Editing IPCC:AR6/Data/Glossary (section)

== W ==

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<div id="Walker_circulation"></div>
=== <span class="glossary-term">Walker circulation</span> ===

<div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div>

<div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Direct thermally driven zonal overturning circulation in the atmosphere over the tropical Pacific Ocean, with rising air in the western and sinking air in the eastern Pacific.</div>
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<div id="Water-borne_diseases"></div>
=== <span class="glossary-term">Water-borne diseases</span> ===

<div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII</div>

<div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Illnesses transmitted through contact with, or consumption of, unsafe or contaminated water. (UNEP, 2018)</div>
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<div id="Water_cycle"></div>
=== <span class="glossary-term">Water cycle</span> ===

<div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div>

<div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The cycle in which water evaporates from the ocean and the land surface, is carried over the Earth in atmospheric circulation as water vapour, condenses to form clouds, precipitates over the ocean and land as rain or snow, which on land can be intercepted by trees and vegetation, potentially accumulating as snow or ice, provides runoff on the land surface, infiltrates into soils, recharges groundwater, discharges into streams, and ultimately, flows into the oceans as rivers, polar glaciers and ice sheets, from which it will eventually evaporate again. The various systems involved in the hydrological cycle are usually referred to as hydrological systems.</div>
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<div id="Water_mass"></div>
=== <span class="glossary-term">Water mass</span> ===

<div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div>

<div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' A body of ocean water with identifiable properties (temperature, salinity, density, chemical tracers) resulting from its unique formation process. Water masses are often identified through a vertical or horizontal extremum of a property such as salinity. North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) and Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) are examples of water masses.</div>
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<div id="Water_security"></div>
=== <span class="glossary-term">Water security</span> ===

<div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGII</div>

<div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability (UN-Water, 2013).</div>
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<div id="Water-use_efficiency"></div>
=== <span class="glossary-term">Water-use efficiency</span> ===

<div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII</div>

<div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Carbon gain by photosynthesis per unit of water lost by evapotranspiration. It can be expressed on a short-term basis as the ratio of photosynthetic carbon gain per unit transpirational water loss, or on a seasonal basis as the ratio of net primary production or agricultural yield to the amount of water used.</div>
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<div id="Wave_setup"></div>
=== <span class="glossary-term">Wave setup</span> ===

<div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div>

<div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Time-mean sea level elevation due to wave energy dissipation.</div>
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<div id="Weathering"></div>
=== <span class="glossary-term">Weathering</span> ===

<div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGII</div>

<div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The gradual removal of atmospheric 2) carbon dioxide (CO through dissolution of silicate and carbonate rocks. Weathering may involve physical processes (mechanical weathering) or chemical activity (chemical weathering).</div>
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<div id="Well-being"></div>
=== <span class="glossary-term">Well-being</span> ===

<div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGII; WGIII</div>

<div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' A state of existence that fulfils various human needs, including material living conditions, meaningful social and community relationships and quality of life, as well as the ability to pursue one’s goals, to thrive, and feel satisfied with one’s life. Ecosystem well-being refers to the ability of ecosystems to maintain their diversity and quality.</div>
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<div id="Well-mixed_greenhouse_gas"></div>
=== <span class="glossary-term">Well-mixed greenhouse gas</span> ===

<div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div>

<div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' A greenhouse gas (GHG) that has an atmospheric lifetime long enough (greater than several years) to be homogeneously mixed in the troposphere, and as such the global average mixing ratio can be determined from a network of surface observations. For many well-mixed greenhouse gases, measurements made in remote regions differ from the global mean by < 15%.</div>
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<div id="West_African_monsoon"></div>
=== <span class="glossary-term">West African monsoon</span> ===

<div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI</div>

<div class="glossary-longer-term">'''Full term:''' West African monsoon (WAfriM)</div>

<div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' The West African monsoon (WAfriM) is a seasonal reversal in wind and precipitation whose domain includes Benin, Burkina-Faso, northern Cameroon, Cape Verde, northern Central African Republic, Chad, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. The WAfriM is characterized by the northward progression from May to September of moist low-level south-westerlies from the Gulf of Guinea. In May and June, rainfall essentially remains along the Guinean coast with a maximum occurring near 5°N, followed by a sudden decrease of rainfall, marking the ‘short dry season‘ in the Guinean coast and the monsoon onset in the Sahel. Then rainfall continues to progress northward up to about 18–20°N, with a maximum near 12°N in late August/September, until it retreats starting from October towards the Guinean coast for a second maximum. Further details on how WAfriM is defined and used throughout the Report are provided in Annex V.</div>
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<div id="Wetland"></div>
=== <span class="glossary-term">Wetland</span> ===

<div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGI; WGII</div>

<div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Land that is covered or saturated by water for all or part of the year (e.g., peatland).</div>
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<div id="Wind_energy"></div>
=== <span class="glossary-term">Wind energy</span> ===

<div class="glossary-working-groups">'''Working Groups:''' WGIII</div>

<div class="glossary-definition">'''Definition:''' Kinetic energy from airflow arising from the uneven heating of the Earth’s surface. The wind’s kinetic energy is converted to mechanical shaft energy and electricity by a wind turbine, a rotating machine. A wind farm, wind project, wind park, or wind power plant is a group of wind turbines interconnected to a common utility system through a system of transformers, distribution lines, and (usually) one substation.</div>
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