Environment
Environment
7 environmental issues>climate change>natural disasters terms
This glossary contains seven terms related to natural disasters whose intensity or frequency are influenced by climate change.
- cyclone
- noun
- Atmospheric system characterized by the rapid inward circulation of air masses about a low-pressure center, usually accompanied by stormy, often destructive weather. Cyclones circulate counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. Source: Glossary by BeSafeNet - European Centre for Disaster Awareness.
- Example: At least two people died in the cyclone, which crossed western Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane Tuesday en route to Florida, authorities said — Ellen Francis, Washington Post, 28 Sep. 2022. Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
- fr: cyclone
- drought
- noun
- A period of deficiency of moisture in the soil such that there is inadequate water required for plants, animals and human beings. Source: Glossary by BeSafeNet - European Centre for Disaster Awareness.
- Example: The drought caused serious damage to crops. Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
- fr: sécheresse
- floods
- noun
- Water temporary covering land that is usually not covered in water. This includes floods caused by rivers, mountain springs, Mediterranean – type water streams and floods inflicted to coastal areas by the sea, and excluding floods caused by sewer systems. Source: Glossary by BeSafeNet - European Centre for Disaster Awareness.
- Example: Floods are extremely devastating in poor villages.
- fr: inondations
- heat wave
- noun
- A period of abnormally hot and/or unusually humid weather. Typically a heat wave lasts two or more days. Source: EM-DAT Glossary by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters - CRED.
- Example: But those extremes don’t do justice to what is shaping up to be the most brutal September heat wave in California history, expected to last nine days. — Anchorage Daily News, 7 Sep. 2022. Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
- fr: canicule
- hurricane
- noun
- A tropical cyclone, formed in the atmosphere over warm ocean; areas, in which wind speeds reach 74 miles per hour (119 km/h) or more, and blow in a large spiral around a relatively calm center or “eye”. Circulation is counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. Hurricane severity is defined by categories from I to V. Source: Glossary by BeSafeNet - European Centre for Disaster Awareness.
- Example: Some parts of the region experienced rain early Monday as remnants of Tropical Storm Roslyn, which had been a hurricane in the Pacific, moved into South Central Texas. — Shepard Price, San Antonio Express-News, 24 Oct. 2022. Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
- fr: ouragan
- storm
- noun
- Wind with a speed between 48 and 55 knots (88 and 101 km/h) (Beaufort scale wind force 10). Source: Glossary by BeSafeNet - European Centre for Disaster Awareness.
- Example: The sky got dark and it looked like a storm was coming. Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
- fr: tempête
- wildfire
- noun
- Any uncontrolled and non-prescribed combustion or burning of plants in a natural setting such as a forest, grassland, brush land or tundra, which consumes the natural fuels and spreads based on environmental conditions. Source: EM-DAT Glossary by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters - CRED.
- Example: The recent wildfires were made worse by the strong winds. Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
- fr: incendie de forêt