The National Assessment Overview and Foundation Reports were produced  by the National Assessment Synthesis Team, an advisory committee chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, and were not subjected to OSTP's Information Quality Act Guidelines. The National Assessment was forwarded to the President and Congress in November 2000 for their consideration.

CO2 Fertilization Effect.  Increase in rate of plant growth due to increasing carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere; occurs because plants use the carbon in CO 2 to build their tissues, as long as sufficient water and nutrients are present

El Niño.  Periodic warming of surface ocean water in the eastern equatorial Pacific that affects weather patterns around the world

El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The phenomenon of periodic changes in sea surface temperature in the equatorial Pacific made up of the warm El Niño phase and the cool La Niña phase

Eutrophication.  Over-nourishing of algae in lakes (due to agricultural and urban runoff and other sources of nutrients) that depletes the water of oxygen to the detriment of other living things

La Niña.  Periodic cooling of surface ocean water in the eastern equatorial Pacific that affects weather patterns around the world

Managed Ecosystems.  Ecosystems that are maintained by substantial human inputs of energy and materials (such as fertilizer and water); examples include agriculture, forest plantations, and fish farms

Net Primary Productivity (NPP).  The net amount of carbon fixed by green plants through the process of photosynthesis.

Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO).  Recently-discovered pattern of climate variation that changes phase every few decades and affects weather patterns in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and Pacific Islands

Subsidence.  Sinking of land surface caused by natural factors such as tectonic shifts or by human activities such as groundwater withdrawals or oil and gas extraction

Tundra. Treeless plains in the arctic and subarctic regions in which the ground below the surface is frozen year-round

Taiga.  Swampy, coniferous subarctic evergreen forest extending south from the tundra

Tropical Storms and Cyclones.  Tropical storms originate over tropical oceans and have sustained winds between 30 and 73 miles per hour. If their sustained winds exceed 73 miles per hour, they become tropical cyclones. Tropical cyclones are known as hurricanes if they are in the North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, or in the Eastern North Pacific (east of the date-line); they are known as typhoons if they are outside of these areas (west of the dateline).

Vector.  An organism, such as a mosquito or tick, that directly transmits a disease such as malaria, dengue, or Lyme disease

GtC: Gigatonnes of carbon (billions of metric tons)

SST: Sea surface temperature Models

CGCM1: version 1 of the Canadian Global Coupled Model from the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis. In this report, the results from this model are referred to as the Canadian model scenario.

DOE PCM: Department of Energy Parallel Climate Model

ECHAM4/OPYC3: Developed by Max-Plank-Institut fur Meteorologie (MPI) and Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum (DKRZ, translated as German Climate Computing Center), the name ECHAM comes from the first two letters of ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) and the first three letters of Hamburg. The name OPYC is short for Ocean and isoPYCnal coordinates.

GFDL: Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory

HadCM2: version 2 of the Hadley Centre Coupled Model from the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research of the United Kingdom Meteorological Office. In this report, the results from this model are referred to as the Hadley model scenario.

MAPSS: Mapped Atmosphere-Plant-Soil System

NCAR CSM: National Center for Atmospheric Research Climate System Model

PnET: Photosynthesis and evapotranspiration model

TEM: Terrestrial Ecosystem Model

VEMAP: Vegetation/Ecosystem Modeling and Analysis Project