Definitions on Climate change & insect-borne disease starting with G

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Definitions

Below is a directory of terms used in the debate about climate change and insect-borne disease. Most of the terms have been reproduced from the WHO, US Environment Protection Agency, the UN University Institute of Advanced Studies, the Center for International Forestry Research, and the Meridian Institute.

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G

Global Warming

An increase in the near-surface temperature of the Earth. Global warming has occurred in the distant past as the result of natural influences, but the term is most often used to refer to the warming predicted to occur as a result of increased emissions of greenhouse gases. Scientists generally agree that the Earth's surface has warmed by about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the past 140 years. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently concluded that increased concentrations of greenhouse gases are causing an increase in the Earth's surface temperature and that increased concentrations of sulphate aerosols have led to relative cooling in some regions, generally over and downwind of heavily industrialised areas.

Greenhouse effect

The effect caused by greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and water vapour that allow incoming solar radiation to pass through the Earth's atmosphere. They also prevent most outgoing infra-red radiation from the surface and lower atmosphere from escaping into outer space. This process occurs naturally but is enhanced by human activities such as fossil fuel consumption that emits greenhouse gases and increases their concentrations in the atmosphere.

Greenhouse Gas

Any gas that absorbs infra-red radiation in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases include water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, halogenated fluorocarbons, ozone, perfluorinated carbons, and hydrofluorocarbons.

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