Glossary of Climate Change

Glacial earthquake -large scale tremblors that occur in glaciated areas where the glacier moves faster than one kilometer per year.
Global cooling - conjecture during the 1970s of imminent cooling of the Earth's surface and atmosphere along with a posited commencement of glaciation.
Global climate model, also General Circulation Model or GCM - a computer model of the world's climate system, including the atmosphere and oceans.
Global dimming - the observed decrease in surface insolation, that may have recently reversed.
Global warming (GW) - usually: the warming trend over the past century or so; also: any period in which the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere increases; also the theory of such changes.
Global warming controversy - socio-political issues surrounding the theory of global warming.
Global warming period - any period in which the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere increases.
Global warming potential - a measure of how much a given mass of greenhouse gas is estimated to contribute to global warming.
Greenhouse effect - both natural and anthropogenic
Greenhouse gas - gasses that cause the greenhouse effect.
Greenhouse gas inventory - a type of emission inventory that includes greenhouse gas emissions from source categories as well as removal by carbon sinks.
Gulf Stream - a powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico, exits through the Strait of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean.