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A negative feedback loop is a process where a change in a system causes an effect that offsets the initial alteration, leading to stabilization or diminishment of the change. In climatology, it refers to mechanisms that could reduce the severity of climate change or weather effects, such as increased cloud cover cooling the Earth's surface.

La Niña is the cool phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) characterized by colder than average ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific. It influences global climate and can lead to increased rainfall in some regions and drought in others.

The Coriolis Effect is the deflection of moving air or water due to Earth's rotation, which affects wind and ocean current patterns. In the Northern Hemisphere, this deflection is to the right, and in the Southern Hemisphere, it is to the left. It is a fundamental concept for understanding global wind patterns in climatology.

The cryosphere encompasses all of Earth’s frozen water including ice sheets, glaciers, ice caps, icebergs, sea ice, and permafrost. The existence of the cryosphere plays a fundamental part in the global climate system by affecting surface albedo, sea levels, and ocean circulation.

The troposphere is the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere and extends from the Earth's surface up to about 10-15 kilometers. It is where most of our weather occurs and it contains approximately 75% of the atmosphere's mass. Understanding its dynamics is essential for meteorology and climatology.

Insolation stands for incoming solar radiation and refers to the amount of solar energy received by a given area within a set amount of time, typically expressed in watts per square meter. It varies by location and season and is a fundamental concept for understanding Earth's climate patterns.

Anthropogenic refers to the effects and processes that are derived from human activities, as opposed to those occurring in natural environments without human influence. In climatology, it often relates to human-induced changes in the climate and is central to the study of global warming and climate change.

Atmospheric pressure is the force exerted onto a surface by the weight of the air above that surface in the atmosphere of Earth. Changes in atmospheric pressure can indicate different weather conditions and are used to predict short-term weather patterns and study climatic trends.

Thermohaline circulation refers to the large-scale ocean circulation driven by global density gradients created by surface heat and freshwater fluxes. It is essential for transferring heat from the equator towards the poles and for cycling nutrients in the ocean.

A jet stream is a fast flowing, narrow air current found in the atmospheres of some planets, including Earth. These high-altitude winds have a strong influence on weather patterns and climatic conditions, and their shifts can have major impacts on climatic zones.

The Keeling Curve is a graph that represents the ongoing change in concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere since the 1950s. It is based on continuous measurements taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. This curve is important evidence showing the increase in greenhouse gases due to human activities.

Specific humidity is the ratio of the mass of water vapor to the total mass of the air parcel. It measures the actual amount of water vapor in the air, regardless of the air's temperature, and is important for understanding atmospheric moisture content, which impacts cloud formation and weather patterns.

Advection is the horizontal transport of properties in the atmosphere, such as heat, humidity, or pollutants, by the wind. Advection plays an important role in determining local weather patterns and is taken into account for weather predictions and climate models.

Climatic feedback refers to a secondary process that either amplifies or diminishes the effect of a primary force or process, such as increased atmospheric CO2 levels. Feedbacks are essential to the understanding of the climate system and can lead to either stabilizing or runaway effects depending on their nature (negative or positive).

Climate sensitivity represents the equilibrium change in the average temperature of the Earth's surface that would result from a sustained change in radiative forcing, such as a doubling of the atmospheric CO2 concentration. It is crucial in predicting how the climate system will respond to anthropogenic emissions.

Eddy diffusivity is a concept used to parameterize the transport and mixing of atmospheric properties like heat, water vapor, and momentums due to turbulent eddies. In climatology, it helps to model the exchange of properties in the atmosphere when direct numerical simulation of all eddies is not feasible.

El Niño is a climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. It significantly impacts global weather and climate patterns, leading to extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, and disturbances in jet streams.

Radiative forcing is the change in energy balance of the Earth's atmosphere as a result of factors such as changes in greenhouse gas concentrations and solar output. It quantifies the influence a factor has in altering the balance of incoming and outgoing energy in the Earth-atmosphere system and is a fundamental concept in understanding climate change.

A positive feedback loop in climatology is a process in which a change in a weather or climate condition causes effects that induce further changes in the same direction. For instance, melting of sea ice decreases albedo, which accelerates warming and further ice melt. Understanding such loops is critical for modeling and predicting climate change.

The urban heat island effect is the phenomenon where urban or metropolitan areas are significantly warmer than their surrounding rural areas due to human activities. It is caused by factors such as modification of land surfaces and waste heat from energy usage. This concept is vital in urban climatology and for understanding impacts on energy consumption and health.

The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from a planet's atmosphere warms the planet's surface to a temperature above what it would be without its atmosphere. This process is critical for maintaining Earth's climate and supports life by keeping the planet's surface warm.

The carbon cycle is the series of processes by which carbon compounds are interconverted in the environment, including the incorporation of carbon dioxide into living tissue by photosynthesis and its return to the atmosphere through respiration, the burning of fossil fuels, and decay of organic matter. The study of the carbon cycle is important in understanding the Earth’s climate system.

Albedo refers to the fraction of solar energy (shortwave radiation) reflected from the Earth back into space. It is a measure of how reflective the Earth's surface is and plays a critical role in the Earth's energy balance, affecting both climate and weather patterns.

Paleoclimatology is the study of changes in climate taken on the scale of the entire history of Earth. It uses evidence from ice sheets, tree rings, sediment, and rocks to determine the past state of the climate system. This field is critical for understanding the natural variability of Earth’s climate and for contextualizing current climate change.