https://www.oneearthonechance.com/important-climate-terms.html
Here is a scientific list of 200 important climate terms with their definitions:
1. Greenhouse effect: The process by which greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, leading to warming of the Earth's surface.
2. Greenhouse gases: Gases that absorb and emit infrared radiation, including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and water vapor (H2O).
3. Carbon dioxide (CO2): The primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities, mainly from burning fossil fuels.
4. Global warming: The long-term increase in Earth's average surface temperature, primarily due to the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
5. Climate change: A long-term change in the Earth's climate, including changes in temperature, precipitation, and wind patterns.
6. Anthropogenic: Caused or influenced by human activities.
7. Fossil fuels: Non-renewable energy sources formed from the remains of ancient plants and animals, including coal, oil, and natural gas.
8. Renewable energy: Energy derived from sources that are replenished naturally, such as solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and biomass.
9. Carbon footprint: The total amount of greenhouse gases emitted by an individual, organization, or product, expressed in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents.
10. Carbon sink: A natural or artificial reservoir that absorbs and stores carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, such as forests, oceans, and soil.
11. Deforestation: The permanent removal of forests for other land uses, such as agriculture or urbanization.
12. Afforestation: The establishment of a forest in an area where there was no previous tree cover.
13. Reforestation: The replanting of trees in areas where forests have been removed or degraded.
14. Carbon sequestration: The process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in carbon sinks.
15. Ocean acidification: The decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans due to the absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
16. Sea level rise: The increase in the average level of the Earth's oceans due to thermal expansion and melting of land-based ice, such as glaciers and ice sheets.
17. Ice sheet: A large, continuous mass of land-based ice that covers an area greater than 50,000 square kilometers.
18. Glacier: A large, persistent body of ice that forms on land and moves under its own weight.
19. Permafrost: Soil, rock, or sediment that remains at or below 0°C for at least two consecutive years.
20. Methane hydrates: Ice-like crystals that form when methane gas is trapped within a lattice of water molecules, often found in permafrost and ocean sediments.
21. Albedo: The measure of a surface's reflectivity, or its ability to reflect solar radiation back into space.
22. Positive feedback: A process that amplifies the effects of climate change, such as the release of methane from thawing permafrost.
23. Negative feedback: A process that counteracts the effects of climate change, such as increased plant growth due to higher CO2 levels.
24. Tipping point: A critical threshold beyond which a system undergoes a significant and often irreversible change in response to a small perturbation.
25. Adaptation: Actions taken to adjust to the actual or expected impacts of climate change.
26. Mitigation: Actions taken to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases.
27. Resilience: The ability of a system to absorb disturbances while retaining its basic structure and function.
28. Vulnerability: The degree to which a system is susceptible to, or unable to cope with, the adverse effects of climate change.
29. Radiative forcing: The change in the net energy balance of the Earth system due to a change in an external driver, such as greenhouse gas concentrations or solar radiation.
30. Aerosols: Tiny solid or liquid particles suspended in the atmosphere that can have a cooling or warming effect on the climate, depending on their composition and size.
31. Black carbon: A type of aerosol produced by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuels, and biomass, which absorbs solar radiation and contributes to warming.
32. Ozone: A greenhouse gas found in the Earth's stratosphere that absorbs ultraviolet radiation, protecting life on Earth.
33. Ozone depletion: The reduction of ozone in the Earth's stratosphere due to the release of ozone-depleting substances, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
34. Stratosphere: The layer of the Earth's atmosphere above the troposphere, extending from about 10 to 50 kilometers above the surface.
35. Troposphere: The lowest layer of the Earth's atmosphere, extending from the surface to about 10 kilometers above the surface, where most weather phenomena occur.
36. Jet stream: A narrow band of strong winds in the upper atmosphere that influences weather patterns and the transport of heat and moisture.
37. El Niño: A periodic warming of the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean that affects global weather patterns, often leading to increased temperatures and changes in precipitation.
38. La Niña: A periodic cooling of the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean that affects global weather patterns, often leading to decreased temperatures and changes in precipitation.
39. Monsoon: A seasonal change in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea.
40. Desertification: The process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture.
41. Coral bleaching: The expulsion of symbiotic algae from coral tissue due to stress, such as increased water temperatures or ocean acidification, leading to the whitening and potential death of the coral.
42. Biodiversity: The variety of life on Earth, including the diversity of species, ecosystems, and genetic variation within species.
43. Ecosystem services: The benefits that humans derive from ecosystems, such as food, water, climate regulation, and recreation.
44. Phenology: The study of periodic biological events, such as the timing of plant flowering or animal migration, in relation to climatic conditions.
45. Invasive species: A non-native species that spreads rapidly and causes harm to native species, ecosystems, or human activities.
46. Keystone species: A species that plays a disproportionately large role in maintaining the structure and function of an ecosystem.
47. Ecological niche: The role and position of a species within an ecosystem, including its relationships with other species and its use of resources.
48. Biome: A large, naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat, such as a forest, desert, or tundra.
49. Carbon cycle: The biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the Earth's atmosphere, oceans, land, and living organisms.
50. Water cycle: The continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth, including evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, and runoff.
51. Nitrogen cycle: The biogeochemical cycle by which nitrogen is converted between various chemical forms, such as atmospheric nitrogen, nitrates, and organic compounds.
52. Phosphorus cycle: The biogeochemical cycle by which phosphorus moves through the environment, including weathering of rocks, uptake by organisms, and decomposition.
53. Eutrophication: The excessive growth of algae and aquatic plants due to an increase in nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, often leading to oxygen depletion and ecosystem degradation.
54. Ocean circulation: The large-scale movement of water in the Earth's oceans, driven by wind, density differences, and the Earth's rotation.
55. Thermohaline circulation: The part of the ocean circulation driven by density differences due to variations in temperature and salinity.
56. Meridional overturning circulation: A large-scale ocean circulation pattern that transports heat and salt between the surface and deep ocean, and between low and high latitudes.
57. Upwelling: The upward motion of deep, cold, nutrient-rich water to the ocean surface, often driven by wind or ocean currents.
58. Downwelling: The downward motion of surface water into the deep ocean, often driven by cooling or increased salinity.
59. Stratification: The formation of distinct layers in a water column due to differences in density, temperature, or salinity.
60. Mixed layer: The upper layer of the ocean that is well-mixed by wind and wave action, and has relatively uniform properties.
61. Thermocline: The region in a water column where temperature changes rapidly with depth, separating the mixed layer from the deep ocean.
62. Halocline: The region in a water column where salinity changes rapidly with depth.
63. Pycnocline: The region in a water column where density changes rapidly with depth, often coinciding with the thermocline or halocline.
64. Nutrient limitation: The restriction of primary productivity in an ecosystem due to the scarcity of one or more essential nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, or iron.
65. Primary production: The production of organic compounds from atmospheric or aqueous carbon dioxide, principally through photosynthesis.
66. Phytoplankton: Microscopic algae that drift in the upper layers of the ocean and form the base of many marine food webs.
67. Zooplankton: Small aquatic animals that drift in the water column and feed on phytoplankton or other zooplankton.
68. Benthic: Relating to or occurring on the bottom of a body of water.
69. Pelagic: Relating to or occurring in the open ocean, away from the bottom.
70. Coastal zone: The interface between land and sea, including estuaries, wetlands, beaches, and nearshore waters.
71. Intertidal zone: The area of the shoreline that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide.
72. Subtidal zone: The area of the shoreline that is permanently submerged.
73. Mangrove: A type of tree or shrub that grows in coastal saline or brackish water, forming dense thickets that provide important habitat and coastal protection.
74. Seagrass: A type of flowering plant that grows in shallow marine waters, forming meadows that provide habitat and stabilize sediments.
75. Salt marsh: A coastal wetland dominated by salt-tolerant plants, often flooded by tides and providing important habitat and nutrient cycling functions.
76. Estuary: A partially enclosed coastal body of water where freshwater from rivers and streams mixes with saltwater from the ocean.
77. Fjord: A long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between high cliffs, typically formed by glacial erosion.
78. Atoll: A ring-shaped coral reef, island, or series of islets surrounding a central lagoon.
79. Bathymetry: The measurement of water depth and the mapping of underwater topography.
80. Hypsometry: The measurement of land elevation and the distribution of land area at different elevations.
81. Isostatic adjustment: The vertical movement of the Earth's crust in response to changes in surface load, such as the melting of ice sheets or the deposition of sediments.
82. Subsidence: The gradual settling or sudden sinking of the Earth's surface due to natural or anthropogenic causes, such as groundwater extraction or mining.
83. Plate tectonics: The theory that describes the large-scale motion of the Earth's lithosphere, including the formation, movement, and interaction of continental and oceanic plates.
84. Subduction: The process by which one tectonic plate moves under another and sinks into the Earth's mantle.
85. Volcanic eruption: The ejection of lava, ash, and gases from a volcano, often influenced by the interaction of magma with groundwater or surface water.
86. Earthquake: The shaking of the Earth's surface caused by the sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere, often triggered by the movement of tectonic plates.
87. Tsunami: A series of ocean waves generated by a sudden displacement of water, typically caused by an earthquake, landslide, or volcanic eruption.
88. Geomorphology: The study of the Earth's surface features and the processes that shape them, including erosion, deposition, and tectonic activity.
89. Weathering: The breakdown of rocks, soils, and minerals through physical, chemical, or biological processes.
90. Erosion: The removal and transport of rock, soil, or sediment by water, wind, ice, or gravity.
91. Deposition: The settling of eroded material, such as sediment or organic matter, onto the Earth's surface.
92. Sediment transport: The movement of solid particles, such as sand, silt, or clay, by water, wind, or ice.
93. Soil formation: The process by which rock is broken down and transformed into soil through weathering, organic matter accumulation, and other pedogenic processes.
94. Soil carbon: The carbon stored in soils, including organic matter and inorganic carbonates, which can be a significant component of the global carbon cycle.
95. Soil erosion: The detachment and transport of soil particles by water, wind, or tillage, which can lead to land degradation and reduced agricultural productivity.
96. Desertification: The process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture.
97. Salinization: The accumulation of salts in soils or water to levels that impact plant growth, soil structure, or water quality.
98. Groundwater recharge: The process by which water moves from the surface into the saturated zone of an aquifer.
99. Groundwater depletion: The reduction in the volume of groundwater stored in an aquifer due to extraction rates that exceed recharge rates.
100. Water scarcity: The lack of sufficient available water resources to meet the demands of water usage within a region, which can be influenced by climate change, population growth, and land use practices.
101. Carbon neutral: A state where the net carbon emissions are equal to zero, typically achieved by balancing emissions with carbon removal or offsetting.
102. Net-zero emissions: The balance between the amount of greenhouse gas produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere.
103. Climate adaptation: Adjusting practices, processes, and structures of systems to reduce potential damage or to benefit from opportunities associated with climate change.
104. Climate mitigation: Efforts to reduce or prevent the emission of greenhouse gases, aiming at minimizing the pace and magnitude of changes in global climate.
105. Climate resilience: The capability of a system, community, or society to cope with the hazardous effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes.
106. Decarbonization: The process of reducing carbon dioxide emissions through lower use of fossil fuels and transition to renewable energy sources.
107. Emission trading schemes (ETS): Market-based approaches to controlling pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants.
108. Global climate models (GCMs): Computer models that simulate the Earth's climate systems to project future changes in climate based on different greenhouse gas concentration scenarios.
109. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): An international body assessing the science related to climate change to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments.
110. Kyoto Protocol: An international treaty that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the premises that global warming exists and human-made CO2 emissions have caused it.
111. Paris Agreement: An agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance starting in the year 2020.
112. Solar radiation management (SRM): Techniques intended to reflect sunlight to reduce global warming. Examples include injecting sulfur aerosols into the stratosphere.
113. Climate proxy: A source of data that can be used to infer past climate conditions, such as ice cores, tree rings, and sediment layers.
114. Drought: A prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall, leading to shortages of water.
115. Extreme weather: Unusual, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution.
116. Famine: Extreme scarcity of food caused by several factors including war, inflation, crop failure, population imbalance, or government policies, and compounded by climate factors.
117. Feed-in tariff: A policy mechanism designed to accelerate investment in renewable energy technologies by offering long-term contracts to renewable energy producers.
118. Geoengineering: Deliberate large-scale intervention in the Earth’s natural systems to counteract climate change.
119. Heat island: An urban area that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to human activities.
120. Hydrosphere: The combined mass of water found on, under, and above the surface of a planet.
121. Infrared radiation: Electromagnetic radiation with longer wavelengths than those of visible light, typically absorbed and emitted by greenhouse gases.
122. Jetty: A structure that projects from the land out into water, often used to influence currents and tides or for landing stages
123. Levee: An embankment built to prevent the overflow of a river.
124. Methane (CH4): A potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential many times that of carbon dioxide, largely emitted by sectors such as agriculture and waste management.
125. Non-renewable resource: A natural resource that cannot be readily replaced by natural means at a quick enough pace to keep up with consumption.
126. Ocean gyres: Large system of circular ocean currents formed by global wind patterns and forces created by Earth's rotation.
127. Peat: An accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter that is unique to natural areas called peatlands or mires.
128. Photovoltaic: Technology and systems that convert light into electrical energy using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect.
129. Radiative cooling: The process by which a body loses heat by radiation. Earth radiates energy to outer space primarily in the form of infrared light.
130. Smog: Fog or haze combined with smoke and other atmospheric pollutants.
131. Solar constant: The average amount of solar radiation that reaches the Earth's upper atmosphere on a plane perpendicular to the Sun's rays.
132. Tidal power: Form of hydropower that converts energy obtained from tides into useful forms of power, mainly electricity.
133. Urban sprawl: The uncontrolled expansion of urban areas.
134. Water vapor: Water in its gaseous state, particularly in the atmosphere and a major greenhouse gas.
135. Xeriscaping: Landscape design requiring minimal or no irrigation.
136. Younger Dryas: A temporary reversal to cold conditions during the warming trend following the Last Glacial Maximum, approximately 12,900 to 11,700 years ago.
137. Zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV): A vehicle that emits minimal or no exhaust gas from the onboard source of power.
138. Biocapacity: The capacity of an area or ecosystem to generate an ongoing supply of resources and absorb its wastes.
139. Cryosphere: The frozen water part of the Earth system.
140. Diurnal temperature variation: The variation between a high temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day.
141. Ecotourism: Tourism directed towards exotic, often threatened, natural environments, intended to support conservation efforts and observe wildlife.
142. Flash flood: A rapid flooding of low-lying areas, usually caused by intense rainfall over a relatively small area.
143. Green bond: A bond specifically earmarked to be used for climate and environmental projects.
144. Holocene: The current geological epoch, which began approximately 11,650 years before 2000, following the Last Glacial Maximum.
145. Insolation: The amount of solar radiation reaching a given area.
146. King tide: A non-scientific term people often use to describe exceptionally high tides.
147. Landfill gas: A complex mix of different gases created by the action of microorganisms within a landfill.
148. Microclimate: Climate of a small, specific place within area as contrasted with the climate of the entire area.
149. Nitrification: Biological oxidation of ammonia or ammonium to nitrite followed by the oxidation of the nitrite to nitrate.
150. Ocean acidification: Influx of atmospheric carbon dioxide into gerardinnistine.water body, resulting in a decrease in the pH levels.
151. Particulates: Also known as particulate matter (PM), these are microscopic solid or liquid matter suspended in the atmosphere.
152. Quaternary sector: Knowledge-based part of the economy which typically includes services such as information technology, information-generation and sharing, media, and research and development.
153. Renewable portfolio standard (RPS): Regulations that require increased production of energy from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal.
154. Stomatal conductance: The rate of passage of carbon dioxide entering, or water vapor exiting through the stomata of a leaf.
155. Thermal expansion: The tendency of matter to change in shape, area, and volume in response to a change in temperature.
156. Urban heat island (UHI): An urban or metropolitan area that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to human activities.
157. Vegetation albedo: The ratio of light that is reflected by surfaces covered with vegetation compared to the total sunlight that falls on them.
158. Water stress: The difficulty in obtaining sources of fresh water for use during a period of time; may result in further depletion and deterioration of available water resources.
159. Xylem: Vascular tissue in plants that conducts water and dissolved nutrients upward from the root.
160. Yield (agricultural): The amount of a crop produced in a given area.
161. Zooplankton: A heterogenous grouping of organisms, including small animals and the larval stages of larger animals.
162. Aerosol radiative forcing: Refers to the change in the Earth's energy balance attributable to the presence of aerosols in the atmosphere.
163. Biomass energy: Energy generated or produced by living or once-living organisms.
164. Carbon pricing: A method for decreasing global-warming emissions by charging emitters a fee per ton of carbon dioxide they emit.
165. Desert albedo: The ratio of the light reflected by desert surfaces compared to the total sunlight that falls on them.
166. Ecological forecasting: Predicting the state of ecosystems, biological communities, or individual species, as well as changes in these, under different scenarios of environmental change.
167. Fossil fuel divestment: The removal of investment assets including stocks, bonds, and investment funds from companies involved in extracting fossil fuels, aimed at reducing climate change by accelerating the adoption of renewable energy through the stigmatization of fossil fuel companies.
168. Green roof: A roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and soil, or a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane.
169. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs): Compounds containing only hydrogen, fluorine, and carbon. They are used in air conditioning and refrigeration as substitutes for ozone-depleting substances.
170. Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ): The region where the northeast and the southeast trade winds converge, a belt around the Earth extending approximately five degrees north and south of the equator.
171. Jet stream: A fast flowing, narrow air currents found in the atmosphere around 10 kilometers above the surface of the Earth, just under the tropopause.
172. Katabatic wind: A drainage wind that carries high-density air from a higher elevation down a slope under the force of gravity.
173. Land cover change: The change in the use or management of land, such as deforestation, desertification, land degradation, and loss of wetlands.
174. Methanogenesis: The formation of methane by microbes known as methanogens.
175. Nitrous oxide (N2O): A powerful greenhouse gas with a warming potential about 300 times that of carbon dioxide.
176. Ocean outgassing: The release of a gas that was dissolved, trapped, frozen, or absorbed in some material—in this case, the ocean.
177. Paleoclimatology: The study of past climates, prior to the widespread availability of records of temperature, precipitation, and other instrumental data.
178. Quota system: A system, often legislated, that enforces a minimum or maximum number of times a certain action can occur or a certain goal must be achieved.
179. Reactive nitrogen: Forms of nitrogen that are biologically active, chemically reactive, and/or radiatively active, including inorganic reduced forms (e.g., ammonia, ammonium), inorganic oxidized forms (e.g., nitrate), and organic compounds (urea, proteins, nucleic acids).
180. Solar gain: Increase in thermal energy of a space, object, or structure as it absorbs incident solar radiation.
181. Tipping elements: Large-scale components of the Earth system that may pass a tipping point, a threshold for abrupt and irreversible change.
182. Ultraviolet radiation: Electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light but longer than X-rays.
183. Vapor pressure deficit: A measurement of the difference between the amount of moisture in the air and how much moisture the air can hold when it is saturated.
184. Watershed management: The process of formulating and carrying out a course of action involving the manipulation of resources in a watershed for the production of desired effects on water and land resources.
185. Xenobiotics: Chemical substances that are foreign to the biological system, including synthetic compounds such as pesticides and environmental pollutants which are not naturally produced by an organism.
186. Yield gap: The difference between potential crop yield (what can be achieved under the best conditions) and actual farm yield (what is presently achieved under a given set of conditions).
187. Zoonosis: Any infectious disease that can be transmitted (in some instances, by a vector) from non-human animals, both wild and domestic, to humans or from humans to animals (the latter is sometimes called reverse zoonosis).
188. Atmospheric river: A long, narrow region in the atmosphere that transports most of the water vapor outside of the tropics.
189. Biochar: A charcoal-like substance that's made by burning organic material from agricultural and forestry wastes (biomass) in controlled conditions.
190. Carbon capture and storage (CCS): Technologies or approaches that remove CO2 from the atmosphere and securely store it in underground geologic formations.
191. Degradation (environmental): The reduction of the capacity of the environment to meet social and ecological objectives and needs.
192. Ecosystem collapse: A situation where an ecosystem suffers a drastic, possibly permanent, reduction in its capacity for ecological functions.
193. Flux (environmental): The rate of movement of energy or mass in an area per unit of time.
194. Greenwashing: Disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image.
195. Humidity: The amount of water vapor present in the air.
196. Isohyet: A line on a map connecting points having the same amount of rainfall in a given period.
197. Joule Heating: The process by which the energy of an electric current is converted into heat as it passes through a resistor.
198. Kelp forest: Underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which are large seaweeds (algae).
199. Littoral zone: The part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore.
200. Mangrove swamp: Coastal wetlands that are found in tropical and subtropical regions and are inundated with saltwater.