Climate Vocab Flashcards

Front

Consensus

Back

General agreement among a group of people.

Front

Skepticism

Back

Doubt or questioning attitude towards something.

Front

Obliquity

Back

How tilted the Earth is. A change in obliquity is when the Earth's tilt is more or less than it is today.

Front

Axial Tilt

Back

The angle at which a planet's axis is tilted from vertical.

Front

Axial Precession

Back

The change in the direction the Earth is tilted.

Right now, our North Pole is pointed towards a particular point in the sky (Towards the Polaris Star) but it has changed in the past and will change in the future!

Front

Eccentricity

Back

How much an orbit deviates from being a perfect circle.

Front

Positive Feedback Loop

Back

A process where a change causes more of the same change.

Makes an overall "amplifying" effect

Front

Negative Feedback Loop

Back

A process where a change causes the opposite change to happen.

Usually creates an overall "balancing" effect. While one thing increases, something else decreases it- leading to a balance.

Front

Feedback Loop

Back

A system where the output affects the input, creating a cycle.

Front

Equator

Back

An imaginary line around the middle of the Earth, dividing it into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.