Ia-Im

 

IABO

Abbreviation for International Association for Biological Oceanography. See the IABO Web site.

 

IABP

Abbreviation for the International Arctic Buoy Program, a network of automatic data buoys for monitoring synoptic-scale fields of pressure, temperature and ice motion throughout the Arctic Basin. See the IABP Web site.

 

IAMAP

Abbreviation for International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics. A member of the ICSU.

 

Iapetus Ocean

A paleogeographic term for the ocean that lay between Baltica and Laurentia during the late Precambrian and early Paleozoic. It was subducted during the early Paleozoic and is thought to have disappeared completely by the Late Silurian-early Devonian (around 400 Ma).

 

IAPSO

Abbreviation for International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Ocean. A member of the ICSU. See the IAPSO Web site.

 

IBCCA

Abbreviation for International Bathymetric Chart of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, an ocean mapping activity of the IOC.

 

IBCEA

Abbreviation for International Bathymetric Chart of the Central Eastern Atlantic, an ocean mapping activity of the IOC.

 

IBCM

Abbreviation for International Bathymetric Chart of the Mediterranean and Its Geological and Geophysical Series, a series of 1:250,000 maps of the bathymetric, geological and geophysical characteristics of the Mediterrean Sea area. This is an activity of the IOC.

 

IBCWIO

Abbreviation for International Bathymetric Chart of the Western Indian Ocean, an ocean mapping activity of the IOC.

 

IBCWP

Abbreviation for International Bathymetric Chart for the Western Pacific, an ocean mapping activity of the IOC.

 

ICAIR

Abbreviation for the International Center for Antarctic Information and Research, located at the International Antarctic Center in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is primarily concerned with assembling, processing and supplying research and general information relating to Antarctica. More information can be found at the ICAIR Web site.

 

ICE

Acronym for International Cirrus Experiment. See Raschke et al. (1990).

 

ice age

More later.

 

ice-albedo feedback

A feedback mechanism wherein an increase in the area covered by snow and ice causes, by reflecting a greater percentage of the incoming solar radiation than did the surface it now covers, an increase in the surface albedo. This in turn causes a decrease in temperature which is conducive to yet another increase in the area covered by snow and ice. This positive feedback mechanism also applies if the initial perturbation is a decrease in snow and ice area, causing more solar radiation to be absorbed, more snow and ice to melt, etc.

 

ice sheet

A glacier forming a continuous cover over a land surface or resting on a continental shelf. It is generally defined as having a minimum area of 50,000 square kilometers.

 

iceberg

More later.

 

Icelandic low

A center of action between Greenland and Iceland and extending to the Canadian Arctic over Baffin Island. It persists year round with some variation in intensity, extent, and central location. The center has a mean surface pressure of around 994 mb in January. See Angell and Korshover (1974).

 

ICES

Acronym for International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, a scientific forum for the exchange of information and ideas on the sea and its living resources and for the promotion and coordination of marine research by scientists within its member countries. See the ICES Web site.

 

ICESS

Abbreviation for Institute for Computational Earth System Science, an institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara where Earth and computer science are strongly coupled. See the ICESS Web site.

 

ICOIN

Acronym for the Canadian Inland Waters, Coastal and Ocean Information Network. See the ICOIN Web site.

 

ICONS

Acronym for Integrated Cobweb of Natural and Social Trends, a web being developed at PIK. See the ICONS Web page for further details.

 

ICPO

Abbreviation for the International CLIVAR Project Office.

 

ICRCCM

Abbreviation for Intercomparison of Radiation Codes in Climate Models project. See Ellingson and Fouquart (1991).

 

ICSU

Abbreviation for International Council of Scientific Unions. See the ICSU Web site.

 

ICW

Abbreviation for Indian Central Water.

 

ideal gas law

A simplifed equation of state that can be used to relate the pressure, density and temperature of gases in a dry atmosphere. The law can be stated as

where P is the pressure, the density and T the temperature. is the gas constant for dry air and equal to 287.053 JK kg or 0.287053 kPaK m kg . This can also be used for calculations with moist air via the virtual temperature concept.

 

IDN

Abbreviation for International Directory Network, an international effort by CEOS to assist researchers in locating information on available data sets. It provides free, on-line access to information on worldwide scientific data including Earth sciences, space physics, solar physics, planetary science and astronomy/astrophysics. See the IDN Web site for further information.

 

IDOE

Abbreviation for International Decade of Ocean Exploration.

 

IEIS

Abbreviation for Integrated Earth Information Server, a concept for distributing weather information to sites in other parts of the campus and the surrounding region. A prototype IEIS system is operated at the Unidata Program Center. See the IEIS Web site.

 

IES

Abbreviation for Inverted Echo Sounder.

 

IGAC

Acronym for International Global Atmospheric Chemistry program, an IGBP project, the goals of which are to develop a fundamental understanding of the processes that determine atmospheric composition, the understand the interactions between atmospheric chemical composition and physical, biospheric and climatic processes, and to predict the impact of natural and anthropogenic forcings on the chemical composition of the atmosphere. See the IGAC Web site.

 

IGAP

Acronym for International Global Aerosol Program. See Deepak and Vali (1991).

 

IGBP

Acronym for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program, a program sponsored by the ICSU to describe and understand the interactive physical, chemical and biological processes that regulate the total earth system, the unique environment that it provides for life, the changes that are occuring in this system and the mannger in which they are influenced by human activities. The IGBP comprises several subprograms, including DIS, GAIM, JGOFS, and PAGES. More information can be found at the IGBP Web site.

 

IGBP-DIS

Abbreviation for IGBP Data and Information System, an IGBP component whose role is to assist IGBP Core Projects in the development of their individual data system plans, help provide an overall data system plan for IGBP, carry out activities leading directly to the generation of data sets, ensure the development of effective data management systems, and act to ensure the meeting of the data and information needs of IGBP through international organizations and agences. See the IGBP-DIS Web site.

 

IGOSS

Acronym for the Integrated Global Ocean Services System. See the IGOSS Web site.

 

IGPO

Abbreviation for International GEWEX Project Office, the focal point for the planning and implementation of all GEWEX projects and activities. See the IGPO Web site for further information.

 

IGPP

Abbreviation for the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, a University of California system wide network of research facilities concerned with research in the areas of global seismology, marine seismology and geodesy, geodynamics, high frequency seismology, geomagnetism, nonlinear dynamics, geophysical fluid dynamics, inverse methods, acoustical oceanography, etc. There are IGPP branches at La Jolla (linked to SIO), Riverside, Los Angeles, and at the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories.

 

IHB

Abbreviation for International Hydrographic Bureau.

 

IHDP

Abbreviation for the International Human Dimensions Program, a program of the IBGP conceived as an integrated interdisciplinary and international framework for research on social processes relevant to global environmental change. The IHDP studies such issues as land use and land cover change, the evolution and transformation of industry, energy use, and the interaction between population and demography and use of all natural resources. See the IHDP Web page.

 

IHO

Abbreviation for International Hydrographic Organization.

 

ILAS

Acronym for the Improved Limb Atmospheric Spectrometer, an instrument for monitoring and studying polar stratospheric ozone concentrations. This instrument will fly on the ADEOS mission.

 

Illinoian

The Scandinavian name for the Saale glacial period.

 

IMDC

Abbreviation for Irish Marine Data Center. See the IMDC Web site.

 

IMG

Abbreviation for Interferometric Monitor for Greenhouse Gases, an instrument for monitoring the Earth's radiation balance, the temperature profile of the atmosphere, the temperature of the Earth's surface, and physical properties of clouds. Detailed spectra of thermal infrared radiation from the Earth's surface and atmosphere will be used to infer atmospheric concentrations of water vapor and other greenhouse gases. This instrument will fly on the ADEOS mission.

 

implicit scheme

In numerical modeling, an integration algorithm that temporally advances an approximate solution via discrete steps using information from present as well as from previous time steps. These are computationally more complex than explicit schemes but allow longer time stepping intervals and usually have better numerical stability properties. See Kowalik and Murty (1993).