Entries
Dictionary on climate. Click specific word to get more information on the subject.
- 100000-year problem
- A difference in the actual glaciation and what would be expected considering the…
- Absorption
- When Solar radiation is transformed into heat in the lower atmosphere and on the…
- Adaptation
- Process by which an organism tracks its environment over generations. For…
- Adaptation to global warming
- Actions and strategies intended to minimize the effects that global warming will…
- Aerosol
- Solid particles or liquid droplets suspended in a gas. Aerosols can be found in…
- Agriculture
- Climate and weather have always been important to farmers. With the growing human…
- Albedo
- The fraction of sunlight an object or material reflects. Albedo measures what part…
- Annual cycle
- Progression of the seasons through the year. If there was no climate change then a…
- Anthropogenic
- Made by humans or caused by human activity. Anthropogenic effects often arise as by…
- Arctic amplification (Polar amplification)
- More pronounced climate change near the North Pole compared to the rest of the…
- Arctic shrinkage
- A decrease in the amount of Arctic sea ice and the melting of the Greenland Ice…
- Atmosphere
- The layer of gases that surrounds a planet. The gases of the atmosphere are held in…
- Biodiversity
- Variety of animals, plants and other forms of life. The word is shorthand for…
- Biofuel
- Fuel made from biomass. A biofuel can be a liquid, a solid or a gas. Biofuels can…
- Biomass
- Living and recently dead biological material. In the context of climate change it…
- Biosphere
- The sum of and interaction between all living beings. The biosphere is the global…
- Carbon credit
- A way for industries to compensate for a failure to keep below their emission…
- Carbon cycle
- The movement of carbon through biological, atmospheric, chemical and geological…
- Carbon dioxide (CO2)
- Molecule made up of one carbon and two oxygen atoms. Carbon dioxide is a gas under…
- Carbon dioxide equivalent
- Measure for describing how much global warming a greenhouse gas may cause, using…
- Carbon footprint
- A measure of the amount of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases emitted by a…
- Carbon neutral
- Individual or organizations that offset their carbon emissions with corresponding…
- Carbon offset
- A way to make a process carbon neutral by compensating for an emission with a…
- Carbon sink
- Any process or material that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The ocean…
- Carbon tax
- A fee that has to be paid by a person, a company or a nation emitting CO2. When…
- Climate
- Average weather over a time period, usually 30 years. The climate is very complex.…
- Climate change
- Change in global climate over time. Climate change is measured by changes in…
- Climate change denial
- Opposition to the idea of climate change that is not based on evidence. Climate…
- Climate delay
- The expected future climatic impact of present day activities. It is often referred…
- Climate ethics
- Area that focuses on the impact climate change will have on human life and well-…
- Climate legislation
- Laws and regulation dealing with greenhouse gas emission or other activities that…
- Climate model
- A mathematical representation of the interaction between a planet's atmosphere and…
- Climate sensitivity
- The increase in temperature following a doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere. More…
- Climate skeptic
- A person or organization opposing the consensus on global warming. Climate skeptic…
- Climatology
- The study of climate. Climatology studies the atmosphere, circulation patterns,…
- Cloud feedback
- A negative feedback or a positive feedback where an initial rise in temperature…
- Conferences of the Parties (COP)
- Yearly meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC…
- COP-17
- Conference of the parties to be held in Durban, South Africa during from the 28th…
- Deforestation
- The systematic and continued removal of trees and bushes from an area of land.…
- Ecosystem
- A community of plants, animals and microorganisms, and the non-living environment…
- El Niño
- An ocean-atmosphere phenomenon in the tropical Pacific that occurs at irregular…
- Emission
- The release of a pollutant, normally a gas, into the atmosphere. In the context of…
- Emissions trading
- A system that tries to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by creating a market…
- Evapotranspiration
- The sum of evaporation and plant transpiration, which add water vapor to the…
- Forcing
- External factor that influences climate or a climate model. Generally forcing is…
- Fossil fuel
- Energy resources such as crude oil, natural gas and coal formed from the remains of…
- General Circulation Models (GCMs)
- The most important parts of a climate model. General Circulation Model is often…
- Glaciation
- The formation and growth of glaciers. Glaciation is also sometimes used instead of…
- Glacier
- A mass of ice that has become so heavy that it deforms and starts to slowly move.…
- Global cooling
- A global decrease in temperatures resulting in glaciation. The climate has changed…
- Global warming
- The warming of the oceans and of the atmosphere near the Earth's surface. The…
- Global warming controversy
- A disagreement of the nature, the causes and the consequences of global warming.…
- Global warming potential
- A measure of how much a greenhouse gas contributes to global warming. The global…
- Greenhouse effect
- Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that prevent heat from escaping into space. The…
- Greenhouse gas
- Gas in the atmosphere that prevents the Earth's heat radiation from escaping into…
- Greenland Ice Core Project
- A project with the objective of getting information about past climates by…
- Gulf Stream
- A warm ocean current that flows out of the Gulf of Mexico, and continues up along…
- Hypothesis
- A scientific hypothesis is a proposed explanation of a phenomenon that can be…
- Ice age
- A period of time with temperatures low enough for ice sheets to form and…
- Ice core
- A cylindrical sample of ice, typically from the ice sheets of Antarctica and…
- Industrial Revolution
- The shift from an economy driven by manual labor and agriculture to one driven by…
- Inland ice
- An ice sheet covering about 80 percent of the island of Greenland. The largest mass…
- Insolation
- Solar radiation (sunlight) received on a surface. Insolation is often expressed as…
- IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- An United Nations organization that makes assessments about the climate based on…
- Keeling Curve
- A graph showing the rising atmospheric content of carbon dioxide, CO2. The curve is…
- Kyoto Protocol
- An international agreement linked to the environmental treaty United Nations…
- Meteorology
- The study of the atmosphere and specifically the weather, which involves studying…
- Methane
- A greenhouse gas produced both naturally and by humans. Chemical formula: CH4. Ice…
- Migration
- When animals or people move from one area to another. Usually migration is a…
- Milankovitch cycles
- The cyclic changes in climate caused by variations in Earth's rotation and orbit.…
- Mitigation of global warming
- Strategies and actions intended to limit future global warming. Mitigation of…
- Natural climate oscillations
- Natural repeating variations in the climate. An oscillation is a repetitive…
- Negative feedback
- When a change in a system leads to a process that reduces that change. Negative…
- Ozone
- A molecule made of three oxygen atoms, also called trioxygen, O3. Ozone is present…
- Ozone layer
- A layer in the atmosphere rich in ozone, which prevents ultraviolet rays from…
- Paleoclimatology
- The study of past climate conditions on Earth. Knowing about past climate changes…
- Permafrost
- Soil or rock frozen for a period of at least two years. Permafrost can develop in…
- Photosynthesis
- The process by which some, photosynthetic, organisms use the energy of sunlight to…
- Polar city (Lovelock Retreats)
- A city build to house the last human survivors in a worst case scenario of global…
- Pollen analysis
- The study of plant pollen, fossil and living, for identifying vegetation changes.…
- Positive feedback
- When a change in the state of a system, for example the climate, leads to…
- Precipitation
- Condensation of atmospheric water vapor that returns to the Earth's surface as rain…
- Quota
- The amount of greenhouse gas that a nation is allowed to emit into the atmosphere…
- Renewable energy
- Energy sources that renew naturally. In terms of human time, renewable energy…
- Respiration
- The process by which cells of living organisms gain energy by breaking down…
- Scientific consensus
- A general agreement in the scientific community regarding a particular issue.…
- Sea level (Eustasy)
- The height of the sea surface relative to the land. Eustasy is the rise and fall of…
- Solar radiation (sunlight)
- All the electromagnetic radiation coming from the Sun. Some of the Sun's radiation…
- Solar variation
- Changes in the amount of radiation from the Sun. The Sun changes over time, and…
- Stern Review
- The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change is a report published in 2006…
- Sunspot
- Area on the Sun that appears dark, because it is cooler than the rest of the…
- Sustainable development
- 'Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without…
- Temperature
- A measurement of the internal energy of a system. There are three standard…
- Temperature record
- A collection of temperature measurements of various time spans. Used for showing…
- Thermohaline circulation
- Circulation of the oceans driven by differences in water salinity and temperature.…
- Tipping point
- A point where even a small additional temperature increase will lead to dramatic…
- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
- An international treaty produced in 1992 at the “Rio Earth Summit”. The purpose of…
- Urban heat island
- An urban region that is warmer than nearby surrounding rural areas. Caused by…
- Volcanic activity
- The past, current, and future eruptive activity of a volcano. A volcano can be…
- Water cycle
- Describes the way water on Earth moves through a series of states and steps in an…
- Water vapor
- Water in its gaseous state. Water has three states: ice, liquid and vapor. Clouds…