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Glossary 499knowledge. Two primary types of uncertainty are ‘value uncertainties’ and ‘structuraluncertainties’. Value uncertainties arise from the incomplete determination of particularvalues or results, for example, when data are inaccurate or not fully representative of thephenomenon of interest. Structural uncertainties arise from an incomplete understandingof the processes that control particular values or results, for example, when the conceptualframework or model used for analysis does not include all the relevant processesor relationships. Value uncertainties are generally estimated using statistical techniquesand expressed probabilistically. Structural uncertainties are generally described by givingthe authors’ collective judgment of their confidence in the correctness of a result.upwelling – the rising of a layer of water to the surface; upwelling is important in the ElNiño Southern Oscillation, where upwelling of cool or warm water can change the stateof surface water temperature and trigger an El Niño or La Niña episode; it is also importantto fish species, who often migrate to nutrient-rich upwelled coastal watersurban domes – pockets of increased ozone, carbon dioxide, and particulate matter presentin air above urban spacesurban land – developed land where the housing density is greater than one unit per 2.5acresurban metabolism – the total urban system flow of materials, resources, energy, andoutputs in the form of wasteurban-wildland interface – transitional zone between developed land and unoccupiedland; this interface is important in the start and spread or impact of wildfires near urbanareasvalley fever – coccidioidomycosis, a disease that occurs almost exclusively in Arizona andCalifornia, caused by the inhalation of a soil-dwelling fungusvector – an organism such as a mosquito that transmits disease from one host to anotherVIC model – a macroscale, distributed, physically based hydrologic model that balancesboth surface energy and water over a grid mesh; the VIC model is used in many hydrologicstudies of the potential impacts of climate changevulnerability – “a function of character, magnitude and rate of climate change to whicha system is exposed, as well as the system’s sensitivity and adaptive capacity” (NRC2010).water cycle – The natural transport of water in all its states from the atmosphere to theearth and back to the atmosphere through various processes. These processes include:precipitation, infiltration, percolation, evaporation, transpiration, and condensation.water transfer – the transfer of water to different uses, different sectors, or across jurisdictionallineswave run-up – the maximum vertical extent of the rush of a wave onto a beach or astructure above the still water level; wave run-up is an important factor in determiningthe extent of beach erosionwet warming scenario – a climate scenario in which the climate becomes wetter (moreprecipitation) as well as warmer