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Glossary beginning with C

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Climate

Climate in a narrow sense is usually defined as the average weather, or more rigorously, as the statistical description in terms of the mean and variability of relevant quantities over a period of time ranging from months to thousands or millions of years. The classical method for averaging these variables is 30 years, as defined by the World Meteorological Organization. The relevant quantities are most often surface variables such as temperature, precipitation and wind. Climate in a wider sense is the state, including a statistical description, of the climate system.

[IPCC Fourth Assessment, Working Group I, Appendix I Glossary, p. 942]

Climate Change

Climate change refers to a change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g., by using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties, and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer. Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings, or to persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use. Note that the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in its Article 1, defines climate change as: ‘a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods’. The UNFCCC thus makes a distinction between climate change attributable to human activities altering the atmospheric composition, and climate variability attributable to natural causes.

[IPCC Fourth Assessment, Working Group I, Appendix I Glossary, p. 943]

Climate Model

A numerical representation of the climate system based on the physical, chemical, and biological properties of its components, their interactions and feedback processes, and accounting for all or some of its known properties. The climate system can be represented by models of varying complexity (i.e., for any one component or combination of components a hierarchy of models can be identified, differing in such aspects as the number of spatial dimensions, the extent to which physical, chemical, or biological processes are explicitly represented, or the level at which empirical parameterizations are involved. Coupled atmosphere/ocean/sea-ice General Circulation Models (AOGCMs) provide a comprehensive representation of the climate system. More complex models include active chemistry and biology. Climate models are applied, as a research tool, to study and simulate the climate, but also for operational purposes, including monthly, seasonal, and interannual climate predictions.

[IPCC Fourth Assessment, Working Group II, Appendix I Glossary, p. 872]

Climate Prediction

A climate prediction or climate forecast is the result of an attempt to produce an estimate of the actual evolution of the climate over seasonal, inter-annual or long-term time scales. Since the future evolution of the climate system may be highly sensitive to initial conditions, such predictions are usually probabilistic in nature.

[IPCC Fourth Assessment, Working Group I, Appendix I Glossary, p. 943]

Climate Projection

A projection of the response of the climate system to emission or concentration scenarios of greenhouse gases and aerosols,or radiative forcing scenarios, often based upon simulations by climate models. Climate projections are distinguished from climate predictions in order to emphasize that climate projections depend upon the emission/concentration scenario used, based on assumptions about future socioeconomic and technological developments.

[IPCC Fourth Assessment, Working Group I, Appendix I Glossary, p. 943]

Climate Scenario

A plausible and often simplified representation of the future climate, based on an internally consistent set of climatological relationships constructed for an investigation into the potential consequences of anthropogenic climate change, often serving as input to impact models. Climate projections often serve as the raw material for constructing climate scenarios but climate scenarios usually require additional information, such as observation data on the current climate. A climate change scenario is the difference between a climate scenario and the current climate.

[IPCC Fourth Assessment, Working Group I, Appendix I Glossary, p. 943]

Climate System

The climate system is the highly complex system consisting of five major components: the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the land surface and the biosphere, and the interactions between them. The climate system evolves in time under the influence of its own internal dynamics and because of external forcings such as volcanic eruptions, solar variations and anthropogenic forcings such as the changing composition of the atmosphere and land use change.

[IPCC Fourth Assessment, Working Group I, Appendix I Glossary, p. 943-944]

Climate Variability

Climate variability refers to variations in the mean state and other statistics (such as standard deviations, the occurrence of extremes, etc.) of the climate on all spatial and temporal scales beyond that of individual weather events. Variability may be due to natural internal processes within the climate system (internal variability), or to variations in natural or anthropogenic external forcing (external variability).

[IPCC Fourth Assessment, Working Group I, Appendix I Glossary, p. 944]

Cryosphere

The component of the climate system consisting of all snow, ice and frozen ground (including permafrost) on and beneath the surface of the Earth and ocean.

[IPCC Fourth Assessment, Working Group I, Appendix I Glossary, p. 944]