Climate Terms (A)

Abrupt Climate Change :

A large-scale change in the climate system that takes place over a few deca ...

Access to Food :

One of the three components underpinning food security, the other two being ...

Acclimatization :

A change in functional or morphological traits occurring once or repeatedly ...

adaptability :

See Adaptive capacity.

adaptation :

The process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects. In ...

Adaptation Assessment :

The practice of identifying options to adapt to climate change and evaluati ...

Adaptation Constraint :

Factors that make it harder to plan and implement adaptation actions or tha ...

Adaptation Deficit :

The gap between the current state of a system and a state that minimizes ad ...

Adaptation Limit :

The point at which an actor’s objectives (or system needs) cannot be secure ...

Adaptation Needs :

The circumstances requiring action to ensure safety of populations and secu ...

Adaptation Opportunity :

Factors that make it easier to plan and implement adaptation actions, that ...

Adaptation Options :

The array of strategies and measures that are available and appropriate for ...

Adaptive Capacity :

The ability of systems, institutions, humans, and other organisms to adjust ...

Adaptive Management :

A process of iteratively planning, implementing, and modifying strategies f ...

Aggregate Impacts :

Total impacts integrated across sectors and/or regions. The aggregation of ...

Ancillary Benefits :

See Co-benefits.

anomaly :

The deviation of a variable from its value averaged over a reference period ...

Anthropogenic :

Resulting from or produced by human activities.

Anthropogenic Emissions :

Emissions of greenhouse gases, greenhouse gas precursors, and aerosols caus ...

Arctic Oscillation :

The Arctic oscillation (AO) or Northern Annular Mode/Northern Hemisphere An ...

arid zone :

Areas where vegetation growth is severely constrained due to limited water ...

Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation/Variability :

A multi-decadal (65- to 75-year) fluctuation in the North Atlantic, in whic ...

Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Model :

See Climate model.

Attribution :

See Detection and attribution.

Autonomous Adaptation :

Adaptation in response to experienced climate and its effects, without plan ...