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Definition of Terms Used Within the DDC Pages

Glossary H-I

Glossary of acronyms and specialised terms on the IPCC-DDC website.
The definitions shown here are from the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) working group glossaries: WGI, WGII and WGIII. The source working group is indicated on each definition.

A | B | C | D | E | F-G | H-I | J-K | L-M | N-O | P-Q | R | S | T | U-V | W-Z

HadCRUT3

Hadley Centre/Climatic Research Unit gridded surface temperature data set version 3

HTML

Hyper Text Mark-up Language

IAM

Integrated Assessment Model. Integrated assessment is a method of analysis that combines results and models from the physical, biological, economic, and social sciences, and the interactions among these components in a consistent framework to evaluate the status and the consequences of environmental change and the policy responses to it. WGIII

IAMC

Integrated Assessment Modelling Consortium

IAV

Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability.

IGBP

International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme

IHDP

International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change

Illustrative Scenario

See Scenario (Illustrative)

Impact Assessment (climate change)

The practice of identifying and evaluating, in monetary and/or non-monetary terms, the effects of climate change on natural and human systems. WGII

Impacts (Consequences, Outcomes)

Effects on natural and human systems. In the WGII AR5 report, the term impacts is used primarily to refer to the effects on natural and human systems of extreme weather and climate events and of climate change. Impacts generally refer to effects on lives, livelihoods, health, ecosystems, economies, societies, cultures, services, and infrastructure due to the interaction of climate changes or hazardous climate events occurring within a specific time period and the vulnerability of an exposed society or system. Impacts are also referred to as consequences and outcomes. The impacts of climate change on geophysical systems, including floods, droughts, and sea level rise, are a subset of impacts called physical impacts. WGII

Industrial Revolution

A period of rapid industrial growth with far-reaching social and economic consequences, beginning in England during the second half of the 18th century and spreading to Europe and later to other countries including the United States. The invention of the steam engine was an important trigger of this development. The industrial revolution marks the beginning of a strong increase in the use of fossil fuels and emissions of, in particular, fossil carbon dioxide. In the AR4 and AR5, the term pre-industrial and industrial refer, somewhat arbitrarily, to the periods before and after 1750, respectively. WGIII

IPCC

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

IPCC-DDC

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change-Data Distribution Centre

IS92

Illustrative Scenarios 1992, see SRES scenarios.

IS92

IPCC Scenarios 1992, see SRES scenarios.