Glossary of climate change
This article serves as a glossary of the most common terms and how they are used. Fairly obvious terms with wiki articles are simply linked.
The glossary used by the IPCC [1] is a useful reference.
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A
- Antarctic oscillation (AAO)
- Anthropogenic: literally, man-made: but avoids the uncomfortable use of "man" to mean "men and women".
- Anthropogenic climate change: climate change with the presumption of human influence, usually warming
- Arctic oscillation (AO): see NAO
- Atmospheric sciences
- Attribution: see attribution of recent climate change: the study of what has caused climate change
B
- Black carbon - an aerosol - see also radiative forcing
C
- Carbon sequestration - Proposals for removing CO2 from the atmosphere, or for preventing CO2 from fossil fuel use ever being released.
- Carbon tax
- Climate
- Climate commitment studies - How much future warming is "committed", even if greenhouse gas levels do not rise.
- Climate change - changes of climate in general, usually with no presumption of human influence. Note, however, that there is one important exception to this: the UNFCCC defines "climate change" as anthropogenic [2].
- Climate variability - climate change, with definitely no presumption of cause.
- Cloud
D
- Detection and attribution - see attribution of recent climate change
E
F
G
- Global cooling - the possibility of cooling, mostly about the 1970's
- Global dimming - the observed decrease in surface insolation, that may have recently reversed
- Global warming — usually: the warming trend over the past century or so; also: any period in which the temperature of the earth's atmosphere increases; also the theory of such changes.
- Global warming controversy — socio-political issues surrounding the theory of global warming.
- Global warming period - any period in which the temperature of the earth's atmosphere increases
- Global warming potential
- Greenhouse effect — both natural and anthropogenic
- Greenhouse gases — cause the greenhouse effect
- Gulf Stream
H
- Historical temperature record - see temperature record
- Holocene
- Holocene Climatic Optimum
I
- Ice age
- Ice core
- Impact of global climate changes on agriculture
- Instrumental temperature record - quasi-global since 1850
- Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) - a cycle of 15-30 years between warm or cool waters in the north and south Pacific.
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- Intertropical convergence zone - belt of low pressure caused by the convergence of warm, moist air from the latitudes above and below the equator.
K
- Kyoto Protocol - modification to UNFCCC
L
M
- Maunder Minimum
- Mauna Loa: home to the longest instrumental CO2 record
- Medieval climate optimum: warm period from about the 10th century to about the 14th century
- Meteorology: some of the basic science underlying climate
- Methane: a GHG
N
- US National Assessment on Climate Change
- North Atlantic Deep Water: one of the water masses of the ocean
- North Atlantic oscillation: an atmospheric climate mode
O
- Ozone depletion: not strongly connected to climate change
P
- Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) - a 23-year pattern of warm or cool water in the north Pacific.
- Parameterization
- Phenology
- Proxy - a variable that can be related to one of interest (e.g. tree rings can be proxies for temperature variations)
Q
R
- radiative forcing
- runaway greenhouse effect — somewhat ill-defined term, associated with the idea of large irreversible temperature rises
S
- Satellite temperature measurements - since 1979
- Scientific opinion on climate change
- Sea level rise
- Solar variation
- Sunspot
T
U
- Urban heat island
- United Kingdom Climate Change Programme
- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change