Royal Society - David Keith

DECC
Defra
Deontological
Detritus
Downwelling
ESRC
EPSRC
Ecosystem
Electrolysis
EMICS
ENMOD
El Nino
(Southern Oscillation)
Emission Scenario
Eutrophication
Flexible mechanisms
(UNFCCC–KP)
Flux
Geoengineering
GCMs
GHGs
Greenhouse gases
(UK) Department of Energy and Climate Change.
(UK) Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
In deontological ethics an action is considered morally good because of some characteristic
of the action itself, not because the product of the action is good. Deontological ethics holds
that at least some acts are morally obligatory regardless of their consequences for human
welfare. 31
Non-living particulate organic material, typically consisting of bodies or fragments of dead
organisms as well as fecal material.
Part of thermohaline ocean circulation where water from the surface sinks as a result of being
at a lower temperature and higher density than the water below.
(UK) Economic and Social Research Council.
(UK) Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
A system of living organisms interacting with each other and their physical environment. The
boundaries of what could be called an ecosystem are somewhat arbitrary, depending on the
focus of interest or study. Thus, the extent of an ecosystem may range from very small spatial
scales to, ultimately, the entire Earth. 32
A chemical change, especially decomposition, produced in an electrolyte by an electric current.
Earth system Models of Intermediate Complexity.
1977 Convention on the prohibition of military or any other hostile use of environmental
modification techniques.
The basin-wide warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean east of the dateline associated with
a fluctuation of a global scale tropical and subtropical surface pressure pattern called the
Southern Oscillation. Occurs every 2 to 7 years. The cold phase of ENSO is called La Nina. 33
A plausible and often simplified description of how the future may develop based on a
coherent and internally consistent set of assumptions about driving forces and key
relationships. Scenarios may be derived from projections, but are often based on additional
information from other sources, sometimes combined with a narrative scenario. 34
The enrichment of water by mineral and organic nutrients (normally nitrates and phosphates)
that promote a proliferation of plant life, especially algae, which reduces the dissolved oxygen
content and often causes the extinction of other organisms.
Countries with commitments under the Kyoto Protocol to limit or reduce greenhouse gas
emissions must meet their targets primarily through national measures. As an additional means
of meeting these targets, the Kyoto Protocol introduced three market-based mechanisms:
Emissions Trading. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Joint Implementation (JI).
The rate of emission, absorption, transfer or deposition of a substance or energy from
one reservoir to another. Often expressed as the mass or energy per unit area and per unit
time (W/m 2 ).
The deliberate large-scale manipulation of the planetary environment to counteract
anthropogenic climate change.
General-circulation models.
Greenhouse gases.
Atmospheric gases of natural (eg water) and anthropogenic origin (CFC’s) that absorb and
emit radiation at specific wavelengths within the spectrum of thermal infrared radiation
emitted by the Earth’s surface, the atmosphere itself and by clouds. This property causes the
greenhouse effect. 35
31
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/158162/deontological-ethics.
32
IPCC WG I (2007) The Physical Science Basis.
33
IPCC WG I (2007) The Physical Science Basis.
34
IPCC WG I (2007) The Physical Science Basis.
35
IPCC WG I (2007) The Physical Science Basis.
The Royal Society
Geoengineering the Climate I September 2009 I 77