Glossary
Aerosol process that in turn influences the first one. A positive feed-
A collection of minute airborne solid or liquid particles, either back intensifies the original process, and a negative feedback
natural or anthropogenic in origin, which can affect the climate reduces it.
in several ways.
Meridional overturning cirulation
Anthropogenic A large-scale north-south movement of water. In the Atlantic
Caused by human as distinct from natural activities. such a circulation carries relatively warm near-surface water
north and relatively cold deep water south. The Gulf Stream is
Carbon capture part of this Atlantic circulation.
Also known as carbon sequestration, or CCS: a technology for
trapping carbon and storage emissions and storing them in sub- Mitigation potential
terranean or undersea rocks. The amount of climate mitigation that could be achieved, but so
far is not. Market potential is based on private costs; economic
Carbon cycle potential takes into account social factors; technical potential is
The way carbon flows through the atmosphere, oceans, on land the mitigation achievable by using a technology or process that
and in rocks. has already been demonstrated.
CO
2
equivalence Radiative forcing
A way of measuring the climate impact of all greenhouse gases The change (relative to 1750, taken as the start of the industrial
in a standard form. Because they vary in their ability to trap heat era) in the difference between the amount of heat entering the
in the atmosphere, and in the length of time they remain in the atmosphere and that leaving it. A positive forcing tends to warm
atmosphere, the effect of each gas is expressed in terms of an the Earth, a negative one to cool it.
equivalent amount of carbon dioxide.
Scenario
F-gases A plausible and often simplified description of how the future
Three of the six GHGs limited under the Kyoto Protocol: hy- may develop, based on a coherent and internally consistent set
drofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride. of assumptions: a set of working hypotheses about how society
may develop, and what this will mean for the climate.
Feedback
An interaction between processes in the climate system, when Singularity
the result of an initial process triggers changes in a second Something singular, distinct, peculiar, uncommon or unusual.
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