Climate change refers to the variation in the Earth's global climate or regional climates over time. It describes changes in the variability or average state of the atmosphere - or average weather - over time scales ranging from decades to millions of years. These changes can come from internal processes, be driven by external forces or, most recently, be caused by human activities. In recent usage, especially in the context of environmental policy, the term "climate change" is often used to refer only to the ongoing changes in ...

Including:

Climate change - Climate change factors
Climate change - Variations within the Earth's climate Climate change - Non-climate factors driving climate Climate change - Human influences
Climate change - Interplay of factors Climate change - Examples of climate change

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Climate change, Climate change - Climate change factors, Climate change - Variations within the Earth's climate, Climate change - Non-climate factors driving climate, Climate change - Human influences, Climate change - Interplay of factors, Climate change - Examples of climate change

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If a certain forcing (for example, solar variation) acts to change the climate, then there may be mechanisms which act to amplify or reduce the effects. These are called positive and negative feedbacks. As far as is known, the climate system is generally stable with respect to these feedbacks: positive feedbacks do not "runaway". Part of the reason for this is the existence of a powerful negative feedback between temperature and emitted radiation, which ...

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Climate change, Climate change - Climate change factors, Climate change - Variations within the Earth's climate, Climate change - Non-climate factors driving climate, Climate change - Human influences, Climate change - Interplay of factors, Climate change - Examples of climate change

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Attribution of recent climate change attempts to discover what mechanisms are responsible for the observed changes in climate. The endeavour centers on the observed changes over the last century and in particular over the last 50 years, when observations are best and human influence greatest. Over the past 150 years human activities have released increasing quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that theory and climate models say should lead to increases in temperature - colloquially known as global warming. Other human effects are relevant—for example, sulph ...

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Attribution of recent climate change - Attribution of 20th century climate change
Attribution of recent climate change - Subsequent to the TAR
Attribution of recent climate change - Detection and Attribution Attribution of recent climate change - Scientific literature and opinion

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Business action on climate change includes a range of activities relating to combatting global warming, and to influencing political decisions on global-warming-related regulation, such as the Kyoto Protocol. Major corporations have played and to some extent continue to play a significant role in the politics of global warming, especially in the United States, through lobbying of government and funding of global warming skeptics. Business also plays a key role in the mitigation of global warming, through decisions to invest in researc ...

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Business action on climate change - Overview Business action on climate change - Energy industry
Business action on climate change - ExxonMobil Business action on climate change - BP Business action on climate change - Others
Business action on climate change - Insurance industry Business action on climate change - Media

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The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 11 or COP/MOP 1) was a global event which took place at the Palais des congrès de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from November 28 to December 9, 2005. The meeting, the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), was also the first Meeting of the Parties (MOP) to the Kyoto Protocol since their initial meeting in Kyoto in 1997. It was therefore one of the largest intergovernmental conferences on cl ...

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The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC) is an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The treaty aimed at reducing emissions of greenhouse gas in order to combat global warming. The treaty as originally framed set no mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual nations and contained no enforcement provisions; it is there ...

Including:

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - Annex I and Annex II Countries and Developing Countries
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - Annex I countries United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - Annex II countries
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP-1 The Berlin Mandate United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP-2 Geneva Switzerland United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP-3 The Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP-4 Buenos Aires United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP-5 Bonn Germany United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP-6 The Hague Netherlands United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP-6 bis Bonn Germany United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP-7 Marrakech Morocco United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP-8 New Delhi India United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP-9 Milan Italy United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP-10 Buenos Aires Argentina United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP-11 Montreal Canada

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The United Kingdom's Climate Change Programme was launched by the British government in response to its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. It aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions not only by the agreed 12.5% from 1990 levels, but by 20% by 2010. In 2004, the UK was the world's 8th greatest producer of carbon emissions, producing around 2.3% of the total generated from fossil fuels. As of November 2004, projections are that by 2010 the UK will be about 8% above its goal.[1] United Kingdom Cl ...

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United Kingdom Climate Change Programme - Climate Change Levy United Kingdom Climate Change Programme - Renewables Obligation United Kingdom Climate Change Programme - Nottingham Declaration United Kingdom Climate Change Programme - Housing and Community Grants

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This article is in need of attention. You can help Wikipedia by editing it into a better article. Please also consider changing this notice to be more specific. Climate engineering is a term coined by the Global Commons Institute (GCI) to mean the efforts of human intervention to counteract the effects of modern industrialization on the global climate as well as engineer new methods to better suit the environment and its inhabitants. Two examples of proposals to modify the climate plan ...

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The climate (ancient Greek: κλίμα) is the weather averaged over a long period of time. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) glossary definition is: 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 period is 30 years, as defined by the World Meteorological Organization ...

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Climate - Climate vs weather Climate - Climate determinants Climate - Climate indices Climate - Classifications Climate - Historical climates Climate - National climates Climate - Notes

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In the years 535 and 536, several remarkable aberrations in world climate took place. The Byzantine historian Procopius recorded of 536, "during this year a most dread portent took place. For the sun gave forth its light without brightness… and it seemed exceedingly like the sun in eclipse, for the beams it shed were not clear.". Tree ring analysis by dendrochronologist Mike Baillie, Queen's University, Belfast, shows abnormally little growth in Irish oak in 536 and another sharp drop in 542, after a partial recovery. Similar patterns are recorded in tree rings from Sweden and Finland, in ...

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The Younger Dryas stadial, named after the alpine / tundra wildflower Dryas octopetala, and also referred to as the Big Freeze [1], was a brief (approximately 1300 +/- 70year [1]) cold climate period following the Bölling/Allerød interstadial at the end of the Pleistocene, and preceding the Preboreal of the early Holocene. In Ireland, the period has been known as the Nahanagan Stadial, while in the U ...

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Younger Dryas - Abrupt climate change Younger Dryas - Was the Younger Dryas global? Younger Dryas - Causes of the Younger Dryas Younger Dryas - The end of the Younger Dryas Younger Dryas - The Younger Dryas and the beginning of agriculture

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Atmospheric sciences is an umbrella term for the study of the atmosphere, its processes, the effects other systems have on the atmosphere, and the effects of the atmosphere on these other systems. Meteorology includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics with a major focus on weather forecasting. Climatology is the study of atmospheric changes (both long and short-term) that define average climates and their change over time, due to both natural climate variabili ...

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Cloud forcing is the difference between the radiation budget components for average cloud conditions and cloud-free conditions. Roughly speaking, clouds increase the albedo from 15 to 30%, which results in a reduction of absorbed solar radiation of about 44 W/m^2. This cooling is offset somewhat by the greenhouse effect of clouds which reduces the OLR by about 31 W/m^2, so the net cloud forcing of the radiation budget is a loss of about 13 W/m^2 (source: IPCC '90, table 3.1). Were the clouds to be removed with all else remainin ...

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The Arctic is the area around the Earth's North Pole. The Arctic includes parts of Russia, Alaska (United States), Canada, Greenland (a territory of Denmark), Iceland, and Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, and Finland), as well as the Arctic Ocean. There are numerous definitions for the Arctic region. The boundary is generally considered to be north of the Arctic Circle (66° 33’N), which is the limit of the midnight sun and the polar night. Other definitions are based on climate and ecology, such as the 10°C (50°F) July isother ...

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Arctic - Nature and natural resources Arctic - Arctic cultures Arctic - The changing Arctic Arctic - Environmental impact assessment Arctic - International cooperation and politics Arctic - A strategic military region

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An increasing number of groups from around the world are coming together to work on the common issue of Climate Change. Non-governmental organizations, NGOs, from diverse fields of work are finding they have an issue to unite on. A coalition of 17 NGOs called Stop Climate Chaos recently launched in Great Britain to highlight the issue of Climate Change. Another group, the Campaign against Climate Change was created to focus purely on the issue of Climate Change and particularly to pressure Governments into action by building a protes ...

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Action on Climate Change, Action on Climate Change - Political Action, Action on Climate Change - Protest Movements, Action on Climate Change - International Political Frameworks, Action on Climate Change - Lifestyle Action, Action on Climate Change - Business Action, Action on Climate Change - Increased Energy Efficiency, Action on Climate Change - Use of Renewable Energies, Action on Climate Change - Large-Scale Carbon Offset, Action on Climate Change - Sub-national level action, Action on Climate Change - Co-operation at the city level, Action on Climate Change - Co-operation at the county/state level, Action on Climate Change - Climate change science, Action on Climate Change - Protest and direct action groups, Action on Climate Change - Websites on international political action, Action on Climate Change - Websites on lifestyle action, Action on Climate Change - Websites on business action, Action on Climate Change - Websites on sub-national action

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Political action is useful for changing laws and regulations that relate to climate change, such as tax incentives and greenhouse gas emissions limits. It can also be useful for gaining media and public attention to climate change. There are many forms of political action on climate change: these include letter writing, direct lobbying, and public shaming of politicians and political and media organizations. Many people choose to support only those wh ...

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Action on Climate Change, Action on Climate Change - Political Action, Action on Climate Change - Protest Movements, Action on Climate Change - International Political Frameworks, Action on Climate Change - Lifestyle Action, Action on Climate Change - Business Action, Action on Climate Change - Increased Energy Efficiency, Action on Climate Change - Use of Renewable Energies, Action on Climate Change - Large-Scale Carbon Offset, Action on Climate Change - Sub-national level action, Action on Climate Change - Co-operation at the city level, Action on Climate Change - Co-operation at the county/state level, Action on Climate Change - Climate change science, Action on Climate Change - Protest and direct action groups, Action on Climate Change - Websites on international political action, Action on Climate Change - Websites on lifestyle action, Action on Climate Change - Websites on business action, Action on Climate Change - Websites on sub-national action

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Some scientific organisations who have made position statements on climate change. Intergovernmental panel on climate change American Meteorological Society Statement American Geophysical Union position statement on greenhouse gases and climate change Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Some Key Questions, National Academy of Sciences, Commission on Geosciences, Environment and Resources, (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2001). Joint statement on the Science of Climate Change, issue ...

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Scientific opinion on climate change, Scientific opinion on climate change - Statements, Scientific opinion on climate change - IPCC, Scientific opinion on climate change - Joint science academies’ statement, Scientific opinion on climate change - US National Research Council 2001, Scientific opinion on climate change - American Meteorological Society, Scientific opinion on climate change - Statements on global warming, Scientific opinion on climate change - Surveys, Scientific opinion on climate change - Oreskes 2004, Scientific opinion on climate change - Bray and von Storch 1996, Scientific opinion on climate change - Survey of US state climatologists, Scientific opinion on climate change - Other known surveys

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Definition and meaning of climate change:

climate change - the long-term fluctuations in temperature, precipitation, wind, and all other aspects of the Earth's climate. It is also defined by the United Nations Convention on Climate Change as "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"

(Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) )

Also see these pages: Oceanography, Oceanography Sitemap, Coral Reef, Environment, Sustainability, Climate Change,

For more dictionary entries, see » Climate Change Dictionary

The IPCC published a first assessment report in 1990, a supplementary report in 1992, a second assessment report (SAR) in 1995, and a third assessment report (TAR) in 2001. Each of the assessment reports is in three volumes from the working groups I, II and III. Unqualified, "the IPCC report" is often used to mean the WG I report. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - Consensus in reports. IPCC Reports attempt to present a scientific consensus view. The general approach of identifying consensus among ...

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Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - Aims, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - Operations, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - Activities, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - Publications, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC Reports, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - Consensus in reports, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC Fourth Assessment Report: AR4, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC Third Assessment Report: Climate Change 2001, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC Second Assessment Report: Climate Change 1995, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC supplementary report 1992, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC First Assessment Report: 1990, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - Criticism of IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - Landsea, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC processes

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