Climate change and its causes

Question 1

Climate

Answer 1

The average conditions of precipitation, temperature, pressure and wind measured over a 30-year period

Question 2

Climate change

Answer 2

Any long-term trend or shift in climate detected by a sustained shift in the average value for any climatic element (e.g. rainfall or drought)

Question 3

Thermohaline circulation

Answer 3

A global system of surface and deep-water ocean currents, driven by differences in temperature and salinity between areas of the oceans

Question 4

Little Ice Age

Answer 4

A cool period in Europe (and possibly globally) in which many Alpine glaciers advanced. It lasted from around 1400 until 1850

Question 5

Medieval Warm Period

Answer 5

A period of unusually warm North Atlantic climate lasting from around 800 to 1400

Question 6

Thermal expansion

Answer 6

The increased volume of the oceans as a result of their higher water temperature, leading to sea-level rise. It accounted for about 60% of sea-level rise in the late twentieth century

Question 7

Climate forcing

Answer 7

Any mechanism that alters the global energy balance and ‘forces’ the climate to change in response