosphere of chemical substances deriving from industrial activities.
Incoming shortwave radiation
Also known as insolation, the primary energy input to the Earth's atmosphere is composed mainly of visible wavelengths that heat the Earth without being absorbed by the atmosphere, with the amount received varying based on latitude, season, and cloud cover.
Indigenous group
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups who are related to the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region. Peoples are usually described as "indigenous" when they maintain traditions or other aspects of an early culture that is associated with a given region. Not all indigenous peoples share this characteristic, as many have adopted substantial elements of a colonizing culture, such as dress, religion or language.
Inequality
the unfair situation in society when some people have more opportunities, money, etc. than other people
Infant mortality rate
The number of infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year.
Infertility
This implies a lack of the qualities which enable the soil to provide nutrient elements and compounds in adequate amounts and in proper balance for the growth of specified plants.
Infiltration
The process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil, moving into the subsurface layers.
Infiltration capacity
The maximum rate at which soil can absorb water, often influenced by soil type, moisture content, and land cover.
Influence
the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something, or the effect itself
Infrastructure
Composed of public and private physical structures such as roads, railways, bridges, tunnels, water supply, sewers, electrical grids, and telecommunications (including Internet connectivity and broadband access) that support the sustainable functionality of households and firms.
Inputs
Are the elements that go into a system.
Insolation weathering
A type of physical weathering which involves repeated heating and cooling of rock over daily cycles, progressively breaking apart the grains of rock. Also known as thermal stress weathering. It is an important mechanism in deserts, where there is a large diurnal temperature range, hot in the day and cold at night.
Integrated drainage basin management
An integrated water resources perspective ensures that social, economic, environmental and technical dimensions are taken into account in the management and development of water resources.
Intensive agriculture
A type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of agricultural land area. It is characterized by a low fallow ratio, higher use of inputs such as capital and labour, and higher crop yields per unit land area.
Interception
The process by which precipitation is caught and held by vegetation, buildings, or other structures, preventing it from reaching the ground immediately.
Interception storage
The temporary retention of precipitation by leaves, branches, and other surfaces before it either evaporates, falls to the ground, or flows as stemflow.
Internal migration
Refers to the movement of people within the same country from one geographical area to another. This type of migration does not involve crossing international boundaries but involves relocating from one region, state, or city to another within a nation's borders.
Internally displaced person
A person or groups of persons who has been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalised violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognised State border.
International aid
Any form of needed assistance by one country, or multilateral institution, to another.
International flow
A flow that crosses country borders.
International loan
A loan made by a country (or global group such as the IMF) to another country.
International poverty line
A monetary threshold under which an individual is considered to be living in poverty.
International-mindedness
A view of the world in which people see themselves connected to the global community and assume a sense of responsibility to its members. It is an awareness of the inter-relatedness of all nations and peoples, and a recognition of the complexity of these relationships.
Internet freedom
An umbrella term that encompasses digital rights, freedom of information, the right to Internet access, freedom from Internet censorship, and net neutrality.
Inundation
The process of a land area or region being submerged or flooded with water, typically as a result of heavy rainfall, rising river levels, coastal storms, or other hydrological events.
Irrigation
Applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops. Irrigation water can come from groundwater (extracted from springs or by using wells), from surface water (withdrawn from rivers, lakes or reservoirs) or from non-conventional sources like treated wastewater, desalinated water, drainage water, or fog collection.
Isostatic rebound
Isostatic change is a localised change in the relative level of the land and sea. This change is caused by the depression of the Earth’s crust, often due to the weight of an ice sheet. Isostatic rebound is part of a sequence of sea level changes linked to glacial cycles. Glaciers and ice sheets grow as temperatures decrease, causing sea levels to fall globally. The increasing thickness of the ice depresses the land isostatically. When temperatures rise, the ice melts, lessening the pressure on the land and allowing it to rebound isostatically.
Lag time
The time between Peak Rainfall and Peak Discharge.
Laminar flow
A horizontal movement of water.
Land ownership
In arid environments, where water resources are scarce and the carrying capacity for agriculture is limited, land ownership poses a significant challenge. The competition for control over arable land intensifies due to the critical role it plays in securing water rights, exacerbating socio-economic inequalities and often perpetuating gender disparities, as women may face obstacles in accessing and owning land.
Lateral erosion
Erodes the banks of the river. Occurs mainly where the river gradient is less. The strength of the bed and banks will affect the rate of erosion.
Lateral moraine
A type of glacial moraine that is formed along the sides of a glacier. It is composed of rock fragments and other debris eroded and transported by the glacier as it moves. As the glacier moves it pushes the rock fragments and other debris to the sides, where they accumulate to form ridges of material that run parallel to the glacier.
Latitude
The geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is measured in degrees north or south from the equator, which is defined as 0 degrees latitude.
Levee
Can be naturally occurring ridge structures that form next to the bank of a river, or be an artificially constructed fill or wall that regulates water levels. A structure that is usually earthen and that often runs parallel to the course of a river in its floodplain.
Levee strengthening
The process of reinforcing or enhancing the structural integrity of natural or man-made embankments (levees) designed to prevent flooding.
Life expectancy at birth
Indicates the number of years a newborn infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of its birth were to stay the same throughout its life.
Limits of cultivation
The extent of the area that can be productively used for agriculture.
Load particle size
The average size of the sediment particles being transported by a river.
Load quantity
The quantity of sediment that can be transported by a stream/river.
Locale
A place where something happens or is set, or that has particular events associated with it.
Localized pollution
Air or water pollution that is concentrated near its source, which may be a point, like a factory or mine, or linear, like roads and shipping lanes, and where the pollution does not disperse widely, maintaining a high concentration near its origin.
Location
Denotes a region (point, line, or area) on Earth’s surface.
Low carbon power
Low-carbon power is electricity produced with substantially lower greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fossil fuel power generation.
Low-income economies
Those with a GNI per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method, of $1,135 or less in 2022.
Lower middle-income economies
Those with a GNI per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method, between $1,136 and $4,465 in 2022.
Magnitude
The great size or extent of something.
Malnutrition
Refers to deficiencies or excesses in nutrient intake, imbalance of essential nutrients or impaired nutrient utilization. The double burden of malnutrition consists of both undernutrition and overweight and obesity, as well as diet-related noncommunicable diseases. Undernutrition manifests in four broad forms: wasting, stunting, underweight, and micronutrient deficiencies.
Malthusianism
Malthusianism is the idea that population growth is potentially exponential while the growth of the food supply or other resources is linear, which eventually reduces living standards to the point of triggering a population die off.
Manufactured goods
A manufactured good is a good that is produced mainly by the application of labour and capital to raw materials and other intermediate inputs. As such, manufactured goods are the opposite of primary goods, but include intermediate goods as well as final goods. They include steel, chemicals, paper, textiles, machinery, clothing, vehicles, etc.
Manufacturing industries
Industries transforming goods.
Maternal mortality ratio
The number of women who die from pregnancy-related causes while pregnant or within 42 days of pregnancy termination per 100,000 live births.
Meander
One of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse.
Medial moraine
A type of glacial moraine that is formed when two glaciers meet and merge together. When two glaciers merge, their lateral moraines are also combined, resulting in a strip of moraine material that runs down the centre of the combined glacier.
Median age
Median age is the age that divides a population into two numerically equally sized groups; that is, half the people are younger than this age and half are older. It is a single index that summarizes the age distribution of a population.
Megacity
An urban area with a population of at least ten million people.
Mesas
A flat-topped, elevated landform with steep sides that is found in arid or semi-arid regions. It is characterized by a horizontal or gently sloping top that is bounded on all sides by cliffs or steep slopes.
Methane
A potent greenhouse gas composed of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. Methane's Global Warming Potential is 86 times greater than carbon dioxide over 20 years and 34 times greater over 100 years.
Microfinance
Microfinance is a type of banking that provides financial services to low income individuals or groups of people who would otherwise have no access to finance.
Middle class
The middle class is a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy. Its usage has often been vague whether defined in terms of occupation, income, education or social status. One of the narrowest definitions limits it to those in the middle fifth of the nation's income ladder. A wider characterization includes everyone but the poorest 20% and the wealthiest 20%.
Middle-income country
Defined by the World Bank as economies with a gross national income (GNI) per capita between $1,086 and $13,205. This classification includes both lower middle-income economies and upper middle-income economies. MICs are home to 75% of the world's population and 62% of the world's poor, and they represent about one-third of global GDP.
Migration controls
Measures and policies implemented by a government to regulate the flow of people across its borders, including visa requirements, border security, immigration quotas, and procedures for asylum and deportation, aimed at managing and monitoring immigration and emigration.
Militia
Generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of regular, full-time military personnel.
Minority group
A minority group, by its original definition, refers to a group of people whose practices, race, religion, ethnicity, or other characteristics are fewer in numbers than the main groups of those classifications. However, in present-day sociology, a minority group refers to a category of people who experience relative disadvantage as compared to members of a dominant social group.
Mitigation
The action of reducing the severity, seriousness, or painfulness of something.
Modern energy
The definition of modern energy services includes both access to electricity and to clean cooking facilities (e.g., fuels and stoves that do not cause air pollution in houses).
Multi-governmental organizations
Organizations that are comprised of the governments of multiple countries - such as the United Nations or the European Union.
Multi-governmental orgtanization
An entity formed by multiple sovereign states that collaborate on common interests, policy-making, and governance, often aiming to address global issues and facilitate international cooperation.
Multidimensional
Having many different features.
Multipurpose dams
Combines two or more functions of traditional single-purpose dams into one hydro infrastructure project. A multipurpose dam may combine storing and supplying water for irrigation, industry and human consumption with other uses such as flood control, power generation, navigation, run-off storage and water discharge regulation.
Narcotics
The term usually refers to opiates or opioids, which are called narcotic analgesics. In common parlance and legal usage, it is often used imprecisely to mean illicit drugs, irrespective of their pharmacology.
Nationalism
As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), especially with the aim of gaining and maintaining the nation's sovereignty (self-governance) over its homeland to create a nation state.
Nationalism
A political movement or belief that holds that a nation has the right to an independent political development based on a shared history and common destiny, often involving a strong feeling of patriotism, loyalty to one’s country, and sometimes a feeling of superiority over people from other countries.
Natural greenhouse effect
The process by which greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere trap heat, maintaining the planet's temperature at a level suitable for life. In contrast, the enhanced greenhouse effect refers to the additional warming caused by increased concentrations of greenhouse gases due to human activities.
Natural resources
Stocks of materials that exist in the natural environment that are both scarce and economically useful in production or consumption, either in their raw state or after a minimal amount of processing.
NDB
The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). According to the Agreement on the NDB, "the Bank shall support public or private projects through loans, guarantees, equity participation and other financial instruments."
Negative feedback
When a system acts by lessening the effect of the original change and ultimately reversing it.
Neo-Malthusianism
The advocacy of human population planning to ensure resources and environmental integrities for current and future human populations as well as for other species.
Nexus
The interrelationship, interdependence and interactions between water, food and energy.
Nitrate fertilizers
Have high solubility, and the end-product nitrate ion is easily leached due to its high mobility with excess irrigation-water application.
Non-governmental organization
An organization that generally is formed independently from government. They are typically nonprofit entities and many of them are active in humanitarianism or the social sciences; they can also include clubs and associations that provide services to their members and others.
Non-governmental stakeholders
Organisations or movements that work independently of governments to address matters of public concern.
Normal flow
Average level of discharge caused by water flowing from tributaries and groundwater.
Nutrient cycling
The movement, transformation, and recycling of essential chemical elements and compounds (nutrients) within an ecosystem.
Nutrition indicators
Measurements used to assess the overall health and dietary status of a population.
Nutrition transition
A model used to describe the shifts in diets, physical activity and causes of disease that accompany changes in economic development, lifestyle, urbanisation, and demography. It most commonly is used to refer to the change from traditional diets towards “Western” diets rich in fats, sugars, meat and highly processed foods and low in fibre, and accompanied by a rise in sedentary lifestyles.
Occupied channel width
The width of the water within the channel at right angles to the direction of flow.
Ocean transport routes
The navigating lanes, both natural and man-made, in wide waterways used by large vessels to connect major ports and carry cargo. These routes allow efficient, safe and economic transportation of goods while offering the shortest sailing times.
OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an intergovernmental economic organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade.
Offshore tax haven
A country that offers foreign businesses and individuals minimal or no tax liability for their bank deposits in a politically and economically stable environment. They have tax advantages for corporations and for the very wealthy, and obvious potential for misuse in illegal tax avoidance schemes.
OPEC
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is an intergovernmental organization or cartel of 13 countries.
Open system
A system that exchanges matter and energy with its surroundings.
Opportunities
Refers to the positive aspects or potential benefits that a geographical area offers. These can include aspects like economic prospects, social and cultural amenities, or environmental benefits that contribute to the development or improvement of the quality of life in that area.
Optimistic
Hopeful and confident about the future.
Outgoing longwave radiation
The radiation of energy from the Earth into the atmosphere, some of which eventually reaches space, combined with the downward movement of long-wave radiation from atmospheric particles, creates a net radiation balance from the difference between these upward and downward flows.
Outputs
Whatever comes out of the system.
Outsourcing
The process of subcontracting part of a firm's business to another company, in order to save money.
Overland flow
The movement of water across the surface of the land, usually when the ground is saturated, frozen, or when rainfall is too intense for infiltration.
Oxbow lake
A horse-shoe shaped lake separated from an adjacent river. The water is stagnant and, in time, the lake gradually silts up becoming a cresent-shaped stretch of marsh. It is formed by the increasing sinuosity of a river.
Oxidation
A kind of chemical weathering that occurs when oxygen combines with another substance and creates compounds called oxides. When rocks, particularly those with iron in them, are exposed to air and water, the iron undergoes oxidation, weakening the rocks and making them crumble.
Pandemic
An epidemic occurring worldwide or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people.
Particulate matter
The term for a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air. Some particles, such as dust, dirt, soot, or smoke, are large or dark enough to be seen with the naked eye. Others are so small they can only be detected using an electron microscope.
Pattern
Spatial. Pattern across geographical space.
Patterned ground
The distinct and often symmetrical natural pattern of geometric shapes formed by the deformation of ground material due to intense frost action in periglacial regions.
Peak discharge
The point (time) of maximum river discharge caused by the storm.
Peak rainfall
The hour of greatest rainfall during the storm.
Per capita consumption
Calculated by dividing the total quantity of material goods (water) consumed by the population.
Percolation
The movement of water through the soil itself.
Periglacial environment
The effects of freezing and thawing drastically modify the ground surface. In a cold climate, typically near glacierised regions. Perennially frozen ground that seasonally-thaws (active layer). The ground is snow free for part of the year with frequent fluctuations of air temperature across 0°C.
Periphery
Outlying regions with poor communications and sparse population.
Permafrost
Soil and rock where temperatures below O°C persist over at least two consecutive winters and the intervening summer.
Permeable
A property of soils and rocks indicating their capacity for transmitting water.
Personal freedoms
Freedom of the person in going and coming, equality before the courts, security of private property, freedom of opinion and its expression, and freedom of conscience subject to the rights of others and of the public.
Personal freedoms
An individual's rights and abilities to act without undue interference from governments or other entities, including the freedom of movement, speech, and access to information, while also incorporating protection from surveillance and unjust restrictions on these freedoms.
Personal insurance
In the context of mitigating the impacts of flooding, refers to a financial arrangement where individuals or households purchase policies to protect their property and assets from damage or losses caused by floods.
Pessimistic
Tending to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen.
Physical factor
The natural elements of the environment that influence human activities and patterns.
Physical risk
The potential for harm or disruption stemming from environmental factors such as natural disasters, extreme weather events, and pandemics, that can impact supply chains and infrastructure.
Physical water scarcity
Where water resource development is approaching or has exceeded unsustainable levels; it relates water availability to water demand and implies that arid areas are not necessarily water scarce.
Physical weathering
Involves the breakdown of rocks into smaller fragments through mechanical processes. Otherwise known as mechanical weathering.
Pingos
Ice-cored hills formed when water moves to the freezing plane under hydraulic or hydrostatic pressure.
Place
Places can be identified at a variety of scales, from local territories or locations to the national or state level. Places can be compared according to their cultural or physical diversity, or disparities in wealth or resource endowment. The characteristics of a place may be real or perceived, and spatial interactions between places can be considered.
Plucking
Also known as quarrying, is a type of glacial erosion that occurs when a glacier pulls or lifts pieces of rock out of the ground as it moves. This occurs when the glacier freezes onto the rock and, as it moves, the rock is pulled away from the surrounding soil and rock.
Polar
The regions of the planet that surround its geographical poles (the North and South Poles), lying within the polar circles. These high latitudes are dominated by floating sea ice covering much of the Arctic Ocean in the north, and by the Antarctic ice sheet on the continent of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in the south. The Arctic has various definitions, including the region north of the Arctic Circle, or just the region north of 60° north latitude, or the region from the North Pole south to the timberline. The Antarctic is usually defined simply as south of 60° south latitude, or the continent of Antarctica.
Political push factors
Political (relating to the government or public affairs of a country) factors which initiate and influence the decision to migrate by impelling or stimulating emigration
Political risk
The potential for instability, disruption, or loss arising from factors such as political instability, trade restrictions, terrorism, corruption, and the failure of national governance, all of which can impact businesses, supply chains, and a state's sovereignty.
Political sovereignty of states
The freedom of a state to govern itself fully, independent of interference by any foreign power.
Population Ageing
Population ageing - the process by which older individuals become a proportionally larger share of the total population.
Population density
The number of people living in a given area, usually expressed as the number of people per square kilometre.
Population distribution
Describes the uneven spread of people across the Earth, with certain areas being much more densely populated than others due to a combination of physical and human geographic factors.
Population pyramid
A diagram that shows the distribution of a population by age groups and sex, depicting each group’s percentage or absolute number of the total population.
Populism
Refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against "the elite." Populist parties and social movements are often led by charismatic or dominant figures who present themselves as "the voice of the people." According to the ideational approach, populism is often combined with other ideologies, such as nationalism, liberalism, or socialism.
Populism
The idea that every political decision in a democracy should directly reflect what the majority of citizens currently believe, rather than what the majority of democratically elected politicians believe.
Positive feedback
Occurs within a system where a change causes a snowball effect, continuing or even accelerating the original change.
Possibilities
The alternative events, futures and outcomes that geographers can model, project and predict with varying degrees of certainty.
Poverty
the state of not having enough material possessions or income for a person's basic needs
Power
The ability to influence and affect change or equilibrium at different scales. Power is vested in citizens, governments, institutions and other players, and in physical processes in the natural world.
Precipitation
Any form of water - liquid or solid - falling from the atmosphere and reaching the ground.
Prediction
The process of using existing data, trends, and geographical patterns to make informed projections or forecasts about future spatial and environmental changes.
Prevention
Action taken to decrease the chance of getting a disease or condition.
Primary production
The process where green plants called primary producers, make organic compounds like carbohydrates from things like carbon dioxide and water. They do this using sunlight energy in a process called photosynthesis.
Pro-natalist
A population policy which aims to encourage more births through the use of incentives.
Probabilistic projection
In the probabilistic projection method, the uncertainty of future demographic outcomes is quantified by constructing a large sample of future trajectories for fertility and mortality outcomes for each country. For each year in the future, point projections are given by the median outcome of the sample of trajectories. The percentiles of the sample are used to construct prediction intervals.
Processes
Processes are human or physical mechanisms of change, such as migration or weathering. They operate on varying timescales. Linear systems, circular systems, and complex systems are all outcomes of the way in which processes operate and interact.
Profit repatriation
The ability of a firm to send foreign‐earned profits or financial assets back to the firm's home country in hard currency such as USD, EUR and others, after meeting the host nation's tax obligations.
Protectionism
Refers to government policies that restrict international trade to help domestic industries.
Protectionism
Government specific restrictions on international trade to benefit domestic firms in an economy.
Purchasing power parities
Exchange rates that account for relative price differences across countries.
Pyramidal peaks
Formed when three or more adjacent cirques develop on the side of a mountain leaving a sharp mountain peak with steep sides and aretes radiating from a central peak.
Quotas
A quota is a government-imposed trade restriction that limits the number or monetary value of goods that a country can import or export during a particular period. Countries use quotas in international trade to help regulate the volume of trade between them and other countries. Countries sometimes impose quotas on specific products to reduce imports and increase domestic production.
Ramsar Convention
Officially known as the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, is a global treaty aimed at the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. It recognizes wetlands as areas of significant ecological value and promotes their protection through international cooperation and designation of Ramsar Sites.
Rate of Natural Increase
The birth rate minus the death rate, expressed as a percentage. This value represents the estimated rate of population growth without regard for migration.
Ratio between doctors/physicians and people
Medical doctors per 10000
Re-shoring
The process of returning the production and manufacturing of goods back to the company's original country. Also known as onshoring, inshoring, or backshoring.
Recycling
The processing of waste so that materials can be reused.
Refugee
In the global context , either a person who, owing to a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group, is outside the country of nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of that country, or a stateless person, who, being outside of the country of former habitual residence for the same reasons as mentioned before, is unable or, owing to such fear, unwilling to return to it.
Relative humidity
The ratio of how much water vapour is in the air and how much water vapour the air could potentially contain at a given temperature.
Reliability
Refers to the trustworthiness and consistency of the data used to calculate the indicator. Such an indicator is based on data that is accurate, consistent, and collected using sound methodologies.
Relief
The term used for the differences in height from place to place on the land’s surface and it is greatly affected by the underlying geology. Relief relies on the hardness, permeability and structure of a rock.
Relocation diffusion
Occurs when people move from their original location to another and bring their innovations (or disease) with them.
Remittances
The transfer of money and/or goods by foreign workers to their home country.
Remoteness
Distant from main centres of population.
Resilience
The sustained ability to use available resources (energy, communication, transportation, food, etc.) to respond to, withstand, and recover from adverse situations.
Resource development
The development of natural resources effectively and efficiently without harming the environment or human existence.
Resource nationalism
A government’s effort to gain greater control or value from its natural resources. This can range from outright expropriation – when a government takes away a private company’s assets – to more creeping forms of appropriation – such as higher taxation or tougher regulation.
Resource stewardship
An approach to resource management which views humans as ‘caretakers’ of the natural world.
Restricted freedoms
Limitations imposed by governments or other powerful actors on individuals' ability to participate in various aspects of global interactions.
Rising limb
The period of rising river discharge following a period of rainfall.
Risk
In its modern sense, the word risk has two distinct meanings: it can mean both the possibility of danger and simultaneously its potential consequences. The first definition emphasizes the source of the risk, while the second focuses on the target exposed to the risk.
River mouth
The part of a river where it flows into another body of water, such as a sea, ocean or lake.
Rock pedestals
Also known as mushroom rocks or pedestal rocks, are geological formations that consist of a column of rock that is wider at the top than at the base, giving the appearance of a pedestal.
Rotational movement
Refers to the rotating action of a glacier as it moves over a steep rock face or cliff. As the glacier moves and rotates, it erodes the rock face through abrasion, plucking, and freeze-thaw weathering. The glacier's repeated rotation and erosional action can create a deep, steep-walled basin with a flat floor, known as a cirque basin or corrie, at the head of a glacial valley.
Salinization
The process of increasing the salt content of soil or groundwater.
Salt weathering
A type of physical weathering of rocks that is most common in arid climates involves the growth and expansion of salt crystals within rock cracks. No chemical alteration of rock constituents is involved.
Saltation
The process by which particles are lifted upwards and forward before returning back to the surface from which they started. This occurs in desert areas and in rivers.
Scale
[An organising Geographic concept] Places can be identified at a variety of geographic scales, from local territories to the national or state level. Climate change affects the world at a planetary level.
Seasonality
Refers to the variations in weather, climate, or natural phenomena that occur cyclically and predictably over the course of a year within a specific geographic region. These variations often include changes in temperature, precipitation, and daylight hours, influencing patterns such as the four distinct seasons in temperate regions or the wet and dry seasons in tropical areas.
Semi-arid
Receive 25 to 50 centimetres of rain per year.
Sense of place
The way we perceive places such as streets, communities, cities or ecoregions.
Services
A service is a transaction in which no physical goods are transferred from the seller to the buyer.
Services sector
The service sector consists of the production of services instead of end products. Services (also known as "intangible goods") include attention, advice, access and experience.
Severity
The degree of damage and disruption caused by an event.
Sex ratio
Number of males per 100 females in the population.
Shipping lanes
The routes taken by ships, often concentrated in narrow zones, that are used to transport goods, and which can be associated with localized pollution.
Silt
Granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz.
Social entrepreneurship
A way of addressing human development goals by using business techniques and principles which focus on benefiting society rather than solely pursuing profits.
Social marginalisation
Occurs when a person or groups of people are less able to do things or access basic services or opportunities.
Soil conservation
The practice of implementing strategies and techniques to protect and manage soil resources in order to prevent soil erosion, degradation, and loss.
Soil erosion
A naturally occurring process. In agriculture, soil erosion refers to the wearing away of a field's topsoil by the natural physical forces of water and wind or through forces associated with farming activities such as tillage.
Solifluction
An agent of transport that can produce tongue-shaped lobes. The slow (0.5 to 5 cm a year) gravitational downslope movement of water-saturated, seasonally thawed materials. During the summer, the soil above the permafrost melts, but the water is unable to drain through the soil that is still frozen underneath.
Solution
The process by which certain minerals are dissolved by acidic solutions.
Source
Where a river starts, usually in the mountains.
Species diversity
A measure of the variety of species (both plants and animals) present in a particular ecosystem.
Stakeholders
Individuals, groups, or organizations who have a vested interest in a particular geographic area, place, or issue. These stakeholders often have varying levels of influence, concern, or investment in the geographical context and can include local communities, government agencies, businesses, environmental organizations, and indigenous populations.
Standard of living
Refers to the level of wealth, comfort, material goods, and necessities available to a certain socioeconomic class or geographic area.
Stemflow
The flow of intercepted water down the stems or trunks of plants, usually reaching the ground near the plant base.
Stewardship
The conducting, supervising, or managing of something, especially : the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care.
Storm runoff
The discharge of the river above Normal Flow, caused by the Storm Event.
Stream gauge
A location used by hydrologists or environmental scientists to monitor and test terrestrial bodies of water. Hydrometric measurements of water level surface elevation ("stage") and/or volumetric discharge (flow) are generally taken and observations of biota and water quality may also be made.
Stunting
Defined as low height-for-age. It is the result of chronic or recurrent undernutrition, usually associated with poverty, poor maternal health and nutrition, frequent illness and/or inappropriate feeding and care in early life. Stunting prevents children from reaching their physical and cognitive potential.
Subglacial
Beneath the glacier. Includes basal sediments and the basal layers of ice.
Superpower
a nation or group of nations with a leading position in international politics
Supply chain
A network between a company and its suppliers to produce and distribute a specific product to the final buyer. Companies develop supply chains so they can reduce their costs and remain competitive in the business landscape.
Supraglacial
On the surface of the glacier.
Surface runoff
The flow of water that occurs when excess precipitation, meltwater, or other sources of water flow over the Earth's surface, often leading to streams and rivers.
Surface storage
The accumulation of water on the ground surface in natural or artificial features like ponds, lakes, reservoirs, or puddles.
Surveillance
The monitoring of activities, behaviours, and communications of individuals or groups by governments, organisations, or other entities, often using technologies like CCTV, internet monitoring, and data collection.
Suspension
The process by which small particles, such as sediment, are carried and transported within a fluid medium, such as water or air. The particles are suspended within the fluid and move along with it, often remaining in suspension for a considerable period of time.
Systems approach
Based on the generalization that everything is interrelated and interdependent.
Tariffs
A tariff is a tax imposed by a government of a country or of a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and policy that taxes foreign products to encourage or safeguard domestic industry. Tariffs are among the most widely used instruments of protectionism, along with import and export quotas.
Tax avoidance
Any legal method used by a taxpayer to minimize the amount of income tax owed. Individual taxpayers and corporations can use forms of tax avoidance to lower their tax bills.
Terminal moraine
A type of glacial moraine that is formed at the end of a glacier. When a glacier reaches its farthest point of advance, it drops its load of material, forming a ridge of debris that marks the furthest extent of the glacier.
Terrestrial albedo changes
Refer to changes in the reflectivity of the Earth's surface. Albedo is the proportion of solar energy (insolation) that is reflected back into space by a surface. Light-coloured surfaces, such as ice and snow, have a high albedo, meaning they reflect a large proportion of insolation. Dark-coloured surfaces, such as forests and oceans, have a low albedo, meaning they absorb more insolation.
TEU
The twenty-foot equivalent unit is an inexact unit of cargo capacity, often used for container ships and container ports. It is based on the volume of a 20-foot-long intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box which can be easily transferred between different modes of transportation, such as ships, trains, and trucks.
Thermokarst
A landscape dominated by features resulting from the thawing of ground ice.
Throughfall
Water that falls through gaps in vegetation or drips from leaves, twigs, or stems, reaching the ground during and after precipitation.
Throughflow
The movement of water laterally through the soil layer, typically following the natural slope of the terrain.
Total fertility rate
Represents the number of children that would be born to a woman if she were to live to the end of her childbearing years and bear children in accordance with age-specific fertility rates of the specified year.
Traction
Large stones may slide when river flows are fast. Smaller stones may assist this movement.
Trade bloc
A type of intergovernmental agreement, often part of a regional intergovernmental organization, where barriers to trade (tariffs and others) are reduced or eliminated among the participating states.
Trade bloc
A type of intergovernmental agreement, often part of a regional intergovernmental organization, where barriers to trade (tariffs and others) are reduced or eliminated among the participating states.
Trade restrictions
An artificial restriction on the trade of goods and/or services between two countries. It is the byproduct of protectionism. However, the term is controversial because what one part may see as a trade restriction another may see as a way to protect consumers from inferior, harmful or dangerous products.
Trade war
A trade war happens when one country retaliates against another by raising import tariffs or placing other restrictions on the other country's imports.
Trafficked people
Individuals who are illegally transported, recruited, or harbored through coercion, deception, or force for the purpose of exploitation, such as forced labor, sexual slavery, or other forms of involuntary servitude.
Trafficking
The act of buying, selling, or transporting people, often through the use of force, fraud, or deception, for the purpose of exploiting them for labor, services, or commercial sex acts.
Transboundary pollution
The pollution that originates in one country but is able to cause damage in another country’s environment, by crossing borders through pathways like water or air.
Transnational corporation (TNC)
A firm that owns or controls productive operations in more than one country through foreign direct investment.
Transpiration
The conversion of water from liquid to gas as it passes through plant stomata, small openings on the undersides of leaves of vascular plants.
Transportation
The process by which sediment or other materials are moved from one location to another by the agents of transportation. This can occur through a variety of mechanisms, such as wind carrying sand or dust, water transporting sediment downstream, or ice moving rocks and debris across a landscape.
Tree line
The edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snowpack, or associated lack of available moisture). The tree line is sometimes distinguished from a lower timberline or forest line, which is the line below which trees form a forest with a closed canopy.
Trend
Temporal. Change over time.
Tribalization
The rise of "us and them" political and cultural movements, often in opposition to globalization or Westernization, linked to the emergence of "culture wars" and defensive forms of identity politics.
Tributary
A smaller river that joins a larger one.
Turbulent flow
Consists of a series of erratic eddies, both vertical and horizontal, in a downstream direction
Undersea communications cable
A cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean and sea.
Upper middle-income economies
Those with a GNI per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method, between $4,466 and $13,845 in 2022.
Urbanization
The process by which an increasing percentage of a country’s population comes to live in towns and cities. It may involve both rural–urban migration and natural increase.
Validity
In the context of human development indicators, it refers to whether an indicator accurately measures what it is intended to measure.
Vapour transport
The movement of water vapor, typically through the atmosphere, often influenced by wind patterns.
Vector-borne diseases
Vector-borne diseases are human illnesses caused by parasites, viruses and bacteria that are transmitted by vectors. Vectors are living organisms that can transmit infectious pathogens between humans, or from animals to humans. Many of these vectors are bloodsucking insects, which ingest disease-producing microorganisms during a blood meal from an infected host (human or animal) and later transmit it into a new host, after the pathogen has replicated.
Vegetation storage
The storage of water in vegetation, including processes like absorption and retention in plant tissues and leaves.
Velocity
The speed that water travels in the river channel.
Vertical erosion
Downwards erosion that makes the river bed deeper. Occurs mainly in steep, rocky, upland areas. The geology of the river bed will affect the speed at which this occurs.
Vertical farming
Farming on vertical surfaces rather than traditional, horizontal agriculture. By using vertically stacked layers, farmers can produce much more food on the same amount of land (or even less). Often these layers are integrated into buildings such as skyscrapers, housed in warehouses or shipping containers, greenhouses, or placed in spaces that would otherwise be unfit for farming.
Virtual water
Virtual water, also called “embedded water” or “indirect water,” is the water “hidden” in the products, services and processes people buy and use every day. Although virtual water goes unseen by the end-user of a product or service, that water has been consumed throughout the value chain, which makes creation of that product or service possible.
Voluntary migration
Refers to the movement of individuals or groups who choose to relocate, typically motivated by personal factors, economic opportunities, or improved quality of life.
Vulnerability
The conditions determined by physical, social, economic and environmental factors or processes which increase the susceptibility of an individual, a community, assets or systems to the impacts of hazards.
Wadi
Typically lacking a stream but occasionally experiencing a surge of water (flash flood) for a brief period following heavy rainfall, a steep-sided ravine is found in desert and semi-desert regions.
Wasting
Defined as low weight-for-height. It often indicates recent and severe weight loss, although it can also persist for a long time. It usually occurs when a person has not had food of adequate quality and quantity and/or they have had frequent or prolonged illnesses. Wasting in children is associated with a higher risk of death if not treated properly.
Water footprint
The water footprint of an individual, community or business is defined as the total volume of fresh water used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business.
Water quality
Water full of dirt and grime might work fine for a tomato plant but would you want to drink it? Water quality can be thought of as a measure of the suitability of water for a particular use based on selected physical, chemical, and biological characteristics.
Water quantity
The amount of available water.
Water security
Continuing access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
Water table
The upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated.
Water vapour
The gaseous form of water present in the atmosphere, resulting from evaporation or transpiration processes.
Water-borne diseases
Contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio. Absent, inadequate, or inappropriately managed water and sanitation services expose individuals to preventable health risks.
Waterfall
A steep fall of river water where its course is markedly and suddenly interrupted.
Watershed
The boundary of a drainage basin
Weather forecasting
The scientific analysis of atmospheric conditions, such as temperature, humidity, wind patterns, and air pressure, to predict the short-term and immediate future state of the Earth's atmosphere in a specific geographic location.
Weathering
The disintegration and decomposition of rocks in situ by the combined actions of the weather, plants and animals.
West Nile fever
An infection by the West Nile virus, which is typically spread by mosquitoes. In about 80% of infections people have few or no symptoms. About 20% of people develop a fever, headache, vomiting, or a rash. In less than 1% of people, encephalitis or meningitis occurs, with associated neck stiffness, confusion, or seizures. Recovery may take weeks to months. The risk of death among those in whom the nervous system is affected is about 10 percent.
Westernization
A process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, economics, lifestyle, law, norms, mores, customs, traditions, values, mentality, perceptions, diet, clothing, language, writing system, religion, and philosophy.
Wetland
areas where water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the surface of the soil all year or for varying periods of time during the year, including during the growing season. Water saturation largely determines how the soil develops and the types of plant and animal communities living in and on the soil.
Wetted perimeter
The total length of the bed and bank sides in contact with the water in the channel.
Wetting and drying
Rocks containing clay minerals, such as clays and shales. When wet minerals expand in volume, when dry, the minerals shrink. Repeated cycles of expansion and contraction eventually cause the rock to fragment and crumble.
Zone of saturation
The area below the earth's surface where all the spaces and fractures in the soil and rock are filled with water.
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