Cryosphere glossary
climate variability
(1) in the most general sense, the term climate variability denotes the inherent characteristic of climate which manifests itself in changes with time; the degree of climate variability can be described by the differences between long-term statistics of meteorological elements calculated for different periods, (in this sense, the measure of climate variability is the same as the measure of climate change) (2) the term climate variability is often used to denote deviations of climate statistics over a given period of time (such as a specific month, season or year) from the long-term climate statistics relating to the corresponding calendar period; (in this sense, climate variability is measured by those deviations, which are usually termed anomalies).
climatological atlas
atlas composed mainly of climatological charts; it represents especially the monthly and annual distributions of the principal climatic elements of a specific region for a relatively long period.
climatology
the scientific study of climate; the aspect of meteorology which studies processes of climate formation, distribution of climates over the globe, analysis of the causes of differences of climate (physical climatology), and the application of climatic data to the solution of specific design or operational problems (applied climatology); climatology may be further subdivided according to purpose or point of view: agricultural climatology, air-mass climatology, aviation climatology, bioclimatology, dynamic climatology, medical climatology, macroclimatology, mesoclimatology, microclimatology, paleoclimatology, synoptic climatology, etc..
close cavity ice
ice formed in a closed space, cavity or cave in permafrost.
close pack ice
composed of close ice that is mostly in contact; ice cover 7/10ths to 9/10ths.
closed talik
a layer or body of unfrozen ground occupying a depression in the permafrost table below a lake or river.
closed-system freezing
freezing that occurs under conditions that preclude the gain or loss of any water by the system.
closed-system pingo
a pingo formed by doming of frozen ground due to freezing of injected water supplied by expulsion of pore water during permafrost aggradation in the closed talik under a former water body.
cloud
a hydrometeor consisting of a visible aggregate of minute particles of liquid water or ice, or both, suspended in the free air and usually not touching the earth's surface; it may also include larger particles of liquid water or ice (precipitation particles) and non-aqueous liquid or solid particles such as those present in fumes, smoke and dust (aerosols); cloudiness is the same as cloud cover; but usually it is used in a very general sense.
cloud amount
that portion of the sky cover which is attributed to clouds; the unit of measurement is the okta or tenths (meaning one-eighth or one-tenth) of the sky dome as seen by the observer.
coefficient of compressibility
decrease in volume per unit volume of a substance resulting from a unit increase in pressure, under isothermic conditions.
cold front
any non-occluded front that moves in such a way so that colder air replaces warmer air; the leading edge of a relatively cold air mass.
cold glacier
glacier in which most of the ice is below the pressure melting point; nonetheless, the glacier's surface may be susceptible to melt due to incoming solar radiation, and the ice at the rock/ice interface may be warmed as a result of the natural (geothermal) heat from the earth's surface.
cold low
at a given level in the atmosphere, any low that is generally characterized by colder air near its center than around its periphery; the opposite of a warm low.
cold pole
the location that has the lowest annual mean temperature in its hemisphere.
collapse scar
that portion of a peatland where the whole or part of a palsa or peat plateau has thawed and collapsed to the level of the surrounding peatland.
composite wedge
a wedge showing evidence of both primary and secondary filling.
compression flow
flow that occurs when glacier motion is decelerating down-slope.
condensation
the physical process by which a vapor becomes a liquid or solid; the opposite of evaporation; in meteorological usage, this term is applied only to transformation from vapor to liquid; any process in which a solid forms directly from its vapor is termed sublimation, as is the reverse process.
conduction
the transport of energy entirely resulting from the random motions of individual molecules, and not from any concerted group movement; occurs in response to temperature gradients; contrasts with convection, in which energy is transported by molecules moving together in coherent groups.