Climate

Adjustment to a new or changing environment.

A measure of a surface’s ability to reflect sunlight, often expressed as a decimal fraction on a scale of 0 to 1.

Resulting from human activities.

The buying and selling of permits to pollute; also known as emissions trading.

Technology which removes carbon dioxide from industrial processes and stores it underground or under the ocean floor.

The climate impact of a greenhouse gas expressed as the tons of carbon dioxide that would result in the same impact; determined by multiplying the tons of the given gas by its global warming potential.

Living or doing business in a way which results in no net carbon emissions; also known as climate neutral.

The removal and storage of carbon in a carbon sink through biological or physical processes.

A significant change in measures of climate such as temperature, precipitation, and wind lasting for an extended period of time; can result from natural processes or human activity.

The climate change that would still occur even with no further human influence, resulting from greenhouse gases already emitted.

Living or doing business in a way which results in no net climate impact; also known as climate neutral.

A molecule composed of two atoms.

The buying and selling of permits to pollute; also known as cap and trade.

A circular mechanism in which the result of an initial process triggers changes in a second process that in turn influence the initial process. An interaction which increases or amplifies the original change is called positive feedback; an interaction which decreases the original change is called negative feedback.

An average increase in the temperature of the atmosphere near the Earth’s surface.

A ratio that indicates the greenhouse effect of a particular gas relative to that of the same quantity of carbon dioxide over a fixed period of time, usually 100 years.

The warming of a planet’s surface as a result of certain atmospheric gases which absorb some of the infrared solar radiation that would otherwise escape into space and re-radiate this energy back to the surface.

A gas that absorbs infrared radiation in the atmosphere; greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and others.

Regularly recurring changes in the tilt of Earth’s axis, precession of Earth’s axis, and eccentricity of Earth’s orbit which influence cycles of cooling and warming climate.

Measures undertaken to minimize the extent or impact of a problem such as climate change.

The condition in which the amount of CO2 entering the atmosphere equals the amount that is removed.

A voluntary payment made to reduce pollution or emissions at one location in order to compensate for an equal quantity of pollution or emissions at another location.

Parts per billion; the number of parts of a chemical found in one billion parts of a particular gas, liquid, or solid mixture.

Parts per million; the number of parts of a chemical found in one million parts of a particular gas, liquid, or solid mixture.

An indicator which stands in for another measurement.

The removal and storage of an element such as carbon in a sink through biological or physical processes.