agriculture: The growth of plants, animals or fungi for human needs, including food, fuel, chemicals and medicine.
Atlantic: One of the world’s five oceans, it is second in size only to the Pacific. It separates Europe and Africa to the east from North and South America to the west.
atmosphere: The envelope of gases surrounding Earth, another planet or a moon.
circulation: (adj. circulatory) A term that refers to the pumping of some fluid repeatedly throughout a system of vessels or currents.
climate: The weather conditions that typically exist in one area, in general, or over a long period.
coauthor: One of a group (two or more people) who together had prepared a written work, such as a book, report or research paper. Not all coauthors may have contributed equally.
current: A fluid — such as of water or air — that moves in a recognizable direction.
data: Facts and/or statistics collected together for analysis but not necessarily organized in a way that gives them meaning. For digital information (the type stored by computers), those data typically are numbers stored in a binary code, portrayed as strings of zeros and ones.
Greenland: The world’s largest island, Greenland sits between the Arctic Ocean and North Atlantic. Although it is technically part of North America (sitting just east of Northern Canada), Greenland has been linked more politically to Europe. Indeed, Vikings arrived in Greenland around the 10th century, and for a time the island was a colony of Denmark. In June 2009, Greenland became an independent nation. Ice covers roughly 80 percent of Greenland. Indeed, the Greenland ice sheet is the world’s largest. If its frozen water were to melt, it could raise sea levels around the world by 6 meters (about 20 feet). Although this is the 12th biggest nation (based on surface area), Greenland averages the fewest people per square kilometer of its surface area.
oceanographer: Someone who works in the branch of science that deals with the physical and biological properties and phenomena of the oceans.
physical: (adj.) A term for things that exist in the real world, as opposed to in memories or the imagination. It can also refer to properties of materials that are due to their size and non-chemical interactions (such as when one block slams with force into another).
precipitation: (in meteorology) A term for water falling from the sky. It can be in any form, from rain and sleet to snow or hail.
probability: A mathematical calculation or assessment (essentially the chance) of how likely something is to occur.
risk: The chance or mathematical likelihood that some bad thing might happen. For instance, exposure to radiation poses a risk of cancer. Or the hazard — or peril — itself. (For instance: Among cancer risks that the people faced were radiation and drinking water tainted with arsenic.)
satellite: A moon orbiting a planet or a vehicle or other manufactured object that orbits some celestial body in space.
sea: An ocean (or region that is part of an ocean). Unlike lakes and streams, seawater — or ocean water — is salty.
tipping point: A point at which some action leads to a disproportionately large or irreversible change in a process, impact or attitude.
tropics: The region near Earth’s equator. Temperatures here are generally warm to hot, year-round.
wave: A disturbance or variation that travels through space and matter in a regular, oscillating fashion.