| A | B |
|---|
| Axial tilt | the inclination angle of a planet's rotational axis in relation to a perpendicular to its orbital plane |
| Sunspot | a region on the Sun's surface that is marked by a lower temperature than its surroundings |
| Climate system | an exchange of energy and moisture that happens between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and cryosphere |
| Drought | an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply |
| eccentricity | a measure of how much a shape deviates from a circle |
| Fossil pollen | a source of proxy data |
| Global warming | the increase in the average measured temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans |
| Greenhouse effect | the process in which the emission of infrared radiation by the atmosphere warms a planet's surface |
| Meteorite | a natural object originating in outer space that survives an impact with the Earth's surface |
| Milankovitch cycles | he collective effect of changes in the Earth's movements upon its climate |
| Negative feedback | a mechanism that is opposite of the initial change and tends to offset it |
| obliquity | the angle made by the planet's axis and a line drawn through the planet's center perpendicular to the orbital plane |
| oxygen isotope | an analysis of past temperatures based on isotopes of oxygen |
| paleoclimatology | the study of climate change taken on the scale of the entire history of Earth |
| Plate tectonics | a theory of geology that has been developed to explain the observed evidence for large scale motions of the Earth's lithosphere |
| Positive feedback | mechanism that measures the effect that acts to reinforce initial changes |
| Precession | a change in the direction of the axis of a rotating object |
| Aerosols | a suspension of fine solid or liquid droplets in a gas |
| Proxy data | data recorded from natural recorders of climate variability |
| Climate feedback | possible outcomes that can happen to the climate if elements are changed |
