Global climate: The average climate around the world
Geothermal energy
Geothermal energy: Heat from inside the Earth. People can use geothermal energy to heat buildings or produce electricity.
Fossil fuel
Fossil fuel: A type of fuel that forms deep within the Earth. Examples of fossil fuels include coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels are created over millions of years as dead plant and animal material becomes trapped and buried in layers of rock, and heat and pressure transform this material into a fuel. All fossil fuels contain carbon, and when people burn these fuels to produce energy, they create carbon dioxide.
Fluorinated gas
Fluorinated gas: A group of powerful greenhouse gases that can stay in the atmosphere for hundreds to thousands of years. Fluorinated gases are manmade; they do not occur naturally. They are used in refrigeration and air-conditioning systems, fire extinguishers, foam products, and other products.
Ethanol
Ethanol: A type of alcohol that can be produced from different forms of biomass, such as agricultural crops. Ethanol can be burned as a fuel, often by blending it with gasoline.
Erosion
Erosion: The wearing down of land by wind or water. Erosion can be made worse by certain types of farming and logging, road building, and clearing land for development.
Vampire power
Vampire power: An appliance or device that uses electricity even when it is turned off.
Energy audit
Energy audit: The process of inspecting a home, workplace, or other building in order to find ways to use less energy. For example, people might find places where they can seal cracks around windows to prevent heat from escaping during the winter.
Energy
Energy: The ability to do work. Energy comes in many forms, such as heat, light, motion, and electricity. Most of the world's energy comes from burning fossil fuels to produce heat, which can then be converted into other forms of energy, such as motion (for example, driving a car) or electricity.
Emissions
Emissions: The release of a gas (such as carbon dioxide) or other substance into the air.
Element
Element: A substance that cannot be chemically separated or broken down into other substances. All matter is composed of elements. Carbon and oxygen are examples of elements, but carbon dioxide is not an element because it can be broken down into carbon and oxygen.
Ecosystem
Ecosystem: A natural community of plants, animals, and other living organisms and the physical environment in which they live and interact.
Drought
Drought: A period of unusually dry weather lasting long enough to cause serious shortages of water for ecosystems and human use (such as drinking water and agriculture) in the affected area.
Decomposition
Decomposition: The breakdown of matter by bacteria and fungi. Decomposition changes the chemical makeup and physical appearance of materials.
Data
Data: A collection of facts, numbers, or other pieces of information. Scientists use a variety of techniques to gather data about the Earth’s climate. A single fact is called a datum (the singular form of data).
Coral bleaching
Coral bleaching: The process that takes place when corals lose the microscopic organisms called algae that live within their tissues. These algae provide the coral with nutrients, and they’re responsible for the color of the coral. If a disturbance such as rising water temperature causes the algae to leave, corals will appear white (or bleached) and could eventually die.
Concentration
Concentration: The amount of a particular substance that exists within a certain volume or weight of air, water, soil, or other medium. For example, scientists measure the concentration of a particular gas (such as carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere in units of parts per million.
Coal
Coal: A dark-colored solid fossil fuel that can be mined from the Earth. Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel produced in the United States.
Climate model
Climate model: A series of calculations run on a computer that simulates how the atmosphere, oceans, land, living things, ice, and energy from the sun affect each other and the Earth's climate. Scientists use these models to study the Earth’s climate and predict how it might respond to changing conditions, such as an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Climate change
Climate change: A significant change in the Earth’s climate. The Earth is currently getting warmer because people are adding heat-trapping greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The term “global warming” refers to warmer temperatures, while “climate change” refers to the broader set of changes that go along with warmer temperatures, including changes in weather patterns, the oceans, ice and snow, and ecosystems around the world.