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== E == <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Early_Eocene_Climatic_Optimum"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Early Eocene Climatic Optimum</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The EECO is a period of geological time that occurred about 53 to 49 million years ago, during the Eocene Epoch. Continental positions at this time were somewhat different to present due to tectonic plate movements. Geological data indicate that the EECO was a period of relatively high atmospheric CO2 concentrations (about 1150–2500 ppmv) and relative warmth (global mean surface temperature was about 10–18 °C above the 1850–1900 reference), and polar ice sheets were absent.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Early_warning_systems"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Early warning systems</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' Early warning systems (EWS)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The set of technical and institutional capacities to forecast, predict, and communicate timely and meaningful warning information to enable individuals, communities, managed ecosystems, and organisations threatened by a hazard to prepare to act promptly and appropriately to reduce the possibility of harm or loss. Depending upon context, EWS may draw upon scientific and/or Indigenous knowledge, and other knowledge types. EWS are also considered for ecological applications, e.g., conservation, where the organisation itself is not threatened by hazard but the ecosystem under conservation is (e.g., coral bleaching alerts), in agriculture (e.g., warnings of heavy rainfall, drought, ground frost, and hailstorms) and in fisheries (e.g., warnings of storm, storm surge, and tsunamis).</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Earth’s_energy_budget"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Earth’s energy budget</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' encompasses the major energy flows of relevance for the climate system: the top-of-atmosphere energy budget; the surface energy budget; changes in the global energy inventory and internal flows of energy within the climate system that characterize the climate state. From Wikipedia Earth's energy budget (or Earth's energy balance) accounts for the balance between the energy that Earth receives from the Sun and the energy the Earth loses back into outer space. Smaller energy sources, such as Earth's internal heat, are taken into consideration, but make a tiny contribution compared to solar energy. The energy budget also accounts for how energy moves through the climate system.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Earth's_energy_flows"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Earth's energy flows</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The time-mean (or representative) energy exchanges within the climate system (including energy energy exchanges at the surface and top-of-atmosphere). This also includes horizontal ocean and atmospheric heat transports.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Earth's_energy_imbalance"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Earth's energy imbalance</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The persistent and positive (downward) net top of atmosphere energy flux associated with greenhouse gas forcing of the climate system.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Earth's_radiative_response"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Earth's radiative response</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The product of global mean surface air temperature (GSAT) change and the net feedback parameter (i.e. sum of all feedbacks), which determines the net top-of-atmosphere radiative flux that opposes a change in radiative forcing. Units: W m -2.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Earth_system_feedbacks"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Earth system feedbacks</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' See Climate feedback.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Earth_system_model"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Earth system model</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGII</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' Earth system model (ESM)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' A coupled atmosphere –ocean general circulation model (AOGCM) in which a representation of the carbon cycle is included, allowing for interactive calculation of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) or compatible emissions. Additional components (e.g., atmospheric chemistry, ice sheets, dynamic vegetation, nitrogen cycle, but also urban or crop models) may be included.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Earth_system_model_of_intermediate_complexity"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Earth system model of intermediate complexity</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' EMICs represent climate processes at a lower resolution or in a simpler, more idealized fashion than an Earth system model (ESM).</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Earth_system_sensitivity"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Earth system sensitivity</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The equilibrium surface temperature response of the coupled atmosphere – ocean – cryosphere –vegetation– carbon cycle system to a doubling of the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2) concentration is referred to as Earth system sensitivity. Because it allows ice sheets to adjust to the external perturbation, it may differ substantially from the equilibrium climate sensitivity derived from coupled atmosphere–ocean models.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="East_Asian_monsoon"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">East Asian monsoon</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' East Asian monsoon (EAsiaM)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The East Asian monsoon (EAsiaM) is the seasonal reversal in wind and precipitation occurring over East Asia, including eastern China, Japan and the Korean peninsula. In contrast to the other monsoons it extends quite far north, out of the tropical belt, and it is largely influenced by subtropical systems and by disturbances from the mid-latitudes. The EAsiaM manifests during boreal summer with warm and wet southerly winds, but also during boreal winter with cold and dry northerly winds. In late April/early May, rainfall onsets in the central Indochina Peninsula, and in mid-June the rainy season arrives over East Asia with the formation of the Meiyu front along the Yangtze River valley, Changma in Korea and Baiu in Japan. In July, the monsoon advances up to North China, the Korean peninsula and central Japan. During boreal winter, strong north-westerlies manifest over north and north-east China, Korea and Japan, while strong north-easterlies arrive along the coast of East Asia. Further details on how EAsiaM is defined and used throughout the Report are provided in Annex V. From Wikipedia The East Asian Monsoon is a monsoonal flow that carries moist air from the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean to East Asia. It affects approximately one-third of the global population, influencing the climate of Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, China, the Philippines and Mainland Southeast Asia but most significantly Vietnam. It is driven by temperature differences between the East Asian continent and the Pacific Ocean.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Eastern_Pacific_El_Niño"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Eastern Pacific El Niño</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' An El Niño event in which sea surface temperature anomalies are largest in the eastern tropical Pacific.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Eastern_boundary_upwelling_systems"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Eastern boundary upwelling systems</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGII</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' Eastern boundary upwelling systems (EBUS)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Eastern boundary upwelling systems (EBUS) are located at the eastern (landward) edges of major ocean basins in both hemispheres, where equatorward winds drive upwelling currents that bring cool, nutrient-rich (and often oxygen-poor) waters from the deep ocean to the surface near the coast.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Economic_potential"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Economic potential</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The portion of the technical potential for which the social benefits exceed the social costs, taking into account a social discount rate and the value of externalities. From Wikipedia</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Ecosystem"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Ecosystem</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGII; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' A functional unit consisting of living organisms, their non-living environment and the interactions within and between them. The components included in a given ecosystem and its spatial boundaries depend on the purpose for which the ecosystem is defined: in some cases they are relatively sharp, while in others they are diffuse. Ecosystem boundaries can change over time. Ecosystems are nested within other ecosystems, and their scale can range from very small to the entire biosphere. In the current era, most ecosystems either contain people as key organisms or are influenced by the effects of human activities in their environment. From Wikipedia An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the system through photosynthesis and is incorporated into plant tissue.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Ecosystem-based_adaptation"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Ecosystem-based adaptation</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The use of ecosystem management activities to increase the resilience and reduce the vulnerability of people and ecosystems to climate change (Campbell et al., 2009). From Wikipedia Ecosystem-based adaptation (EBA) encompasses a broad set of approaches to adapt to climate change. They all involve the management of ecosystems and their services to reduce the vulnerability of human communities to the impacts of climate change.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Ecosystem_health"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Ecosystem health</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Ecosystem health is a metaphor used to describe the condition of an ecosystem, by analogy with human health. Note that there is no universally accepted benchmark for a healthy ecosystem. Rather, the apparent health status of an ecosystem is judged on the ecosystem’s resilience to change, with details depending upon which metrics are employed in judging it and which societal aspirations are driving the assessment (following IPBES 2019). From Wikipedia Ecosystem health is a metaphor used to describe the condition of an ecosystem. Ecosystem condition can vary as a result of fire, flooding, drought, extinctions, invasive species, climate change, mining, fishing, farming or logging, chemical spills, and a host of other reasons.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Ecosystem_services"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Ecosystem services</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Ecological processes or functions having monetary or non-monetary value to individuals or society at large. These are frequently classified as (1) supporting services such as productivity or biodiversity maintenance, (2) provisioning services such as food or fibre, (3) regulating services such as climate regulation or carbon sequestration, and (4) cultural services such as tourism or spiritual and aesthetic appreciation.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Effective_equilibrium_climate_sensitivity"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Effective equilibrium climate sensitivity</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' An estimate of the surface temperature response to a doubling of the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration that is evaluated from model output or observations for evolving non-equilibrium conditions. It is a measure of the strengths of the climate feedbacks at a particular time and may vary with forcing history and climate state, and therefore may differ from equilibrium climate sensitivity.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Effective_radiative_forcing_due_to_aerosolcloud_interactions"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Effective radiative forcing due to aerosol–cloud interactions</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' Effective radiative forcing (or effect) due to aerosol–cloud interactions (ERFaci)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The final radiative forcing (or effect) from the aerosol perturbation, including the adjustments to the initial change in droplet or crystal formation rate. These adjustments include changes in the strength of convection, precipitation efficiency, cloud fraction, lifetime or water content of clouds, and the formation or suppression of clouds in remote areas due to altered circulations.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Effective_radiative_forcing_due_to_aerosolradiation_interactions"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Effective radiative forcing due to aerosol–radiation interactions</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' Effective radiative forcing (or effect) due to aerosol–radiation interactions (ERFari)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The final radiative forcing (or effect) from the aerosol perturbation, including adjustments to the initial change in radiation. These adjustments include changes in cloud caused by the impact of the radiative heating on convective or larger-scale atmospheric circulations, traditionally known as semi-direct aerosol forcing (or effect).</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Ekman_transport"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Ekman transport</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The total transport resulting from a balance between the Coriolis force and the frictional stress due to the action of the wind on the ocean surface. From Wikipedia Ekman transport occurs when ocean surface waters are influenced by the friction force acting on them via the wind.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="El_NiñoSouthern_Oscillation"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">El Niño–Southern Oscillation</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGII</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The term El Niño was initially used to describe a warm-water current that periodically flows along the coast of Ecuador and Peru, disrupting the local fishery. It has since become identified with warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean east of the dateline. This oceanic event is associated with a fluctuation of a global-scale tropical and subtropical surface pressure pattern called the Southern Oscillation. This coupled atmosphere–ocean phenomenon, with preferred time scales of two to about seven years, is known as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The warm and cold phases of ENSO are called El Niño and La Niña, respectively. ENSO is often measured by the surface pressure anomaly difference between Tahiti and Darwin and/or the sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. This phenomenon has a great impact on the wind, sea surface temperature and precipitation patterns in the tropical Pacific. It has climatic effects throughout the Pacific region and in many other parts of the world through global teleconnections. See Section AIV.2.3 in Annex IV of the AR6 WGI report.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Electromagnetic_spectrum"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Electromagnetic spectrum</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Wavelength, frequency or energy range of all electromagnetic radiation. In terms of solar radiation, the spectral irradiance is the power arriving at the Earth per unit area, per unit wavelength. From Wikipedia The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of frequencies (the spectrum) of electromagnetic radiation and their respective wavelengths and photon energies.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Elevation-dependent_warming"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Elevation-dependent warming</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' Elevation-dependent warming (EDW)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Characteristic of many regions where mountains are located, in which past and/or future surface air temperature changes vary neither uniformly nor linearly with elevation. In many cases, warming is enhanced within or above a certain elevation range.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Embodied_[emissions,_water,_land]"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Embodied [emissions, water, land]</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' Embodied (embedded) [emissions, water, land]</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The total emissions [water use, land use ] generated [used] in the production of goods and services regardless of the location and timing of those emissions [water use, land use] in the production process. This includes emissions [water use, land use] within the country used to produce goods or services for the country’s own use, but also includes the emissions [water use, land use] related to the production of such goods or services in other countries that are then consumed in another country through imports. Such emissions [water, land] are termed ‘embodied’ or ‘embedded’ emissions, or in some cases, (particularly with water) as ‘virtual water use’ (Davis and Caldeira, 2010; Allan, 2005; MacDonald et al., 2015).</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Emergence"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Emergence</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGII</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' Emergence (of the climate signal)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Emergence of a climate change signal or trend refers to when a change in climate (the ‘signal’) becomes larger than the amplitude of natural or internal variations (defining the ‘noise’), This concept is often expressed as a ‘signal-to-noise’ ratio and emergence occurs at a defined threshold of this ratio (e.g., S/N > 1 or 2). Emergence can refer to changes relative to a historical or modern baseline (usually at least 20 years long) and can also be expressed in terms of time (time of emergence) or in terms of a global warming level. Emergence is also used to refer to a time when we can expect to see a response to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (emergence with respect to mitigation). Emergence can be estimated using observations and/or model simulations.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Emergent_constraint"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Emergent constraint</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' An attempt to reduce the uncertainty in climate projections, using an ensemble of Earth system models (ESMs) to relate a specific feedback or future change to an observation of the past or current climate (typically some trend, variability or change in variability).</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Emission_and_Socio-economic_Scenario_Ensemble"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Emission and Socio-economic Scenario Ensemble</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' A set of modelled emission and socio-economic scenarios collected in a database. The scenarios can come from a single multi-model study with systematic variation of harmonised scenario designs (structured ensemble) or from multiple studies in the literature (unstructured ensemble). Depending on the scope of the ensemble, variation of the results across the scenarios in the ensemble give an indication of the spread of results in the literature (unstructured ensemble), or an estimate of uncertainties due to different modelling structures and methodologies (structured ensemble).</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Emission_factor_Emissions_intensity"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Emission factor/Emissions intensity</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' A coefficient that quantifies the emissions or removals of a gas per unit activity. Emission factors are often based on a sample of measurement data, averaged to develop a representative rate of emission for a given activity level under a given set of operating conditions. From Wikipedia</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Emission_pathways"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Emission pathways</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGII; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Modelled trajectories of global anthropogenic emissions over the 21st century.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Emission_trajectories"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Emission trajectories</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' A projected development in time of the emission of a greenhouse gas (GHG) or group of GHGs, aerosols, and GHG precursors.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Emissions_scenario"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Emissions scenario</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGII; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' A plausible representation of the future development of emissions of substances that are radiatively active (e.g., greenhouse gases (GHGs) or aerosols), plus human-induced land-cover changes that can be radiatively active via albedo changes, based on a coherent and internally consistent set of assumptions about driving forces (such as demographic and socio-economic development, technological change, energy and land use) and their key relationships. Concentration scenarios, derived from emission scenarios, are often used as input to a climate model to compute climate projections.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Emulation"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Emulation</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Reproducing the behaviour of complex, process-based models (namely, Earth system models, ESMs) via simpler approaches, using either emulators or simple climate models (SCMs). The computational efficiency of emulating approaches opens new analytical possibilities given that ESMs take a lot of computational resources for each simulation.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Emulators"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Emulators</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' A broad class of heavily parametrized models (’simple climate models’), statistical methods like neural networks, genetic algorithms or other artificial intelligence approaches, designed to reproduce the responses of more complex, process-based Earth system models (ESMs). The main application of emulators is to extrapolate insights from ESMs and observational constraints to a larger set of emission scenarios.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Enabling_conditions"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Enabling conditions</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' Enabling conditions (for adaptation and mitigation options)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Conditions that enhance the feasibility of adaptation and mitigation options. Enabling conditions include finance, technological innovation, strengthening policy instruments, institutional capacity, multi-level governance, and changes in human behaviour and lifestyles.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Endemic_species"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Endemic species</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Plants and animals that are only found in one geographic region.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Energy_access"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Energy access</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Access to clean, reliable and affordable energy services for cooking and heating, lighting, communications and productive uses (with special reference to Sustainable Development Goal 7) (AGECC, 2010).</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Energy_balance"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Energy balance</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The difference between the total incoming and total outgoing energy. If this balance is positive, warming occurs; if it is negative, cooling occurs. Averaged over the globe and over long time periods, this balance must be zero. Because the climate system derives virtually all its energy from the Sun, zero balance implies that, globally, the absorbed solar radiation, that is, incoming solar radiation minus reflected solar radiation at the top of the atmosphere and outgoing longwave radiation emitted by the climate system are equal.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Energy_balance_model"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Energy balance model</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' Energy balance model (EBM)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' An energy balance model is a simplified climate model that is typically used as an emulator of climate to analyse the energy budget of the Earth to compute changes in the climate. In its simplest form, there is no explicit spatial dimension, and the model then provides an estimate of the changes in globally averaged temperature computed from the changes in radiation. This zero-dimensional energy balance model can be extended to a one-dimensional or two-dimensional model if changes to the energy budget with respect to latitude, or both latitude and longitude, are explicitly considered.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Energy_budget"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Energy budget</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' Energy budget (of the Earth)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The Earth is a physical system with an energy budget that includes all gains of incoming energy and all losses of outgoing energy. The Earth’s energy budget is determined by measuring how much energy comes into the Earth system from the Sun, how much energy is lost to space, and accounting for the remainder on Earth and its atmosphere. Solar radiation is the dominant source of energy into the Earth system. Incoming solar energy may be scattered and reflected by clouds and aerosols or absorbed in the atmosphere. The transmitted radiation is then either absorbed or reflected at the Earth’s surface. The average albedo of the Earth is about 0.3, which means that 30% of the incident solar energy is reflected into space, while 70% is absorbed by the Earth. Radiant solar or shortwave energy is transformed into sensible heat, latent energy (involving different water states), potential energy, and kinetic energy before being emitted as infrared radiation. With the average surface temperature of the Earth of about 15°C (288 K), the main outgoing energy flux is in the infrared part of the spectrum.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Energy_efficiency"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Energy efficiency</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The ratio of output or useful energy or energy services or other useful physical outputs obtained from a system, conversion process, transmission or storage activity to the input of energy (measured as kWh kWh -1, tonnes kWh -1 or any other physical measure of useful output like tonne-km transported). Energy efficiency is often described by energy intensity.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Energy_poverty"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Energy poverty</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The absence of sufficient choice in accessing adequate, affordable, reliable, high quality, safe and environmentally benign energy services to support economic and human development (Reddy, 2000).</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Energy_security"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Energy security</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The goal of a given country, or the global community as a whole, to maintain an adequate, stable and predictable energy supply. Measures encompass safeguarding the sufficiency of energy resources to meet national energy demand at competitive and stable prices and the resilience of the energy supply; enabling development and deployment of technologies; building sufficient infrastructure to generate, store and transmit energy supplies and ensuring enforceable contracts of delivery.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Energy_services"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Energy services</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' A benefit or amenity (e.g., mobility, communication, thermal comfort) received as a result of energy or other resources use.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Energy_system"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Energy system</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The energy system comprises all components related to the production, conversion, delivery and use of energy.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Enhanced_weathering"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Enhanced weathering</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' A proposed method to increase the natural rate of removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere using silicate and carbonate rocks. The active surface area of these minerals is increased by grinding, before they are actively added to soil, beaches or the open ocean.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Ensemble"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Ensemble</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' A collection of comparable datasets that reflect variations within the bounds of one or more sources of uncertainty, and that when averaged can provide a more robust estimate of underlying behaviour. Ensemble techniques are used by the observational, reanalysis and modelling communities.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Enteric_fermentation"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Enteric fermentation</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' A natural part of the digestion process in ruminant animal species (domesticated and wild), such as cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, antelope, etc. Microorganisms (bacteria, archaea, fungi, protozoa and viruses) present in the fore-stomach (reticulorumen or rumen) breakdown plant biomass to produce substrates that can be used by the animal for energy and growth with methane produced as a by-product. Fermentation end-products such as hydrogen, carbon dioxide, formate and methyl-containing compounds are important substrates for the production of methane by the rumen’s methane-forming archaea (known as methanogens).</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Equality"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Equality</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' A principle that ascribes equal worth to all human beings, including equal opportunities, rights and obligations, irrespective of origins.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Equilibrium_and_transient_climate_experiment"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Equilibrium and transient climate experiment</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' An equilibrium climate experiment is a climate model experiment in which the model is allowed to fully adjust to a change in radiative forcing. Such experiments provide information on the difference between the initial and final states of the model, but not on the time-dependent response. If the forcing is allowed to evolve gradually according to a prescribed emissions scenario, the time-dependent response of a climate model may be analysed. Such an experiment is called a transient climate experiment.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Equilibrium_climate_sensitivity"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Equilibrium climate sensitivity</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' Equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The equilibrium (steady state) change in the surface temperature following a doubling of the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration from pre-industrial conditions.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Equilibrium_line"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Equilibrium line</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The spatially averaged boundary at a given moment, usually chosen as the seasonal mass budget minimum at the end of summer, between the region on a glacier where there is a net annual loss of ice mass (ablation area) and that where there is a net annual gain (accumulation area). The altitude of this boundary is referred to as equilibrium line altitude (ELA).</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Equity"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Equity</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The principle of being fair and impartial, and a basis for understanding how the impacts and responses to climate change, including costs and benefits, are distributed in and by society in more or less equal ways. Often aligned with ideas of equality, fairness and justice and applied with respect to equity in the responsibility for, and distribution of, climate impacts and policies across society, generations and gender, and in the sense of who participates and controls the processes of decision-making.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Equivalent_carbon_dioxide_emission"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Equivalent carbon dioxide emission</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' Equivalent carbon dioxide emission (CO2)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission that would have an equivalent effect on a specified key measure of climate change, over a specified time horizon, as an emitted amount of another greenhouse gas (GHG) or a mixture of other GHGs. For a mix of GHGs it is obtained by summing the CO2-equivalent emissions of each gas. There are various ways and time horizons to compute such equivalent emissions (see greenhouse gas emission metric). CO2-equivalent emissions are commonly used to compare emissions of different GHGs, but should not be taken to imply that these emissions have an equivalent effect across all key measures of climate change. [Note: Under the Paris Rulebook (Decision 18/CMA.1, annex, paragraph 37), parties have agreed to use GWP-100 values from the IPCC AR5 or GWP-100 values from a subsequent IPCC Assessment Report to report aggregate emissions and removals of GHGs. In addition, parties may use other metrics to report supplemental information on aggregate emissions and removals of GHGs.]</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Ethics"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Ethics</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Ethics involves questions of justice and value. Justice is concerned with right and wrong, equity and fairness, and, in general, with the rights to which people and living beings are entitled. Value is a matter of worth, benefit or good.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Eudaimonic"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Eudaimonic</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Relational well-being concept based on the premise that experiencing life purpose, challenges and growth leads to flourishing, self-realisation, personal expression, and full functioning (Niemiec 2014; Lamb and Steinberger 2017).</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Eutrophication"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Eutrophication</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Over-enrichment of water by nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. It is one of the leading causes of water quality impairment. The two most acute symptoms of eutrophication are hypoxia (or oxygen depletion) and harmful algal blooms.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Evaporation"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Evaporation</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The physical process by which a liquid (e.g., water) becomes a gas (e.g., water vapour).</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Evapotranspiration"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Evapotranspiration</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The combined processes through which water is transferred to the atmosphere from open water and ice surfaces, bare soil and vegetation that make up the Earth’s surface.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Evidence"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Evidence</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGII; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Data and information used in the scientific process to establish findings. In this report, the degree of evidence reflects the amount, quality and consistency of scientific/technical information on which the Lead Authors are basing their findings.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Evolutionary_adaptation"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Evolutionary adaptation</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The process whereby a species or population becomes better able to live in a changing environment through the selection of heritable traits. Biologists usually distinguish evolutionary adaptation from acclimatisation, with the latter occurring within an organism’s lifetime.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Exergy"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Exergy</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Capacity of energy flows to perform useful work. Exergy is a quality (versatility) indicator of energy flows which ranges from low (e.g., low-temperature heat, biomass) to high (e.g., electricity). Exergy efficiency describes how much useful work can be performed by a particular energy flow in relation to the thermodynamic maximum possible. It can be determined for all energy flows and energy conversion steps, also including alternative service delivery systems. (Grubler et al., 2012).</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Exposure"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Exposure</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGII; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The presence of people; livelihoods; species or ecosystems; environmental functions, services, and resources; infrastructure; or economic, social, or cultural assets in places and settings that could be adversely affected.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Extended_concentration_pathways"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Extended concentration pathways</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' Extended concentration pathways (ECPs)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Extended concentration pathways describe extensions of the RCPs from 2100 to 2300 that were calculated using simple rules generated by stakeholder consultations, and do not represent fully consistent scenarios.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="External_forcing"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">External forcing</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' External forcing refers to a forcing agent outside the climate system causing a change in the climate system. Volcanic eruptions, solar variations and changes in Earth’s orbit, as well as anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use are external forcings.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Externality_external_cost_external_benefit"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Externality/external cost/external benefit</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Externalities arise from a human activity, when agents responsible for the activity do not take full account of the activity’s impact on others’ production and consumption possibilities, and no compensation exists for such impacts. When the impact is negative, they are external costs. When positive they are referred to as external benefits.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Extinction"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Extinction</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' A population, species or more inclusive taxonomic group has gone extinct when all its individuals have died. A species may go extinct locally (population extinction), regionally (e.g., extinction of all populations in a country, continent or ocean) or globally (IPBES, 2019).</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Extirpation"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Extirpation</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The disappearance of a species from an area, sometimes also referred to as local extinction. Its use implies that the species still occurs elsewhere.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Extratropical_cyclone"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Extratropical cyclone</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' Extratropical cyclone (ETC)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Any cyclonic-scale storm that is not a tropical cyclone. Usually refers to a mid- or high-latitude migratory storm system formed in regions of large horizontal temperature variations. Sometimes called extratropical storm or extratropical low.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Extratropical_jets"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Extratropical jets</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Extratropical jets are wind maxima in the upper troposphere marking zones of baroclinic instability. Anomalies in the position of these jets are often associated with storms, blocking, and weather extremes.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Extreme_climate_event"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Extreme climate event</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The occurrence of a value of a weather or climate variable above (or below) a threshold value near the upper (or lower) ends of the range of observed values of the variable. By definition, the characteristics of what is called extreme weather may vary from place to place in an absolute sense. When a pattern of extreme weather persists for some time, such as a season, it may be classified as an extreme climate event, especially if it yields an average or total that is itself extreme (e.g., high temperature, drought or heavy rainfall over a season). For simplicity, both extreme weather events and extreme climate events are referred to collectively as climate extremes.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Extreme_heavy_precipitation_event"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Extreme/heavy precipitation event</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' An extreme/heavy precipitation event is an event that is of very high magnitude with a very rare occurrence at a particular place. Types of extreme precipitation may vary depending on its duration, hourly, daily or multi-days (e.g., 5 days), though all of them qualitatively represent high magnitude. The intensity of such events may be defined with a block maxima approach such as annual maxima or with peaks over threshold approach, such as rainfall above the 95th or 99th percentile at a particular place.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Extreme_sea_level"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Extreme sea level</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGII</div> <div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' Extreme sea level (ESL)</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The occurrence of an exceptionally low or high local sea-surface height, arising from (a combination of) short term phenomena (e.g., storm surges, tides and waves). Relative sea level changes affect extreme sea levels directly by shifting the mean water levels and indirectly by modulating the propagation of tides, waves and/or surges due to increased water depth. In addition, extreme sea levels can be influenced by changes in the frequency, tracks or strength of weather systems and storms, or due to anthropogenically induced changes such as the modification of coastlines or dredging. In turn, changes in any or all of the contributions to extreme sea levels may lead to long term relative sea-level changes. Alternate expressions for ESL may be used depending on the processes resolved. Extreme still water level (ESWL) refers to the combined contribution of relative sea level change, tides and storm surges. Wind-waves also contribute to coastal sea level via three processes: infragravity waves (lower frequency gravity waves generated by wind waves), wave setup (time-mean sea-level elevation due to wave energy dissipation) and swash (vertical displacement up the shore-face induced by individual waves). Extreme total water level (ETWL) is the ESWL plus wave setup. When considering coastal impacts, swash is also important, and extreme coastal water level (ECWL) is used.</div> </div> <div class="glossary-entry"> <div id="Extreme_weather_event"></div> === <span class="glossary-term">Extreme weather event</span> === <div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGII; WGIII</div> <div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' An event that is rare at a particular place and time of year. Definitions of ‘rare’ vary, but an extreme weather event would normally be as rare as, or rarer than, the 10th or 90th percentile of a probability density function estimated from observations. By definition, the characteristics of what is called extreme weather may vary from place to place in an absolute sense.</div> </div> </div> <div class="glossary-letter-section">
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