Human Impact on the Biosphere

Air Pollution

Thermal inversion: trapping of a layer of dense, cool ari beneath a layer of warm air
Industrial smog: polluted, gray-colored air that forms above industrialized cities during cold, wet winters
Photochemical smog: polluted, brown, smelly, air that forms above large cities with many gas-burning vehicles during warm weather

Dry acid deposition: fine particles of of oxides may briefly stay airborne, then fall to Earth
Acid rain: wet acid deposition, falling of rain or snow rich in sulfur and nitrogen oxides

Ozone thinning is the pronounced seasonal thinning of the atmosphere's ozone layer, especially above the Earth's polar regions.

Deforestation is the removal of all trees from large tracts of land for logging, agriculture, and grazing operations.

Desertification is the name for the conversion of large tracts of natural grasslands to a more desert like condition.

Desalinization: removal of salt from seawater
Salinization: salt buildup in soil by evaporation, poor drainage, and heavy irrigation
Wastewater treatment: primary-screens and settling tanks remove sludge, which is dried, burned, dumped in landfills, or treated further; secondary- microbial populations break down organic matter after primary treatment but before chlorination; tertiary- adequately reduces pollution but is largely experimental and expensive

Fossil fuels: coal, petroleum, or natural gas; a nonrenewable energy source that formed long ago from the remains of swam forests
Meltdown: when nuclear fuel undergoes radioactive decay, it releases considerable heat
Solar-hydrogen energy
Wind farms: where prevailing travel faster than 7.5 meters per second
Fusion power: sun's gravitational force is enough to compress atomic nuclei to high densities, and its temperatures are high enough to force atomic nuclei to fuse