Today I'm going to begin a glossary of important climate terms, since I tend to use climate jargon without really thinking about it. Obviously, I'm doing this because it is vital to your understanding of climate change, not because the new Dr. Who episode is online now and I want to write a quick blog so I can watch it at a reasonable time. Certainly not.
A
Abrupt Climate Change - Referring to the very sudden change in temperature we see over the last 50 years, rather than a general slow increase. It's important to get a handle on timescales here; For example, we cannot be heading into an ice age for the next 200 years, because we're already in one that has lasted for 2.58 million years
Adaption - An attempt to deal with the problems of a warming planet, rather than sticking your head in the sand and screaming that it's all a conspiracy. Unless of course you're trying to cool down your head, because suddenly you live in a dessert. In which case sticking your head in the sand might be a good adaption policy.
Aerosol - Small particles or drops of liquid in the atmosphere that reflect and absorb sunlight, meaning the amount in the atmosphere dictates how much sunlight reaches the Earth's surface. Aerosols are a huge source of uncertainty in climate change, and a really important current area of study. It's therefore a bit of a shame talks on aerosols are usually more boring than watching sloths arm wrestle.
Albedo - How white something is. Albedo is usually used in the context of "what proportion of sunlight is reflected from the Earth back to space" because white stuff reflects sunlight better than black stuff. As a northern englishman, I'm so white my albedo is almost 1. Yo.
Anthropogenic - Humans did it. It's used a lot in climate circles, but you could use it pretty much anytime and be in context. "The cat was thrown out of the window, anthropogenically".
B
Biosphere - Life. the wonderful greenery of God's good Earth. All creatures great and small. Me. You. Humphrey the friendly Coelacanth.
Black Carbon effect - Because of Albedo (see A), black carbon on snow/ice absorbs more sunlight than the ice would, heating the planet further. Just another reason carbon based energy sources are so much fun to burn...
C
Carbon Dioxide - A gas representing a tiny percentage of the atmosphere, which human emissions have increased by around 25%. It's important because it's a greenhouse gas, reflecting outgoing sunlight back to the Earth's surface. I don't have a joke about that, really. You'll think of your own. I'm sure it'll be really good, I've heard you've got a great sense of humour.
Carbon Capture and Sequestration - A set of technologies which intend to decrease our Carbon Dioxide release while still burning our lovely fossil fuel blanket. Hurray!
Coral Bleaching - A stressed coral appears white, or bleached. What do corals have to stress about? Current events. Hahahaha. No, but seriously, usually it's the increasing pH and temperature of the oceans, caused by an increased concentration of carbon, which is destroying their natural habitat.
Cryosphere - The ice on the Earth's surface, which is of interest to climate scientists because large sections of it are melting. This is pretty critical since theoretically there is 80m of sea level contained in Antarctica alone, although this is a pretty useless stat since were in no danger of that melting within the foreseeable future. Also, "Cryosphere" sounds like the name of a terrible 90's gladiator.
Next time on Climate Glossary: what's deforestation planning? Who is this mysterious El Nino fellow and just what does he want? Does F still follow E? Stay tuned to find out.
