Paleoenvironmental Standard Terms (PaST) thesaurus
This file contains concepts, labels, and relationships that make up the Paleoenvironmental Standard Terms (PaST) thesaurus. This representation of the thesaurus follows the Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) data model and has Resource Description Framework (RDF) syntax. This file gives a snapshot of the thesaurus as of the date tagged in the SKOS ConceptScheme. Additional documentation as well as archived, static versions of the thesaurus are available at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/31892. Please cite the preceding URL, the publication listed at that URL, and the date accessed when referencing the thesaurus.
the description of what was measured.
what
the material on which measurements were made or from which reconstructions were created.
material
measures of the temporally-variable uncertainty that applies to the measured value.
error
the units of measurement.
unit
the specific part of the annual cycle explicitly reconstructed from raw values.
seasonality
the NOAA NCEI and WDS-Paleo proxy or reconstruction type.
data type
alterations or transformations made to the raw data.
detail
techniques, methods, procedures, or strategies for collection or analysis of scientific information (Credit: USGS thesaurus)
method
a specification of whether data are character-based or numeric.
data format
a three month period that spans the months of January to March.
Jan-Mar
a three month period that spans the months of February to April.
Feb-Apr
a three month period that spans the months of March to May.
Mar-May
a three month period that spans the months of April to June.
Apr-Jun
a three month period that spans the months of May to July.
May-Jul
a three month period that spans the months of June to August.
Jun-Aug
a three month period that spans the months of July to September.
Jul-Sep
a three month period that spans the months of August to October.
Aug-Oct
a three month period that spans the months of September to November.
Sep-Nov
a three month period that spans the months of October to December.
Oct-Dec
a three month period that spans the months of November to January.
Nov-Jan
a three month period that spans the months of December to February.
Dec-Feb
a unit which is a standard measure of the average kinetic energy of the particles in a sample of matter (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
temperature unit
a temperature unit which is equal to one kelvin degree. However, they have their zeros at different points. The centigrade scale has its zero at 273.15 K (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
degree Celsius
Celsius
degree C
a thermodynamic temperature unit which is equal to the fraction 1/273.16 of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
kelvin
a reconstructed seasonality that consists of an average of twelve consecutive months of the calendar year.
annual
a reconstructed seasonality that consists of one month of the calendar year.
1-month period
a reconstructed seasonality that consists of two consecutive months of the calendar year.
2-month period
a reconstructed seasonality that consists of three consecutive months of the calendar year.
3-month period
a reconstructed seasonality that consists of four consecutive months of the calendar year.
4-month period
a reconstructed seasonality that consists of six consecutive months of the calendar year.
6-month period
a four month period that spans the months of January to April.
Jan-Apr
a four month period that spans the months of February to May.
Feb-May
a four month period that spans the months of March to June.
Mar-Jun
a four month period that spans the months of April to July.
Apr-Jul
a four month period that spans the months of May to August.
May-Aug
a four month period that spans the months of June to September.
Jun-Sep
a four month period that spans the months of July to October.
Jul-Oct
a four month period that spans the months of August to November.
Aug-Nov
a four month period that spans the months of September to December.
Sep-Dec
a four month period that spans the months of October to January.
Oct-Jan
a four month period that spans the months of November to February.
Nov-Feb
a four month period that spans the months of December to March.
Dec-Mar
a six month period that spans the months of January to June.
Jan-Jun
a six month period that spans the months of February to July.
Feb-Jul
a six month period that spans the months of March to August.
Mar-Aug
a six month period that spans the months of April to September.
Apr-Sep
a six month period that spans the months of May to October.
May-Oct
a six month period that spans the months of June to November.
Jun-Nov
a six month period that spans the months of July to December.
Jul-Dec
a six month period that spans the months of August to January.
Aug-Jan
a six month period that spans the months of September to February.
Sep-Feb
a six month period that spans the months of October to March.
Oct-Mar
a six month period that spans the months of November to April.
Nov-Apr
a six month period that spans the months of December to May.
Dec-May
a two month period that spans the months of January and February.
Jan-Feb
a two month period that spans the months of February and March.
Feb-Mar
a two month period that spans the months of March and April.
Mar-Apr
a two month period that spans the months of April and May.
Apr-May
a two month period that spans the months of May and June.
May-Jun
a two month period that spans the months of June and July.
Jun-Jul
a two month period that spans the months of July and August.
Jul-Aug
a two month period that spans the months of August and September.
Aug-Sep
a two month period that spans the months of September and October.
Sep-Oct
a two month period that spans the months of October and November.
Oct-Nov
a two month period that spans the months of November and December.
Nov-Dec
a two month period that spans the months of December and January.
Dec-Jan
a one month period that spans the month of January.
Jan
a one month period that spans the month of February.
Feb
a one month period that spans the month of March.
Mar
a one month period that spans the month of April.
Apr
a one month period that spans the month of May.
May
a one month period that spans the month of June.
Jun
a one month period that spans the month of July.
Jul
a one month period that spans the month of August.
Aug
a one month period that spans the month of September.
Sep
a one month period that spans the month of October.
Oct
a one month period that spans the month of November.
Nov
a one month period that spans the month of December.
Dec
a twelve month period that spans the months of January to December.
Jan-Dec
a twelve month period that spans the months of February to January.
Feb-Jan
a twelve month period that spans the months of March to February.
Mar-Feb
a twelve month period that spans the months of April to March.
Apr-Mar
a twelve month period that spans the months of May to April.
May-Apr
a twelve month period that spans the months of June to May.
Jun-May
a twelve month period that spans the months of July to June.
Jul-Jun
a twelve month period that spans the months of August to July.
Aug-Jul
a twelve month period that spans the months of September to August.
Sep-Aug
a twelve month period that spans the months of October to September.
Oct-Sep
a twelve month period that spans the months of November to October.
Nov-Oct
a twelve month period that spans the months of December to November.
Dec-Nov
a data type that includes measurements made on corals, sclerosponges, or coralline algae.
corals and sclerosponges
a data type that includes measurements made on land-based ice.
ice cores
a data type that includes measurements made on lake or bog deposits.
paleolimnology
a data type that includes measurements on ocean sediment cores and other materials collected from the marine environment.
paleoceanography
a data type that quantifies past climatic or climate-dependent conditions that are derived, or 'reconstructed,' from paleoclimate proxy measurements.
climate reconstructions
a data type that includes measurements made on cave deposits.
speleothems
a data format that can contain any character present in the Unicode set.
a data format that contains only numbers or the missing value indicator.
an error estimate that measures the span of values likely to contain the true value at a specified confidence level.
confidence interval
a measure of the amount of variation or dispersion across a group of data values.
standard deviation
a data type that consists of direct measurements of subsurface temperature from boreholes drilled into materials such as rock and glacier ice.
borehole
a data type that includes measurements made to deduce the past history of fire, whether from tree rings, sediment, or other natural archives.
fire history
a data type that includes measurements made on the rings of trees.
tree ring
a length unit which is equal to one hundredth of a meter or 10^[-2] m (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
centimeter
centimetre
a length unit which is equal to the length of the path traveled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
meter
metre
a length unit which is equal to one millionth of a meter or 10^[-6] m (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
micrometer
micrometre
micron
a length unit which is equal to one thousandth of a meter or 10^[-3] m (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
millimeter
millimetre
a length unit which is equal to one thousandth of one millionth of a meter or 10^[-9] m (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
nanometer
nanometre
an age unit of years for the Julian and Gregorian calendars relative to the start of the present era. Times prior to the start of the present era are expressed as negative values.
year Common Era
year AD
years AD
yr AD
yrs AD
an age unit of years, calibrated to actual years if derived from radiocarbon dating, before present with present defined as 1950 Common Era. Times after 1950 CE are expressed as negative values.
calendar year before present
year BP
yr BP
yrs BP
a parts per thousand unit, often used directly to refer to isotopic ratios and calculated by calculating the ratio of isotopic concentrations in a sample and in a standard, subtracting one and multiplying by one thousand.
per mil
per mill
per mille
permil
a parts per notation unit which denotes the amount of a given substance in a total amount of 1,000,000 regardless of the units of measure used as long as they are the same or 1 part in 10^[6] (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
parts per million
ppm
a parts per notation unit which denotes the amount of a given substance in a total amount of 1,000,000,000 regardless of the units of measure as long as they are the same or 1 part in 10^[9] (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
parts per billion
ppb
a concentration unit that denotes numbers as fractions of 100 (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
percent
per cent
a percent unit that denotes the weight of a substance in a mixture as a percentage of the weight of the entire mixture.
weight percent
weight %
weight per cent
wt %
wt per cent
wt percent
a per mil unit calculated using the isotopic concentration of standard air.
per mil AIR
per mill AIR
per mille AIR
permil AIR
a per mil unit calculated using the isotopic concentration of standard PeeDee belemnite.
per mil PDB
per mill PDB
per mille PDB
permil PDB
a per mil unit calculated using the isotopic concentration of standard Vienna PeeDee belemnite.
per mil VPDB
per mill VPDB
per mille VPDB
permil VPDB
a per mil unit calculated using the isotopic concentration of Standard Mean Ocean Water.
per mil SMOW
per mill SMOW
per mille SMOW
permil SMOW
a per mil unit calculated using the isotopic concentration of standard Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water.
per mil VSMOW
per mill VSMOW
per mille VSMOW
permil VSMOW
any coral that belongs to the genus Pocillopora.
Pocillopora sp.
any coral that belongs to the genus Porites.
Porites sp.
any coral that belongs to the genus Acropora.
Acropora sp.
any sclerosponge that belongs to the genus Ceratoporella.
Ceratoporella sp.
any coral that belongs to the genus Diploastrea.
Diploastrea sp.
any coral that belongs to the genus Diploria, commonly known as brain corals.
Diploria sp.
any coral that belongs to the genus Kulamanamana.
Kulamanamana sp.
any coral that belongs to the genus Montastraea.
Montastraea sp.
any coral that belongs to the genus Orbicella.
Orbicella sp.
any coral that belongs to the genus Pavona.
Pavona sp.
any coral that belongs to the genus Platygyra.
Platygyra sp.
any coral that belongs to the genus Siderastrea.
Siderastrea sp.
any coral that belongs to the genus Solenastrea.
Solenastrea sp.
a particular species of the Acropora genus that is commonly known as the elkhorn coral.
Acropora palmata
a particular species of the genus Ceratoporella.
Ceratoporella nicholsoni
a particular species of the Diploastrea genus that is commonly known as double-star coral.
Diploastrea heliopora
a particular species of the Diploria genus that is commonly known as grooved brain coral.
Diploria labyrinthiformis
a particular species of the genus Pseudodiploria that is commonly known as symmetrical brain coral.
Pseudodiploria strigosa
Diploria strigosa
a particular species of the genus Kulamanamana that is commonly known as Hawaiian gold coral.
Kulamanamana haumeaae
Gerardia sp.
a particular species of the genus Orbicella that is commonly known as the mountainous star coral.
Orbicella faveolata
Montastraea faveolata
a particular species of the genus Pavona that is commonly known as the leaf coral.
Pavona clavus
Pavona gigantea
a particular species of the genus Platygyra that is commonly known as the lesser valley coral.
Platygyra lamellina
a particular species of the genus Porites that is commonly known as the yellow porites or the mustard hill coral.
Porites astreoides
a particular species of the genus Porites that is commonly known as the hump coral.
Porites australiensis
a particular species of the genus Porites that is commonly known as the lobe coral.
Porites lobata
a particular species of the genus Porites that is commonly known as the hump coral or the pore coral.
Porites lutea
a particular species of the genus Porites that is commonly known as the hump coral or boulder coral.
Porites solida
a particular species of the genus Siderastrea that is commonly known as the massive starlet coral.
Siderastrea siderea
a particular species of the genus Solenastrea that is commonly known as the smooth star coral.
Solenastrea bournoni
a material derived from a living thing.
biological material
a material that consists of liquid or frozen water.
hydrologic material
a material that consists of minerals, rocks, and unconsolidated materials such as soils and sediments.
geological material
a material derived from the atmosphere.
atmospheric material
a bulk geological material that consists of particles that settle to the bottom of a liquid, such as a lake or the ocean.
sediment
microscopic bubbles of liquid or gas that are trapped within crystals.
fluid inclusion
a measurement of a single element.
element or single-element molecule
a compound that either does not contain carbon, is of a non-biologic origin, cannot be found or incorporated into a living organism, or is one of a small class of simple molecules containing carbon (e.g., carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide).
inorganic compound
a chemical composition that relates to the amount of particular solutes dissolved in a solution.
solution property
a length unit which is equal to one thousand meters or 10^[3] m.
kilometer
kilometre
the age, either directly measured or inferred, of the midpoint of a sample.
age
the location of the midpoint of a sample measured as a distance from some datum, usually the core top.
depth
an identifiable organism that belongs to the kingdom Animalia, phylum Cnindaria.
coral
a unit which is a standard measure of the distance between two points (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
length unit
a unit which is a standard measure of the amount of matter/energy of a physical object (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
mass unit
a unit which is a standard measure of the dimension in which events occur in sequence (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
time unit
a unit which is a standardized quantity of an element or compound with uniform composition, with the SI unit being the mole (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
substance unit
a substance unit which is equal to the amount of substance of a molecular system which contains as many elementary entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kilogram of carbon 12 (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
mole
mol
a mass unit which is equal to one millionth of a gram or 10^[-6] g (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
microgram
a mass unit which is equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram kept by the BIPM at Svres, France (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
kilogram
a mass unit which is equal to one thousandth of a kilogram or 10^[-3] kg (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
gram
a substance unit equal to a thousandth of a mol or 10^[-3] mol (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
millimole
mmol
a substance unit equal to a millionth of a mol or 10^[-6] mol (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
micromole
umol
a duration unit that is equal to the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium 133 atom (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
second
a duration unit that is equal to 60 seconds.
minute
a duration unit that is equal to 24 hours.
day
a duration unit that is equal to 12 months which in science is taken to be equal to 365.25 days (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
year
a time unit that places the occurrence of an event relative to fixed reference point in time.
age unit
a time unit that measures the duration of a period of time.
duration unit
an age unit of 10^[9] years before present.
billion years ago
giga annum
an age unit of 10^[6] years before present.
million years ago
mega annum
a duration unit that is equal to 10^[3] years.
kiloyear
kilo annum
a chemical element with atomic number 58.
cerium
a chemical element with atomic number 29.
copper
a chemical element with atomic number 26.
iron
a chemical element with atomic number 57.
lanthanum
a chemical element with atomic number 25.
manganese
a chemical element with atomic number 60.
neodymium
a chemical element with atomic number 59.
praseodymium
praeseodymium
a chemical element with atomic number 38.
strontium
a chemical element with atomic number 90.
thorium
a chemical element with atomic number 22.
titanium
a chemical element with atomic number 39.
yttrium
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula Al2O3.
aluminum oxide
Al2O3
aluminum(III) oxide
an inorganic compound that is any of the oxides of iron, containing iron and oxygen atoms.
iron oxide
FeO
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula MgO.
magnesium oxide
MgO
a phosphorus oxide with the chemical formula P4O10.
phosphorus pentoxide
P2O5
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula SiO2.
silicon dioxide
SiO2
opal
silica
a chemical element with atomic number 30.
zinc
the elemental ratio of barium to calcium.
barium/calcium
Ba/Ca
the elemental ratio of boron to calcium.
boron/calcium
B/Ca
the ratio of two isotopes of boron, 11B/10B, in a sample compared to that of a standard, typically NIST SRM 951, as in: ((11B/10B sample)/(11B/10B standard) - 1) x 1000.
delta 11B
d11B
delta B11
the ratio of two isotopes of carbon, 13C/12C, in a sample compared to that of a standard, typically the Pee Dee Belemnite, as in: ((13C/12C sample)/(13C/12C standard) - 1) x 1000.
delta 13C
d13C
delta C13
the ratio of two isotopes of carbon, 14C/12C, in a sample compared to that of a standard, typically 19th century wood, as in: ((14C/12C sample)/(14C/12C standard) - 1) x 1000.
Delta 14C
D14C
Delta C14
the ratio of two isotopes of nitrogen, 15N/14N, in a sample compared to that of a standard, typically modern air ratios, as in: ((15N/14N sample)/(15N/14N standard) - 1) x 1000.
delta 15N
d15N
delta N15
the ratio of two isotopes of oxygen, 18O/16O, in a sample compared to that of a standard, typically either Pee Dee Belemnite or standard mean ocean water, as in: ((18O/16O sample)/(18O/16O standard) - 1) x 1000.
delta 18O
d18O
delta O18
the ratio of two isotopes of hydrogen, 2H/1H, in a sample compared to that of a standard, typically standard mean ocean water, as in: ((2H/1H sample)/(2H/1H standard) - 1) x 1000.
delta 2H
d2H
delta D
delta H2
the elemental ratio of lanthanum to cerium.
lanthanum/cerium
La/Ce
the elemental ratio of lanthanum to thorium.
lanthanum/thorium
La/Th
the elemental ratio of magnesium to calcium.
magnesium/calcium
Mg/Ca
the elemental ratio of strontium to calcium.
strontium/calcium
Sr/Ca
the elemental ratio of uranium to calcium.
uranium/calcium
U/Ca
an analysis method that applies mathematical techniques to numerical data.
computational method
mathematical methods
research procedures and instrumental means to measure, collect data and samples, and observe in the natural areas where the materials, phenomena, structures, or species being studied occur (Credit: USGS thesaurus).
field method
experimental techniques to analyze and test samples in a place equipped and designed for the work (Credit: USGS thesaurus).
laboratory method
a computational method that employs deterministic, mathematical expressions to represent a simplified view of real-world systems.
numerical simulation
numerical methods
a computational method that collects, analyzes, presents and/or interprets numerical data generally within a probabilistic framework.
statistical analysis method
geostatistics
a statistical analysis method that is based on the relationships of two or more related variables, allowing prediction of values of one variable when values of any other related variable(s) are given.
regression analysis
correlation
a laboratory method that is used to separate or partition the components of a gaseous or liquid mixture by differences in absorption rates during flow around or over surface absorbents such as columns of silica, filter papers, or gels (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
chromatography
column chromatography where the mobile phase is a gas (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
gas chromatography
column chromatography where the mobile phase is a liquid (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
liquid chromatography
a laboratory method that counts or sizes particles in a sample.
particle size analysis
minerals, rocks, and unconsolidated materials such as soils and sediments.
the mean temperature of air at a level of the atmosphere.
air temperature
the mean temperature of the ocean surface.
sea surface temperature
sst
measurements of cells or collections of cells that partially or completely compose an organism or group of organisms.
sampling metadata that identifies the latitude at which a sample was collected or a reconstruction was generated.
latitude
sampling metadata that describes the longitude at which a sample was collected or a reconstruction was generated.
longitude
a degree unit used to designate a geographic latitude coordinate northward of the equator.
degree north
deg N
a degree unit used to designate a geographic latitude coordinate southward of the equator.
degree south
deg S
a degree unit used to designate a geographic longitude coordinate westward of the prime meridian.
degree west
deg W
a degree unit used to designate a geographic longitude coordinate eastward of the prime meridian.
degree east
deg E
atomic emission spectrometry in which a plasma generated by electromagnetic induction is used as the excitation source (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
inductively-coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy
ICP-AES
ICP-OES
inductively-coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry
mass spectrometry in which the plasma has been generated by electromagnetic induction (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry
ICP-MS
mass spectrometry in which the relative abundance of isotopes in a sample is determined (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
isotope ratio mass spectrometry
mass spectrometry in which the sample is ionized and the ions are accelerated to very high kinetic energies (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
accelerator mass spectrometry
AMS
a calcium carbonate with rhombohedral crystal structure.
calcite
CaCO3
a calcium carbonate with orthorhombic crystal structure.
aragonite
a measure of how far the sample mean is expected to deviate from its actual value calculated as the sample standard deviation divided by the square root of the sample size. This value is approached by a 68% confidence interval margin of error at large sample sizes.
one standard error
a measure of how far the sample mean is expected to deviate from its actual value calculated as two times the sample standard deviation divided by the square root of the sample size. This value is approached by a 95% confidence interval margin of error at large sample sizes.
two standard error
the upper (maximum) bound of the confidence interval that captures the true value 95% of the time.
95% confidence interval upper bound
the lower (minimum) bound of the confidence interval that captures the true value 95% of the time.
95% confidence interval lower bound
the upper (maximum) bound of the confidence interval that captures the true value 90% of the time.
90% confidence interval upper bound
the lower (minimum) bound of the confidence interval that captures the true value 90% of the time.
90% confidence interval lower bound
the upper (maximum) bound of the confidence interval that captures the true value 99% of the time.
99% confidence interval upper bound
the lower (minimum) bound of the confidence interval that captures the true value 99% of the time.
99% confidence interval lower bound
the upper (maximum) bound of the confidence interval that captures the true value 97.5% of the time.
97.5% confidence interval upper bound
the lower (minimum) bound of the confidence interval that captures the true value 97.5% of the time.
97.5% confidence interval lower bound
a measure that is defined as the square root of the sum of the square difference of individual observations from the mean divided by the total number of observations. If the data is distributed approximately normally and the sample size is large, about 68% of the observations will fall within one standard deviation of the mean.
one standard deviation
a measure that is defined as two times the square root of the sum of the square difference of individual observations from the mean divided by the total number of observations. If the data is distributed approximately normally and the sample size is large, about 95% of the observations will fall within two standard deviations of the mean.
two standard deviations
a mathematical unit that describes how many standard deviations away from the mean a value is.
standard deviation unit
sd units
z score
z-score
sampling metadata that identifies the elevation, either above or below sea level, at which a sample was collected or a reconstruction was generated.
collection elevation
a formation rate that is the rate of linear growth of a deposit (e.g., speleothem, mollusk shell), sometimes calculated from the width of an annual growth band.
growth rate
reflectance that is quantified only according to intensity, or the amount of light, with low values indicating black and high values indicating white.
grayscale
greyscale
a circulation index that is calculated from non-seasonal sea level pressure variations north of 20 degrees North latitude.
Arctic Oscillation Index
Northern Annular Mode
Northern Hemisphere Annular Mode
a circulation index that is calculated from the sea level pressure difference between the subtropical (Azores) high and the subpolar low in the North Atlantic.
North Atlantic Oscillation Index
NAO
the hydroclimatic rate of rain, snow, sleet or hail that falls to the ground.
precipitation
a per mil unit calculated using the isotopic concentration of standard NIST SRM 951.
per mil SRM 951
a per mil unit calculated using the isotopic concentration of standard NBS oxalic acid.
per mil NBS oxalic acid
a formation rate that is the rate of linear growth in corals and related species, usually calculated from the width of an annual growth band.
extension rate
an electromagnetic property that measures the emission of light by a substance not resulting from heat.
luminescence
a circulation index that measures the anomalous zonal sea surface temperature gradient across the equatorial Indian Ocean and that is defined as the difference in anomalies between a western (60-80E, 10S-10N) and eastern (90-110E, 10S-0) box.
Dipole Mode Index
DMI
sampling metadata that quantifies the number of samples or measurements that were combined, either physically or statistically, into a resultant data series.
number of samples
a measure of acidity that is calculated as the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration.
a parts per notation unit which denotes the amount of a given substance in a total amount of 1,000,000,000 regardless of the units of measure used as long as they are the same or 1 part in 10^[12] (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
parts per trillion
ppt
mass spectrometry in which ionization is achieved by loading the sample onto a heated filament (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
thermal ionization mass spectrometry
TIMS
a laboratory method in which a microscope is used to view a small object (or specimen) by producing a magnified image (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
microscopy
microscopy in which the specimen is illuminated with visible light and a system of lenses is used to produce an image (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
optical microscopy
transmitted light microscopy
microscopy in which the specimen is bombarded with a finely focused (<10 nm diameter) electron beam with an acceleration voltage 50-150 kV under vacuum. The interaction of the electrons with the specimen produces transmitted, secondary, backscattered and diffracted electrons and characteristic X-rays which are detected (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
electron microscopy
microscopy which uses a probe to scan the surface of the specimen and measure some form of interaction between surface and probe. An image of the surface is obtained by mechanically moving the probe in a raster scan of the specimen, line by line, and recording the probe-surface interaction as a function of position. A feedback loop is used to maintain a fixed relationship between the probe and surface during scanning (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
scanning probe microscopy
microscopy that uses ultraviolet light to generate a magnified image of a sample.
ultraviolet microscopy
microscopy in which soft X-rays (100-1000 eV) are directed at the specimen, and the difference in absorption of the X-rays by different elements (mainly O and C) produces an image (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
x-ray microscopy
a laboratory method that involves the interaction of a sample with radiation or particles for measurement or detection (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
spectroscopy
spectroscopy in which the intensity of the fluorescence emitted by molecules excited by ultraviolet light is detected as a function of wavelength or time (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
fluorescence spectroscopy
a laboratory method that involves analyzing images that were made from a material using some form of electromagnetic radiation.
image analysis
a data transformation that involves processing to remove fine-scale features while retaining larger-scale patterns.
smoothed
a data transformation that involves averaging multiple values to obtain a mean value, often in the case of replicate analyses.
averaged
a data transformation that involves removing selected frequencies from a time series.
filtered
a data transformation that involves subtracting the long-term mean from a time series and then dividing by the series' standard deviation.
normalized
a chemical composition that is the ratio of elements or of compounds.
element or compound ratio
the ratio of one isotope compared to another isotope.
isotope ratio
properties of a material that relate to its emission of or interaction with electromagnetic radiation.
electromagnetic property
processes, phenomena, and quantities that relate to or describe the formation of a physical sample.
formation property
a formation property that quantifies the rate at which a deposit accumulated or grew through time.
formation rate
a measure of raw, or true, ice layer thickness, i.e. uncorrected for compaction and flow.
layer thickness
a physical property that is a measure of the three-dimensional space filled by a sample.
volume
a formation rate that is the rate of accumulation of a bulk archive material (e.g., sediment, ice, etc).
accumulation rate
an alkane that has the formula CH4.
methane
CH4
a unit that is a standard measure of a mathematical quantity.
mathematical unit
a unit that is a standard measure of physical quantity consisting of only a numerical number without any units (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
dimensionless
fraction of modern activity
a concentration unit which describes the amount of one substance in another. It is the ratio of the amount of the substance of interest to the amount of that substance plus the amount of the substance (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
parts per notation unit
a bulk biological material that consists of any black-colored plant-derived material that has had its chemical composition and structure altered as a result of heating in a fire, and retains recognizable anatomic structure of the plant material, even if only in a fragmentary form (Credit: Smol et al. 2001 Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments).
charcoal
a dimensionless measure of volume magnetic susceptibility that results from values of magnetization and magnetic field strength in centimeter-gram-second units, i.e., electromagnetic units. The dimensionless cgs value of volume magnetic susceptibility can be multiplied by 4*pi to generate the dimensionless SI value.
dimensionless (CGS system)
a mass unit which is equal to one thousandth of a gram or 10^[-3] g (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
milligram
no data transformations or alterations were performed.
raw
a data transformation that involves correcting one or more values in a time series for known, often non-climatic, factors. These factors include, for example, changes in ice volume through time, the Suess effect, and biological offsets.
corrected
a data transformation that involves subtracting a long-term mean value from all time series values.
anomalized
a data transformation that involves calculating values between sampling points in the time series.
interpolated
a data transformation that involves subtracting the long-term trend from a time series.
detrended
a data transformation that involves combining multiple time series into one, often by normalizing each and then averaging, although different methods exist.
composited
a physical property that quantifies the compactness of a substance.
density
a proxy composite that is generated from multiple tree ring records, generally by statistically removing trends specific to individual trees and by combining into one index.
tree ring standardized growth index
the single smallest value for wood density obtained for a particular annual growth ring in a tree.
minimum density
the single largest value for wood density obtained for a particular annual growth ring in a tree.
maximum density
wood that formed early in the growing season and that tends to consist of large and thin-walled cells.
earlywood
wood that formed late in the growing season and that tends to consist of small and thick-walled cells.
latewood
one of three classes of cellulose, and the one that has the highest degree of polymerization.
alpha cellulose
an organooxygen compound with the general formula (C6H10O5)n and that is an important structural component of the cell walls of green plants.
cellulose
a porous and fibrous structural tissue that is found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants (Credit: Wikipedia).
wood
an identified mineral characterized by a fundamental anionic structure of CO3(2-) (Credit: Dictionary of Geological Terms).
carbonate
the magnetic susceptibility of a material per unit volume. This is a dimensionless quantity that relates magnetization per unit volume to the strength of the magnetic field, which both have units of ampere per meter.
volume magnetic susceptibility
the magnetic susceptibility of a material per unit mass. This quantity has units of cubic meter per kilogram in SI units and cubic centimeter per gram in CGS units. It is equal to the volume magnetic susceptibility divided by the density of the material.
mass magnetic susceptibility
pyrolysis that involves strongly heating ('igniting') a sample of material at a specified temperature, allowing volatile substances to escape, until its mass ceases to change. This may be done in air, or in some other reactive or inert atmosphere (Credit: Wikipedia).
loss on ignition
a dimensionless unit that denotes a simple count of things (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
count
a data transformation that involves subtracting a value or a time series from another time series.
differenced
a measurement of error without explanation of its source or significance.
unspecified error
the value, that when added to and subtracted from the mean estimate, creates a confidence interval that captures the true value 99% of the time.
99% confidence interval margin of error
the value, that when added to and subtracted from the mean estimate, creates a confidence interval that captures the true value 95% of the time.
95% confidence interval margin of error
the value, that when added to and subtracted from the mean estimate, creates a confidence interval that captures the true value 90% of the time.
90% confidence interval margin of error
the value, that when added to and subtracted from the mean estimate, creates a confidence interval that captures the true value 97.5% of the time.
97.5% confidence interval margin of error
a particular species of the Acropora genus that is commonly known as the staghorn coral.
Acropora cervicornis
any coral that belongs to the genus Antipathes, commonly known as black coral.
Antipathes sp.
any sclerosponge that belongs to the genus Astrosclera.
Astrosclera sp.
a particular species of the genus Astrosclera.
Astrosclera willeyana
any coral that belongs to the genus Dipsastraea.
Dipsastraea sp.
a particular species of the genus Dipsastraea that is commonly known as knob coral.
Dipsastraea speciosa
Astraea speciosa
Favia speciosa
any coral that belongs to the genus Gardinerososeris.
Gardinersoseris sp.
a particular species of the genus Gardinersoseris that is commonly known as Gardiner's coral.
Gardinersoseris planulata
any coral that belongs to the genus Hydnophora.
Hydnophora sp.
a particular species of the genus Hydnophora that is commonly known as spine coral.
Hydnophora microconos
a particular species of the genus Montastraea that is commonly known as great star coral or false knob coral.
Montastraea cavernosa
any coral that belongs to the genus Muricella.
Muricella sp.
any coral that belongs to the genus Mussismilia.
Mussismilia sp.
a particular species of the genus Mussismilia.
Mussismilia braziliensis
Acanthastraea braziliensis
Platygyra daedalea
Platygyra rustica
a particular species of the genus Siderastrea that is commonly known as the lesser starlet coral.
Siderastrea radians
an organooxygen compound that contains one or more amino groups of NH2.
amino acid
an amino acid with the formula C4H7NO4.
aspartic acid
Asp
an amino acid with the formula C5H9NO4.
glutamic acid
Glu
an amino acid with the formula C2H5NO2.
glycine
Gly
an amino acid with the formula C6H13NO2 and a different chemical structure than leucine.
isoleucine
Ile
an amino acid with the formula C6H13NO2.
leucine
Leu
an amino acid with the formula C6H14N2O2.
lysine
Lys
an amino acid with the formula C9H11NO2.
phenylalanine
Phe
an amino acid with the formula C5H9NO2.
proline
Pro
an amino acid with the formula C3H7NO3.
serine
Ser
an amino acid with the formula C4H9NO3.
threonine
Thr
an amino acid with the formula C9H11NO3.
tyrosine
Tyr
an amino acid with the formula C5H11NO2.
valine
Val
the elemental ratio of cadmium to calcium.
cadmium/calcium
Cd/Ca
the elemental ratio of carbon to nitrogen.
carbon/nitrogen
C/N
the elemental ratio of copper to calcium.
copper/calcium
Cu/Ca
the elemental ratio of lead to calcium.
lead/calcium
Pb/Ca
the elemental ratio of manganese to calcium.
manganese/calcium
Mn/Ca
the elemental ratio of phosphorus to calcium..
phosphorus/calcium
P/Ca
the elemental ratio of tin to calcium.
tin/calcium
Sn/Ca
a formation rate that is a rate of skeletal growth in calcifying organisms, often expressed as a mass times unit area per time (e.g., g cm2/yr)
calcification rate
luminescence by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation.
fluorescence
a chemical element with atomic number 82.
lead
a laboratory method in which a sample is combusted at 1200 deg. C in a stream of unreactive gas and excess oxygen and the resulting products are collected (CO2, H2O and NOx). The masses of these combustion products can be used to calculate the composition of the unknown sample (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
elemental analysis
atomic absorption spectrometry in which the sample is atomized by placing it in a small graphite-coated tube which is rapidly heated by passing a current through it (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry
spectroscopy in which the intensity of luminescence emitted by molecules excited is detected as a function of wavelength or time (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
luminescence spectroscopy
a solution property that quantifies the concentration of hydrogen ions.
acidity
a chemical element with atomic number 13.
aluminum
a whole sample of the atmosphere, without any separation of components.
bulk atmosphere
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula CO2.
carbon dioxide
CO2
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula CO.
carbon monoxide
nitrogen that exists as a diatomic gas.
nitrogen gas
oxygen that exists as a diatomic gas.
oxygen gas
precipitation in the form of ice crystals.
snow
a hydrologic material that is transitional between snow and ice (Credit: Dictionary of Geological Terms).
firn
a hydrologic material that is a whole sample of recrystallized and compacted snow, without any separation of components.
bulk ice
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula NO3(-).
nitrate
NO3-
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula N2O.
nitrous oxide
N2O
an inorganic compound that has the formula SO4(2-).
sulfate
sulphate
sulfate that is derived from sources other than sea salt.
non-sea-salt sulfate
nss sulfate
nss sulphate
a bulk geological material that consists of organic or inorganic particles of typically clay and silt size that are transportable by wind.
dust
a laboratory method that relates to how individual physical samples are removed from the physical archive (e.g., the core).
sampling method
atomic fluorescence spectroscopy in which no vaporization step is required because the sample is a volatile heavy metal such as mercury, which is a vapor at room temperature (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectroscopy
isotope ratio mass spectrometry in which the relative abundance of isotopes in a sample is determined. Measurements are taken immediately after sample preparation and separately to the standard gas (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
continuous-flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry
a sampling method in which samples are injected sequentially into the same flowing carrier solution.
continuous flow analysis
CFA
mass spectrometry in which the sample is ionized by electrospray ionization. The ions are then characterized by their mass-to-charge ratio and relative abundance (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
electrospray ionization mass spectrometry
gas chromatography that uses a device that detects electron-absorbing components.
gas chromatography - electron capture detection
gas chromatography in which eluent is mixed with H2 and air and ignited. Any positively-charged radicals resulting from this process are collected at a cathode allowing the current to be measured (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology)
gas chromatography - flame ionization detection
column chromatography where the separation is caused by differences in ion-exchange affinity (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
ion chromatography
laser spectroscopy in which a diode laser is tuned to a specific absorption line of interest in the sample and the intensity of the transmitted radiation is measured (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy
a type of laser spectroscopy in which the sample is placed inside a highly reflective laser cavity and an effect induced by the absorption of laser light is detected. The decay time for light exiting the cavity is determined as a function of pulsed laser wavelength (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
cavity ring-down spectroscopy
cavity ring-down laser absorption spectroscopy
cavity ring-down spectrometry
cavity ringdown spectroscopy
a measure of how far the sample mean is expected to deviate from its actual value, based on the standard deviation of the sample and its size.
standard error
the lower bound (minimum) estimate of the actual mean calculated by subtracting one standard error from the sample mean. This value is approached by a 68% confidence interval lower bound at large sample sizes.
one standard error lower bound
the upper bound (maximum) estimate of the actual mean calculated by adding one standard error from the sample mean. This value is approached by a 68% confidence interval upper bound at large sample sizes.
one standard error upper bound
the lower bound (minimum) estimate of the actual mean calculated by subtracting two standard errors from the sample mean. This value is approached by a 95% confidence interval lower bound at large sample sizes.
two standard error lower bound
the upper bound (maximum) estimate of the actual mean calculated by adding one standard error from the sample mean. This value is approached by a 95% confidence interval upper bound at large sample sizes.
two standard error upper bound
a measure that is defined as the mean minus one standard deviation. If the data is distributed approximately normally and the sample size is large, this measure defines the minimum value of the interval that captures about 68% of the observations.
one standard deviation lower bound
a measure that is defined as the mean plus one standard deviation. If the data is distributed approximately normally and the sample size is large, this measure defines the maximum value of the interval that captures about 68% of the observations.
one standard deviation upper bound
a measure that is defined as the mean minus two standard deviations. If the data is distributed approximately normally and the sample size is large, this measure defines the minimum value of the interval that captures about 95% of the observations.
two standard deviations lower bound
a measure that is defined as the mean plus two standard deviations. If the data is distributed approximately normally and the sample size is large, this measure defines the maximum value of the interval that captures about 95% of the observations.
two standard deviations upper bound
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula NH4(+).
ammonium
NH4+
a chemical element with atomic number 51.
antimony
a chemical element with atomic number 33.
arsenic
a chemical element with atomic number 56.
barium
a chemical element with atomic number 4.
beryllium
the concentration of a radioactive isotope of beryllium that has 6 neutrons and 4 protons and that is used to reconstruct solar activity and to date ice cores.
10Be
Be-10
beryllium-10
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula HCO3(-).
hydrogen carbonate
HCO3-
bicarbonate
a chemical element with atomic number 83.
bismuth
a bulk biological material that consists of fine particulate matter that is formed through incomplete combustion of a carbon-containing material.
black carbon
soot
a chemical element with atomic number 6.
carbon
the concentration of a radioactive isotope of carbon with 8 neutrons and 6 protons.
14C
carbon-14
a chemical element with atomic number 48.
cadmium
a chemical element with atomic number 20.
calcium
a chemical element with atomic number 17.
chlorine
chlorine that has acquired a negative one charge as the result of gaining an electron.
chloride
Cl-
a chemical element with atomic number 24.
chromium
a chemical element with atomic number 55.
cesium
caesium
a chemical element with atomic number 27.
cobalt
the ratio of two isotopes of oxygen, 17O/16O, in a sample compared to that of a standard, as in: ((17O/16O sample)/(17O/16O standard) - 1) x 1000.
delta 17O
d17O
delta O17
a physical property that is the length of a straight line connecting two sides of a body through its center.
diameter
diametre
properties that relate to how a material behaves or interacts with an applied electric current.
electrical property
an electrical property that quantifies the degree to which a specified material conducts electricity.
electrical conductivity
a chemical element with atomic number 9.
fluorine
fluorine that has acquired a negative one charge as the result of gaining an electron.
fluoride
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula HCOOH.
formic acid
methanoic acid
a carbonyl compound with the formula CHO2(-).
formate
methanoate
a chemical element with atomic number 79.
gold
a chemical element with atomic number 72.
hafnium
a chemical element with atomic number 1.
hydrogen
a hydrogen atom that has been separated from its accompanying electron and that has a unit positive electric charge.
hydrogen ion
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula H2O2.
hydrogen peroxide
H2O2
a chemical element with atomic number 77.
iridium
the elemental ratio of lead to barium.
lead/barium
Pb/Ba
a chemical element with atomic number 12.
magnesium
a chemical element with atomic number 80.
mercury
an organosulfur compound that has the chemical formula CH4O3S.
methanesulfonic acid
an organosulfur compound that has the chemical formula CH3O3S.
methanesulfonate
a chemical element with atomic number 42.
molybdenum
a chemical element with atomic number 28.
nickel
calcium that is derived from sources other than sea salt.
non-sea-salt calcium
nss Ca
nss calcium
a chemical element with atomic number 16.
sulfur
sulfur that is derived from sources other than sea salt.
non-sea-salt sulfur
non-sea-salt sulphur
nss S
nss sulfur
nss sulphur
a carbonyl compound with the formula C2O4(2-).
oxalate
ethanedioate
the ratio of a stable isotope of lead with 124 neutrons and a stable isotope of lead with 125 neutrons.
the ratio of a stable isotope of lead with 126 neutrons and a stable isotope of lead with 125 neutrons.
the ratio of a stable isotope of lead with 124 neutrons and a stable isotope of lead with 122 neutrons.
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula PO4(3-).
phosphate
PO4
a chemical element with atomic number 19.
potassium
a chemical element with atomic number 37.
rubidium
a chemical element with atomic number 21.
scandium
a chemical element with atomic number 47.
silver
a chemical element with atomic number 11.
sodium
a chemical element with atomic number 65.
terbium
a chemical element with atomic number 81.
thallium
a chemical element with atomic number 50.
tin
a chemical element with atomic number 92.
uranium
a chemical element with atomic number 23.
vanadium
a phenolic acid that has the formula C8H8O4.
vanillic acid
a physical property that is the force on a object due to gravity and that is generally measured using a spring scale.
weight
a substance unit equal to one thousandth of one millionth of a mole or 10^[-9] mol (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
nanomole
nmol
a mass unit which is equal to one thousandth of one millionth of a gram or 10^[-9] g (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
nanogram
a mass unit which is equal to 10^[-12] g (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
picogram
a formation property that quantifies the degree of melting that occurred during the process of snow or ice accumulation.
melt
an electrical conductivity measurement in which the impedance of a material is measured between two conductive plates, yielding information about the concentration of ions.
dielectric profiling
DEP
atomic emission spectrometry in which a high energy laser pulse is used to generate a plasma which acts as the excitation source (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy
laser-induced plasma spectrometry
laser spectroscopy in which the sample is placed inside a v-shaped optical cavity and an effect induced by the absorption of laser light is detected. The laser light is allowed to feed back to the laser diode (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
optical feedback cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy
the ratio of a stable isotope of strontium with 49 neutrons and a stable isotope of strontium with 48 neutrons.
87Sr/86Sr
strontium-87/strontium-86
a carbonate with the chemical formula CaCO3 but of unspecified crystal structure.
calcium carbonate
the ratio of two isotopes of strontium, 87Sr/86Sr, in a sample compared to that of a standard, as in: ((87Sr/86Sr sample)/(87Sr/86Sr standard) - 1) x 1000.
delta 87Sr
d87Sr
delta Sr87
a carbonate with the formula CaMg(CO3)2.
dolomite
a silicate mineral with the general formula XAl(Al,Si)3O8 where X can be K, Na, Ca, Ba, Rb, Sr, or Fe.
feldspar group
an identifiable organism including the slugs and snails that belongs to the kingdom Animalia, phylum Mollusca, class Gastropoda.
gastropod
carbon that is derived from an organic source.
organic carbon
organic C
carbon that is derived from an inorganic source.
inorganic carbon
inorganic C
a physical property that is the amount of matter in an object and that is generally measured using a balance scale.
mass
a geological material that has been identified based on composition and crystal structure as a specific mineral or as belonging to a certain mineral class.
identified mineral
an identifiable organism that belongs to the kingdom Animalia, phylum Arthropoda, class Ostracoda.
ostracod
a feldspar group mineral that exists on the continuum of CaAl2Si2O8 to NaAlSi3O8.
plagioclase feldspar series
a silicate mineral with the formula SiO2.
quartz
an electromagnetic property that measures the amount of light that reflects from the surface of a material.
reflectance
a carbonate with the formula MnCO3.
rhodochrosite
MnCO3
manganese carbonate
a formation rate that is the amount of sediment deposited during a certain time span, normally expressed as a length per time (e.g., cm/yr).
sedimentation rate
a chemical element with atomic number 31.
gallium
a chemical element with atomic number 3.
lithium
the elemental ratio of manganese to iron.
manganese/iron
Mn/Fe
a chemical element with atomic number 7.
nitrogen
a chemical element with atomic number 8.
oxygen
a chemical element with atomic number 15.
phosphorus
the elemental ratio of silicon to titanium.
silicon/titanium
Si/Ti
a chemical element with atomic number 40.
zirconium
the count of total midge head capsules present in a sample.
total head capsules
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage that may occur in either saline or fresh environments.
total salinity indifferent diatoms
properties relating to a material's magnetism.
magnetic property
the remanent magnetization that is acquired by exposure to an alternating field (AF) of gradually decreasing amplitude simultaneously with a steady, unidirectional direct current field (Credit: Encyclopedia of Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism). It is sensitive to both ferrimagnetic concentration and ferrimagnetic grain size (Hatfield and Stoner, 2013).
anhysteretic remanent magnetization
ARM
a magnetic field property that is the measure of the reverse field needed to reduce the magnetization of a material to zero after it has been fully magnetized.
coercivity
a coercivity measure that is the value of the reverse field needed to reduce the saturation isothermal remanence magnetization of a material to zero, and that is an indicator of magnetic grain size and mineralogy (hematite, goethite, and greigite are high coercivity minerals).
coercivity of remanence
(B0)CR
the slope of the initial magnetization curve of a hysteresis loop, which is created during the magnetization of a material following complete demagnetization, and is the ratio of the magnetization of the material to the magnetic field applied.
initial magnetization slope
the remanent magnetization that is acquired without the aid of changes in temperature, generally from the application and subsequent removal of an applied direct current field (Credit: Encyclopedia of Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism).
isothermal remanent magnetization
IRM
the remanent magnetization of a sample after removal of a magnetic field large enough to achieve saturation.
saturation remanent magnetization
Mrs
saturation remanence
the maximum isothermal remanent magnetization that a material can acquire.
saturation isothermal remanent magnetization
SIRM
a magnetic ratio using different isothermal remanent magnetization measurements, which can indicate the relative amount of magnetic minerals in a sample. Values close to 1 indicate the presence of low-coercivity minerals (magnetite and/or maghemite); values that are negative or close to 0 indicate the presence of high coercivity minerals (hematite and/or goethite).
S-ratio
properties that describe the physical characteristics of a substance.
physical property
a variable that is derived through the analysis of numerical data.
statistical variable
a mutivariate eigenvector-based variable that is one of a set of linearly uncorrelated time series patterns that are derived using an orthogonal transformation on a set of continuous data observations.
principal component
an organooxygen compound that is a tetraether membrane lipid and that contains between 0 and 4 cyclopentane moieties, with an increasing number of cyclopentane moieties related to the temperature of formation.
glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether
GDGT
x-ray emission spectroscopy in which the X-rays are generated by bombarding a flat polished sample with a finely focused beam of electrons (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
electron probe x-ray microanalysis
electron microprobe analysis
electron probe microanalysis
mass spectrometry in which the sample is bombarded with a stream of primary mass-selected particles and the secondary ions ejected from the sample are detected (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
secondary ion mass spectrometry
SIMS
ion microprobe
a statistical analysis method that uses repeated random sampling, often to generate a probability distribution of likely values.
Monte Carlo simulation
a laboratory method that measures optical density in light-sensitive materials due to exposure to electromagnetic radiation.
densitometry
densitometry using applied fluorescence radiation.
fluorodensitometry
densitometery using applied gamma radiation.
gamma ray densitometry
a sample spacing method in which samples are extracted from an archive (e.g., a core) contiguously.
continuous line
a sample spacing method in which samples are extracted from an archive (e.g., a core) non-contiguously.
discrete spot
a sample spacing method in which one bulk measurement is made from an archive (e.g., a core, rock, or shell).
bulk sample
secondary ion mass spectrometry in which one collectors is used to detect one ion beam.
single collector secondary ion mass spectrometry
secondary ion mass spectrometry in which a series of collectors is used to detect several ion beams simultaneously.
multiple collector secondary ion mass spectrometry
isotope ratio mass spectrometry in which purified gas obtained from a sample is alternated rapidly with a standard gas (of known isotopic composition) by means of a system of valves, so that a number of comparative measurements are made of both gases. The relative abundance of isotopes in a sample is then determined (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
dual-inlet isotope ratio mass spectrometry
a particular species of the Acropora genus that is commonly known as finger coral.
Acropora humilis
a particular species of the Acropora genus.
Acropora samoensis
a particular species of the genus Pocillopora that is commonly known as the cauliflower coral.
Pocillopora damicornus
an amino acid with the formula C4H8N2O3.
asparagine
Asn
an amino acid with the formula C5H10N2O3.
glutamine
Gln
an amino acid with the formula C3H7NO2S.
cysteine
Cys
an amino acid with the formula C6H9N3O2.
histidine
His
an amino acid with the formula C5H11NO2S.
methionine
Met
an amino acid with the formula C11H12N2O2.
tryptophan
Trp
densitometry using applied x radiation.
x-ray densitometry
x-ray spectroscopy in which the sample is bombarded with X-rays or particles and the energies and intensities of the X-rays emitted due to core-to-core transitions (known as 'X-ray fluorescence') are detected (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy
XRF
a chemical element with atomic number 5.
boron
a saturated fatty acid with the general formula CnH(2n+1)COOH.
n-alkanoic acid
a fatty acid with the formula C16H32O2.
palmitic acid
hexadecanoic acid
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C21H43COOH.
C22 n-alkanoic acid
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C23H47COOH.
C24 n-alkanoic acid
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C25H51COOH.
C26 n-alkanoic acid
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C27H55COOH.
C28 n-alkanoic acid
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C29H59COOH.
C30 n-alkanoic acid
an organooxygen compound with the chemical formula C2H3O2.
acetic acid
a multivariate eigenvector-based variable that is one of a set of linearly uncorrelated variables that are derived using an orthogonal transformation on a set of categorical data observations.
correspondence analysis axis
an axis that is derived from extension of correspondence analysis in which artifacts in the data are removed.
detrended correspondence analysis axis
the diameter of individual grains of a material such as sediment, dust, or ice.
grain size
a laboratory method that uses coulometric titration to quantify organic and inorganic carbon.
carbon coulometry
a diffraction method for determining structure by directing a beam of X-rays at the sample and detecting the positions and intensities of the diffracted X-rays as a pattern of spots on a photographic plate (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
x-ray diffraction
electronic spectroscopy in which the sample absorbs radiation in the range ultraviolet to near-infrared (0.1 to 2.5 micrometers) resulting in electronic transitions within the sample (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
spectrophotometry
a non-calendric period that encompasses the local period of transition between summer and winter without specification of certain days or months.
fall
a non-calendric period that encompasses the local period of transition between winter and summer without specification of certain days or months.
spring
a non-calendric period that encompasses the warmest period of the year without specification of certain days or months.
summer
a non-calendric period that encompasses the coldest period of the year without specification of certain days or months.
winter
the remanent magnetization of a rock or sediment that is permanent and present before any treatment. The NRM includes primary components (ChRM) that were acquired when the rock formed, and secondary components that were acquired after rock formation due to exposure to other large magnetic fields.
natural remanent magnetization
NRM
a measure of the likely directional error affecting the recovered magnetic field direction from a single sample, usually provided by demagnetization techniques and principal component analysis.
maximum angular deviation
a dimensionless measure of volume magnetic susceptibility that results from values of magnetization and magnetic field strength in Standard International units, i.e., ampere per meter.
dimensionless (SI system)
a relative unit that measures the radiodensity of a substance and that is calculated as 1000 x (usample - uwater)/(uwater - uair) where u is a linear attenuation coefficient.
Hounsfield unit
a unit which is a standard measure of some aspect of electromagnetic force. electricity, or magnetism.
electromagnetic unit
an electric current unit which is equal to the constant current which, if maintained in two straight parallel conductors of infinite length, of negligible circular cross-section, and placed 1 m apart in vacuum, would produce between these conductors a force equal to 2 x 10^[-7] newton per meter of length (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
ampere
an electric current unit which is equal to one thousandth of an ampere or 10^[-3] A.
milliampere
an electric current unit which is equal to one thousand amperes or 10^[3] A.
kiloampere
a unit which is a standard measure of the figure or space formed by the junction of two lines or planes (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
angle unit
an angle unit which is equal to 1/360 of a full rotation or 1.7453310^[-2] rad (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
degree
an angle unit which is equal to 1/60 of a degree.
arcminute
an angle unit which is equal to 1/60 of an arcminute.
arcsecond
an organic compound index that compares the relative abundances of different alkenones in a sample.
alkenone unsaturation index
Uk37
feldspar group minerals that are rich in sodium or potassium.
alkali feldspar series
an alkane that has a linear, or straight chain, structure.
n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C27H56.
C27 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C29H60.
C29 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C31H64.
C31 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C33H68.
C33 n-alkane
x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy in which the energy spectrum of the X-rays emitted due to core-to-core transitions is measured using a semiconductor detector (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy
ED-XRF
scanning XRF
scanning x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy
particle size analysis that measures the angular variation in intensity of light scattered as a laser beam passes through a dispersed particulate sample (Credit: Malvern).
laser particle size analysis
a magnetic flux density unit which is equal to one thousandth of a weber per square meter.
millitesla
an age unit of years, derived from radiocarbon dating without calibration to actual years, before present with present defined as 1950 Common Era. Times after 1950 CE are expressed as negative values.
radiocarbon year before present
the location of the youngest end of a sample measured as a distance from some datum, usually the core top.
depth at sample end
the location of the oldest end of a sample measured as a distance from some datum, usually the core top.
depth at sample start
a carbonyl compound with the formula C2H3O2(-).
acetate
C2H3O2-
a chemical element with atomic number 18.
argon
the angle between a reference vector and a vector between an observer and a point of interest that is projected into the reference plane orthogonal to the zenith.
azimuth
an electromagnetic property that measures the emission of beta particles by a material.
beta activity
a silicate mineral with the general formula (Mg, Fe2+, Fe3+)6AlSi3O10(OH)10.
chlorite
the concentration of a radioactive isotope of chlorine with 19 neutrons.
36Cl
chlorine-36
the ratio of two isotopes of argon, 40Ar/36Ar, in a sample compared to that of a standard, as in: ((40Ar/36Ar sample)/(40Ar/36Ar standard) - 1) x 1000.
delta 40Ar
d40Ar
delta Ar40
a chemical element with atomic number 66.
dysprosium
the ratio of a stable isotope of neodymium with 83 neutrons with a radioactive isotope of neodymium with 84 neutrons.
the ratio of 143Nd/144Nd in a sample compared to that of a standard, typically the chondritic uniform reservoir line, as in: ((143Nd/144Nd sample)/(143Nd/144Nd standard) - 1) x 10000.
epsilon neodymium
epsilon Nd
a chemical element with atomic number 68.
erbium
a chemical element with atomic number 63.
europium
a carbonyl compound with the formula CH2O.
formaldehyde
methanal
a chemical element with atomic number 64.
gadolinium
a chemical element with atomic number 2.
helium
the concentration of a stable isotope of helium with 1 neutron.
3He
helium-3
the concentration of a stable isotope of helium with 2 neutrons.
4He
helium-4
the ratio of a stable isotope of helium with 1 neutron and a stable isotope of helium with 2 neutrons.
3He/4He
helium-3/helium-4
a chemical element with atomic number 67.
holmium
a mica group mineral with the formula: K0.65 Al2.0 [Al0.65 Si3.35 O10] (OH2).
illite
the angle between the vector between an observer and a point of interest and the vector that is created by projecting this into the reference plane orthogonal to the zenith.
inclination
the ratio of a stable isotope of krypton with 48 neutrons and a stable isotope of argon with 18 neutrons.
84Kr/36Ar
a chemical element with atomic number 71.
lutetium
a silicate mineral with the general formula (K,Na,Ca)(Mg,Fe,Li,Al)2-3(Al,Si)4O10(OH,F)2.
mica group
phengite
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula NO2(-).
nitrite
NO2-
the ratio of a stable isotope of lead with 125 neutrons and a stable isotope of lead with 122 neutrons.
the ratio of a stable isotope of lead with 125 neutrons and a stable isotope of lead with 124 neutrons.
the ratio of a stable isotope of lead with 126 neutrons and a stable isotope of lead with 122 neutrons.
the ratio of a stable isotope of lead with 126 neutrons and a stable isotope of lead with 124 neutrons.
the concentration of a radioactive isotope of lead with 128 neutrons.
210Pb
Pb-210
lead-210
a bulk geological material that is an aggregate of one or more minerals (e.g., granite, shale, marble) or a body of undifferentiated mineral matter (e.g., obsidian) or of solid organic matter (e.g., coal) (Credit: Dictionary of Geological Terms).
rock
a field method in which in situ physical measurements (e.g., temperature) are made down the length of a borehole by lowering measurement instruments down the borehole via cable.
borehole logging
a chemical element with atomic number 62.
samarium
a bulk geological material that is derived from the evaporation of sea water and that consists of sodium chloride with other trace elements.
sea salt
sodium that is derived from sea salt.
sea-salt sodium
ss Na
ss sodium
a silicate mineral with the general formula A0.3 Al2[Si4O10]Z2·nH2O where A is Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+ or other.
smectite
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula H2SO4.
sulfuric acid
H2SO4
sulphuric acid
a chemical element with atomic number 69.
thulium
the concentration of a radioactive isotope of hydrogen with 2 neutrons.
hydrogen-3
tritium
the ratio of a stable isotope of xenon with 78 neutrons and a stable isotope of argon with 18 neutrons.
a chemical element with atomic number 70.
ytterbium
a multivariate eigenvector-based variable that is one of a set of linearly uncorrelated spatial patterns that are derived using an orthogonal transformation on a set of continuous data observations.
empirical orthogonal function
EOF
the lower (minimum) bound of the confidence interval that captures the true value 68% of the time.
68% confidence interval lower bound
the upper (maximum) bound of the confidence interval that captures the true value 68% of the time.
68% confidence interval upper bound
a circulation length variable that is the vertical coordinate referenced to Earth's mean sea level that contains an adjustment for the variation of gravity with latitude and elevation.
geopotential height
the hydroclimatic rate of water transfer from the land to the atmosphere from the soil and other surfaces and from transpiration from plants.
evapotranspiration
an ecosystem index that describes a distinct biological community that formed in response to a shared physical climate.
biome
a circulation index of the El Niño Southern Oscillation that is calculated as the difference in atmospheric pressure at sea level between Tahiti and Darwin (Australia).
Southern Oscillation Index
SOI
a circulation index that quantifies some aspect, atmospheric or oceanic, of the El Niño Southern Oscillation.
El Niño Southern Oscillation Index
ENSO
ENSO Index
a temperature index that integrates warmth above a base temperature (usually 10 degrees Celsius) through time.
growing degree days
a circulation index that is calculated as the normalized first principal component of monthly sea surface temperature anomalies over the Pacific Ocean north of 20 degrees north latitude after the global average sea surface temperature has been removed.
Pacific Decadal Oscillation Index
PDO
PDO Index
PDOI
a hydroclimate index that employs temperature and precipitation information to estimate relative dryness taking into consideration the cumulative nature of long-term drought.
Palmer Drought Severity Index
PDSI
a hydroclimate index that employs temperature and precipitation information to estimate hydrological impacts of drought (e.g., reservoir levels, groundwater levels, etc) taking into consideration the cumulative nature of long-term drought.
Palmer Hydrologic Drought Index
PHDI
a geographic variable that quantifies the height of the sea's surface.
sea level
the hydroclimatic rate of flow of water in streams, rivers, and other channels.
streamflow
a storm variable that quantifies the occurrence of rotating, organized systems of clouds and thunderstorms that originate over tropical or subtropical waters and have a closed low-level circulation.
tropical cyclone
hurricane
typhoon
a geographic variable that quantifies the depth from the land surface to the upper surface of the zone of saturation in the soil.
water table depth
an analogue method that uses modern observations as the set of standards against which a sample is compared.
modern analogue technique
a statistical analysis method that uses an orthogonal transformation to convert a set of observations of possibly correlated variables into a set of values of linearly uncorrelated variables called principal components (Credit: Wikipedia).
principal component analysis
a silicate mineral with the formula: Al2(Si2O5)(OH)4.
kaolinite
the age, either directly measured or inferred, at the oldest end of the sample.
age at sample start
the age, either directly measured or inferred, at the youngest end of the sample.
age at sample end
a measure of how different a delta 2H value is from the value expected from the Global Meteoric Water Line, that is delta 2H - 8* delta 18O.
deuterium excess
2H excess
d-excess
a measure of the deviation of a delta 15N value from the value calculated from delta 40Ar measured on the same sample assuming that differences between the two isotopic ratios are caused only by differences in gravitational settling, that is delta 15N - delta 40Ar/4. This quantity is used to reconstruct temperature.
delta 15N excess
d15N excess
a measure of the slope of the best-fit line to the grain size distribution. Lower beta values reflect a coarser grain size distribution and higher beta values reflect a finer grain size distribution.
grain size beta
the ratio of the concentration of carbon monoxide containing the radioactive isotope of carbon with 8 neutrons to the sum of the concentrations of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide containing the same radioactive isotope.
an elemental ratio that describes the ratio of carbon dioxide to nitrogen gas in a sample compared to the same ratio in a standard with units of per meg (or per mil), that is: ((CO2/N2 sample)/(CO2/N2 standard) - 1) x 10^[6] (or x 10^[3]).
delta CO2/N2
delta carbon dioxide/nitrogen
an elemental ratio that describes the ratio of argon to nitrogen gas in a sample compared to the same ratio in a standard with units of per meg (or per mil), that is: ((Ar/N2 sample)/(Ar/N2 standard) - 1) x 10^[6] (or x 10^[3]).
delta Ar/N2
delta argon/nitrogen
an elemental ratio that describes the ratio of oxygen gas to argon in a sample compared to the same ratio in a standard with units of per meg (or per mil), that is: ((O2/Ar sample)/(O2/Ar standard) - 1) x 10^[6] (or x 10^[3]).
delta O2/Ar
delta oxygen/argon
an elemental ratio that describes the ratio of oxygen gas to nitrogen gas in a sample compared to the same ratio in a standard with units of per meg (or per mil), that is: ((O2/N2 sample)/(O2/N2 standard) - 1) x 10^[6] (or x 10^[3]).
delta O2/N2
delta oxygen/nitrogen
a formation property that quantifies the depth in a glacer or ice sheet at which atmospheric air is locked into bubbles within the ice.
lock-in depth
a formation property that quantifies the thinning of layers in a glacier or ice sheet related to ice flow and deformation.
thinning function
a mutivariate eigenvector-based variable that is one of a set of linearly uncorrelated independent latent variables that are derived using an orthogonal transformation on a set of continuous data observations.
factor score
an identified mineral whose crystal structure contains SiO4 tetrahedra.
silicate mineral
a sampling method that determines the contiguity of samples from an archive (e.g., a core).
sample spacing method
a sampling method that relates to the extraction of gas from bubbles in ice cores.
gas extraction method
a gas extraction method in which gas is liberated through mechanical rupturing of the ice (e.g., milling, shaving, cracking, grinding).
mechanical dry extraction
a gas extraction method in which gas is liberated through melting of the ice.
wet extraction
particle size analysis that measures changes in electrical resistance as particles in an electrolyte solution are drawn through an orifice.
electric sensing particle size analysis
coulter counter
a laboratory method to measure how well a solution conducts electricity.
electrical conductivity measurement
an electrical conductivity measurement in which two electrodes with a direct current potential difference are applied to a material and the current flowing through the material is measured, yielding information about hydrogen ions (acidity).
direct current electrical conductivity measurement
ECM
an electrical conductivity measurement in which two electrodes with an alternating current potential difference are applied to a material and the conductance of the material is measured, yielding information about ion content.
alternating current electrical conductivity measurement
an identified mineral that is characterized by the linkage of oxygen or hydroxide (OH) with one or more metallic elements (Credit: Dictionary of Geological Terms).
oxide and hydroxide minerals
a measure of the amount of air that is contained within a material.
air content
a solution property that is the sum of the concentration of cations minus the concentration of anions.
ion balance
atomic spectroscopy in which the sample is illuminated with ultraviolet or visible light which is absorbed by the non-excited atoms at characteristic wavelengths (Chemical Methods Ontology).
atomic absorption spectroscopy
atomic absorption spectrometry in which the sample is aspirated, aerosolized, and mixed with combustible gases, such as acetylene and air or acetylene and nitrous oxide. The mixture is then ignited and atomized in a flame whose temperature ranges from 2100-2800 degrees Celsius. During combustion, atoms of the element of interest in the sample absorb light at characteristic wavelengths (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
flame atomic absorption spectrometry
spectroscopy in which the sample is converted into gaseous ions which are characterized by their mass-to-charge ratio and relative abundance (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
mass spectrometry
inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry in which the sample is ionized in a plasma (a partially ionized gas such as Ar containing free electrons) which has been generated by electromagnetic induction. A series of collectors is used to detect several ion beams simultaneously (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
multiple collector inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry
MC ICP-MS
inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry in which the sample is ionized in a plasma (a partially ionized gas such as Ar containing free electrons) which has been generated by electromagnetic induction. A single collector is used (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
single collector inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry
SC-ICP-MS
quadrupole ICP-MS
spectroscopy in which the absorption or emission of X-rays is detected (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
x-ray spectroscopy
spectroscopy in which the sample is illuminated with one or more laser beams and the absorption or emission of light by the sample is measured (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
laser spectroscopy
metadata about a sample that appears in the data table, generally as part of a core-top calibration study, gridded data product, or the like.
sampling metadata
sampling metadata that designates either a widely-used or lab-specific name for a sample and which can contain such attributes as core, section, and/or site.
sample identification
sampling metadata that describes study-specific aspects of sample collection and/or analysis.
notes
a particular species of the genus Orbicella that is commonly known as the Caribbean star coral or the boulder star coral.
Orbicella annularis
Montastraea annularis
image analysis using x-rays to view the internal structure of a material.
x-radiography
image analysis in which many individual images, often from x-radiography, are taken and processed by a computer to generate cross-sectional (tomographic) views.
computed tomography
computed tomography conducted at high resolution to image small-scale structures of a material.
micro computed tomography
the elemental ratio of lithium to calcium.
lithium/calcium
Li/Ca
a bulk biological material that consists of an unconsolidated combustible deposit of partially carbonized plant remains, common in bogs, fens, and lakes in tundra or periglacial regions (Credit: Smol et al. 2001 Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments).
peat
sediment that contains water.
wet sediment
sediment from which all water has been removed.
dry sediment
a bulk biological material that consists of complex substances of mainly carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen with subordinate amounts of nitrogen, sulfur, and other elements, produced by the growth of organisms (Credit: Smol et al. 2001 Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments).
organic matter
a calcium carbonate with mixed orthorhombic and rhombohedral crystal structure.
mixed calcite/aragonite
the abundance or concentration of particles with a diameter less than 0.004 millimeters.
clay
the abundance or concentration of particles with a diameter between 0.0625 and 2 millimeters.
sand
the abundance or concentration of particles with a diameter between 0.004 and 0.0625 millimeters.
silt
a geological material that consists of undifferentiated components, often from different sources.
bulk geological material
mineral matter that was transported over a body of water on ice.
ice rafted debris
a physical property that compares the volume or area of empty spaces in a material to the total volume or area.
porosity
the median (50th percentile) grain size in a sample.
grain size median
the most commonly occurring grain size in a sample.
grain size mode
a biological material that allows for the taxonomic identification, either broadly or generally, of an individual animal, plant, or single-celled life form.
organism
a compound that consists of one or more atoms of carbon covalently linked to atoms of other elements, most commonly hydrogen, oxgen, or nitrogen.
organic compound
an identifiable organism that is a unicellular phytoplankton and that belongs to the kingdom Chromista, phylum Ochrophyta, class Bacillariophyceae.
diatom
an identifiable organism that belongs to one of several families in the kingdom Animalia, phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, order Diptera.
midge
the density of xylem cells in wood that formed in the beginning of the growing season and that tend to be large and thin-walled.
earlywood density
the density of xylem cells in wood that formed near the end of the growing season and that tend to be small and thick-walled.
latewood density
the density of the wood within one annual ring from a tree.
total ring density
the width of the segment of an annual radial growth increment in a tree that formed early in the growing season and that tends to consist of large and thin-walled cells.
earlywood width
the width of the segment of an annual radial growth increment in a tree that formed late in the growing season and that tends to consist of small and thick-walled cells.
latewood width
the width of an annual radial growth increment in a tree.
total ring width
the average thickness of a cell wall in a tree.
average cell wall thickness
the diameter of elongated cells in the xylem of vascular plants.
tracheid diameter
a physical property that is the ratio of the length of a circular arc to its radius.
angle
the mean angle between the direction of cellulose microfibrils and the long axis of the cell in wood.
average microfibril angle
a component of the RGB color system that measures the level of blue light required to produce the color of a substance.
blue intensity
quantities, processes, properties, and phenomena of the Earth system that can be either reconstructed from proxies or directly measured.
earth system variable
cellulose from wood that formed early in the growing season and that tends to consist of large and thin-walled cells.
earlywood cellulose
alpha cellulose from wood that formed early in the growing season and that tends to consist of large and thin-walled cells.
earlywood alpha cellulose
alpha cellulose from wood that formed late in the growing season and that tends to consist of small and thick-walled cells.
latewood alpha cellulose
cellulose from wood that formed late in the growing season and that tends to consist of small and thick-walled cells.
latewood cellulose
a computational method that is employed in the generation of a tree ring chronology (i.e., a tree ring standardized growth index).
tree ring chronology method
a tree ring chronology method that uses Program ARSTAN, developed by Dr. Edward R. Cook at the Tree-Ring Laboratory, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York (Cook 1985), in its standard configuration but with autoregressive modeling to remove autocorrelation and further reincorporation of the pooled autoregression (persistence) into the resultant chronology.
ARSTAN chronology method
a tree ring chronology method that uses Program ARSTAN, developed by Dr. Edward R. Cook at the Tree-Ring Laboratory, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York (Cook 1985), in its standard configuration but additionally using autoregressive modeling to remove autocorrelation.
residual chronology method
a tree ring chronology method that uses Program ARSTAN, developed by Dr. Edward R. Cook at the Tree-Ring Laboratory, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York (Cook 1985), and re-whitens residuals.
re-whitened residual chronology method
a tree ring chronology method that uses Program ARSTAN, developed by Dr. Edward R. Cook at the Tree-Ring Laboratory, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York (Cook 1985), in its standard configuration with no autoregressive modeling.
standard chronology method
a tree ring chronology method that uses Program ARSTAN, developed by Dr. Edward R. Cook at the Tree-Ring Laboratory, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York (Cook 1985), and employs a low-pass filter.
low-pass filter chronology method
an organic compound index that is calculated as the ratio of different isoprenoidal glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers.
tetraether index of 86 carbon atoms
TEX86
the concentration of a radioactive isotope of cesium with 82 neutrons.
137Cs
caesium-137
cesium-137
an electromagnetic property that measures the amount of light absorbed by a material as a beam of light passes through it.
absorbance
an axis that is derived from extension of correspondence analysis in which there is an extra restriction that the axes be linear combinations of environmental variables.
canonical correspondence analysis axis
an organic pigment that is produced by plants and algae as well as several bacteria and fungi, and that are formed from 8 isoprene (C5H8) molecules with or without additional oxygen atoms.
carotenoid
an organic pigment that is any of several green pigments found in cyanobacteria and the chloroplasts of algae and plants and that is composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and magnesium.
chlorophyll
an electromagnetic property that measures the emission of gamma radiation by a material.
gamma radiation
a bulk geological material that consists of particles composed of minerals.
mineral matter
detrital matter
detrital sediment
exogenic sediment
terrigenous matter
terrigenous sediment
a component of the RGB color system that measures the level of red light required to produce the color of a substance.
red intensity
the thickness of a sublayer of or an entire annually-resolved varve in a sediment sequence.
varve thickness
the elemental ratio of aluminum to titanium.
aluminum/titanium
Al/Ti
the ratio of silicon dioxide to phosphorus.
silicon dioxide/phosphorus
SiO2/P
a chemical element with atomic number 35.
bromine
the elemental ratio of calcium to titanium.
calcium/titanium
Ca/Ti
the elemental ratio of carbon to sulfur.
carbon/sulfur
C/S
the elemental ratio of iron to calcium.
iron/calcium
Fe/Ca
the elemental ratio of iron to manganese.
iron/manganese
Fe/Mn
the elemental ratio of iron to titanium.
iron/titanium
Fe/Ti
the elemental ratio of manganese to titanium.
manganese/titanium
Mn/Ti
a chemical element with atomic number 41.
niobium
the elemental ratio of niobium to titanium.
niobium/titanium
Nb/Ti
the elemental ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus.
nitrogen/phosphorus
N/P
the elemental ratio of organic carbon to nitrogen.
organic carbon/nitrogen
C/N organic
a chemical element with atomic number 46.
palladium
the elemental ratio of phosphorus to titanium.
phosphorus/titanium
P/Ti
the elemental ratio of potassium to titanium.
potassium/titanium
K/Ti
a chemical element with atomic number 34.
selenium
a chemical element with atomic number 14.
silicon
the elemental ratio of strontium to titanium.
strontium/titanium
Sr/Ti
the elemental ratio of sulfur to titanium.
sulfur/titanium
S/Ti
a chemical element with atomic number 73.
tantalum
a chemical element with atomic number 74.
tungsten
a summation or ratio of identified minerals that is significant to paleoclimate or paleoenvironment.
mineral index
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula CaO.
calcium oxide
CaO
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula Fe2O3.
iron(III) oxide
Fe2O3
ferric oxide
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula K2O.
potassium oxide
K2O
an inorganic compound that is any of the oxides of manganese, containing oxygen and manganese atoms.
manganese oxide
MnO
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula Na2O.
sodium oxide
Na2O
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula TiO2.
titanium dioxide
TiO2
titania
titanium(IV) oxide
a glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether that has branched alkyl chains and that is of bacterial origin.
branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether
branched GDGT
an organic compound index that is the abundance of branched tetraethers relative to isoprenoid tetraethers, indicative of the relative amounts of soil organic matter and aquatic organic matter.
branched and isoprenoid tetraether index
BIT index
an organic compound index that is calculated from the ratio of branched tetraethers with one cyclopentane moiety to those with none and that is correlated to soil pH.
cyclization index of branched tetraethers
CBT index
a sterol that has the chemical formula C30H52O and that is synthesized by several genera of dinoflagellates.
dinosterol
an ether that is a tetraether membrane lipid and that contains between 0 and 4 cyclopentane moieties, with an increasing number of cyclopentane moieties related to the temperature of formation.
a glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether that has isoprenoid chains and that is of archaeal origin.
isoprenoid glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether
isoprenoid GDGT
an organic compound index that is calculated as the ratio of various branched tetraethers and that reflects temperature and/or soil pH.
methylation index of branched tetraethers
MBT index
a data transformation that involves changing the frequency of time series observations.
resampled
vibrational spectroscopy in which the sample absorbs a single pulse of radiation from the infrared region (0.78 to 1000 micrometers) and the spectrum obtained is subject to a Fourier transform (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
gamma ray densitometry that measures gamma ray attenuation through unsplit cores and provides an estimate for bulk density, water content, and porosity (Credit: Last and Smol, Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments).
gamma ray attenuation porosity evaluation
GRAPE
a laboratory method the degree to which a material can be magnetized in an external magnetic field.
magnetic susceptibility measurement
a magnetic susceptibility measurement made on whole (unsplit) sediment and rock cores.
magnetic susceptibility measurement with ring or loop sensor
a magnetic susceptibility measurement that is made for surface scanning and for providing high-resolution surface measurements on split sediment or slabbed rock cores (Credit: Geotek).
magnetic susceptibility measurement with point or surface sensor
a magnetic susceptibility measurement made on single samples, removed from the sediment core.
magnetic susceptibility measurement with single sample sensor
pyrolysis that uses a programmed temperature heating in an inert atmosphere (helium) of a small sample (~100 mg) to quantitatively and selectively determine (1) the free hydrocarbons contained in the sample and (2) the hydrocarbon- and oxygen-containing compounds (CO2) that are volatilized during the cracking of the unextractable organic matter in the sample (kerogen) (Credit: Ocean Drilling Program).
rock eval pyrolysis
particle size analysis using an x-ray.
x-ray particle size analysis
an age unit of 10^[3] years, calibrated to actual years if derived from radiocarbon dating, before present with present defined as 1950 Common Era. Times after 1950 CE are expressed as negative values.
calendar kiloyear before present
a magnetic field strength unit that is the strength of the field that is produced at the center of a single circular conductor with a one meter diameter carrying a steady current of 1 ampere.
ampere per meter
a magnetic moment unit that is the magnetic moment, in ampere square meter, per unit mass, in kilograms.
ampere square meter per kilogram
a unit which is a standard measure of the amount of space occupied by any substance, whether solid, liquid, or gas (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
volume unit
a volume unit which is equal to one millionth of a cubic meter or 10^[-6] m^[3], or to 1 ml (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
cubic centimeter
cm3
cubic centimetre
a length per time unit that is one hundredth of a meter, or 10^[-2] m, per one year.
centimeter per year
a count per area per time unit that is a simple count of a substance per one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m2, and per one year.
count per square centimeter per year
a count per mass per time unit that is a simple count of a substance per one thousandth of a kilogram, or 10^[-3] kg, of sample per year.
count per gram per year
a count per time unit that is a simple count of the occurrence of a substance per one year.
count per year
a count per time unit that is a simple count of the occurrence of a substance per one second.
count per second
a specific activity unit which is equal to the activity of a gram of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per minute or there is one atom disintegration per minute.
disintegration per minute per gram
an area density unit which is equal to the mass of an object in grams, or 10^[-3] kilogram, per square centimeter, or 10^[-4] square meters.
gram per square centimeter
a mass per area per time unit that is one thousandth of a kilogram, or 10^[-3] kg, per one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m^[2], per one thousand years.
gram per square centimeter per kiloyear
a mass per area per time unit that is one thousandth of a kilogram, or 10^[-3] kg, per one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m^[2], per one year.
gram per square centimeter per year
a mass density unit which is equal to mass of an object in grams divided by the volume in cubic centimeters (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
gram per cubic centimeter
g/cc
g/cm3
gram per cubic centimetre
a mass fraction unit that measures the number of grams, or 10^[-3] kilogram, of one subcomponent of a sample relative to one kilogram of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
gram per kilogram
a mass per area per time unit that is one thousandth of a kilogram, or 10^[-3] kg, per one square meter, per one year.
gram per square meter per year
a mass density unit which is equal to mass of an object in grams divided by the volume in cubic meters.
gram per cubic meter
g/m3
gram per cubic metre
a magnetic field strength unit that is one thousand amperes, or 10^[3] A, per meter.
kiloampere per meter
a specific volume unit which is equal to one cubic meter volume occupied by one kilogram of a particular substance (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
cubic meter per kilogram
cubic metre per kilogram
m3/kg
a mass per area per time unit that is one thousandth of a gram, or 10^[-3] g, per one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m^[2], per one year.
milligram per square centimeter per year
a mass fraction unit that measures the number of milligrams, or 10^[-3] g, of one subcomponent of a sample relative to one gram of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
milligram per gram
a mass fraction unit that measures the number of micrograms, or 10^[-6] grams, of one subcomponent of a sample relative to one gram of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
microgram per gram
mcg/g
ug/g
a mole fraction unit that measures the number of millimoles, or 10^[-3] mole, of one subcomponent of a sample relative to one mole of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
millimole per mole
an electrical conductivity unit that is one thousandth of a siemen, or 10^[-3] S, per one hundredeth of a meter, or 10^[-2] m.
millisiemens per centimeter
mS/cm
millimho per centimeter
an electrical conductivity unit that is one millionth of a siemen, or 10^[-6] S, per one hundredeth of a meter, or 10^[-2] m.
microsiemens per centimeter
micromho per centimeter
uS/cm
a unit which is a standard measure of the amount of a 2-dimensional flat surface (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
area unit
an area unit which is equal to one trillionth of a square meter or 10^[-12] m^[2].
square micrometer
square micrometre
um2
a volume unit which is equal to one thousandth of a liter or 10^[-3] L, or to 1 cubic centimeter (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
milliliter
millilitre
a percent unit that denotes the moles of a substance in a mixture as a percentage of the moles of the entire mixture.
mole percent
an area unit that is calculated as the area under the curve of a measured spectrum and that generally gives relative information about the abundance of various sample sub-components.
peak area integral
a percent unit that denotes the volume of the solute in mL per 100 mL of the resulting solution (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
volume percent
a per mil unit calculated using the isotopic concentration of standard seawater.
per mil seawater
an age unit of 10^[3] years, derived from radiocarbon dating without calibration to actual years, before present with present defined as 1950 Common Era. Times after 1950 CE are expressed as negative values.
radiocarbon kiloyear before present
an identifiable organism including clams and mussels that belongs to the kingdom Animalia, phylum Mollusca, class Bivalvia.
bivalve
an identifiable organism that belongs to the kingdom Protozoa, order Foraminiferida.
foraminifer
an identifiable organism commonly known as a water flea that belongs to the kingdom Animalia, phylum Arthropoda, class Branchiopoda, order Cladocera.
cladoceran
the eggs of a cladoceran.
ephippia
a magnetic ratio of the anhysteretic remanent magnetization to the isothermal remanent magnetization, which can yield a qualitative measure of magnetic grain size (higher values indicating finer grain sizes).
anhysteretic remanent magnetization/isothermal remanent magnetization
ARM/IRM
a magnetic ratio of the anhysteretic remanent magnetization to the saturation isothermal remanent magnetization, which can yield a qualitative measure of magnetic grain size.
anhysteretic remanent magnetization/saturation isothermal remanent magnetization
ARM/SIRM
a magnetic ratio of the coercivity of remanence to the coercivity, which can yield a qualitative measure of magnetic grain size.
coercivity of remanence/coercivity
HCR/HC
a magnetic moment that is the degree to which a material can be magnetized in an external magnetic field.
magnetic susceptibility
chi
a magnetic ratio of the natural remanent magnetization to the anhysteretic remanent magnetization, which can yield a qualitative measure of paleointensity of the geomagnetic field.
natural remanent magnetization/anhysteretic remanent magnetization
NRM/ARM
a magnetic ratio of the saturation isothermal remanent magnetization to the saturation isothermal magnetization.
saturation isothermal remanent magnetization/saturation isothermal magnetization
a magnetic ratio of the saturation isothermal remanent magnetization to the initial magnetization slope.
saturation isothermal remanent magnetization/initial magnetization slope
the count of total ostracod valves in a sample.
total ostracods
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage who live free on or in sediments (motile) or attached to substrata (sessile).
total benthic diatoms
epontic diatoms
periphytic diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage whose habitat is floating in the water column.
total planktic diatoms
the ratio of planktic to benthic diatoms in a sample.
planktic:benthic diatom
the total count or percentage of benthic diatoms in an assemblage that can often be found resuspended in the water column.
total tychoplanktic diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage that are radially symmetric.
total centric diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage tolerant of saline conditions.
total saline diatoms
hypersaline diatoms
hyposaline diatoms
mesosaline diatoms
subsaline diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage living in shallow water environments characterized by, eg, high turbulence and high light levels.
total shallow water diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage that are bilaterally, not radially, symmetric.
total pennate diatoms
an organic compound index that is based on n-alkanes to quantify preservation/degradation patterns in sediments and/or source material of organic matter.
carbon preference index
CPI
an ecosystem quantity that measures the presence of plants using the Hatch-Slack photosynthetic pathway.
C4 plants
a measure of the extent to which a peat sample has undergone decomposition and humic acids have been produced.
humification index
an organic compound index that measures the amount of hydrogen relative to the amount of organic carbon present in a sample.
hydrogen index
an organic compound index that measures the amount of oxygen relative to the amount of organic carbon present in a sample.
oxygen index
a geographic variable that quantifies the height of the lake water surface relative to some datum.
lake level
a laboratory method that involves the chemical degradation of a sample by thermal energy in an inert environment (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
pyrolysis
spectroscopy in which the beta-particles spontaneously emitted from radioisotopes are detected (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
beta-particle detection
an ecosystem index that uses amino-acid-specific stable nitrogen isotopic compositions to measure trophic structure within an ecosystem.
trophic position index
sampling metadata that identifies the date that the physical sample was collected.
collection date
any coral that belongs to the genus Desmophyllum.
Desmophyllum sp.
a particular species of the genus Desmophyllum that is commonly known as cockscomb cup coral.
Desmophyllum dianthus
Porites evermanni
an error estimate that is the difference between the highest and lowest possible values.
range
a component of the RGB color system that measures the level of green light required to produce the color of a substance.
green intensity
an axis of the CIE L*a*b* color system, with the darkest black at 0 and the brightest white at 100.
lightness
the value, that when added to and subtracted from the mean estimate, creates a interval that is believed to capture the true value according to an unspecified calculation.
unspecified margin of error
the upper (maximum) bound of the interval believed to capture the true value according to an unspecified calculation.
unspecified error upper bound
the lower (minimum) bound of the interval believed to capture the true value according to an unspecified calculation.
unspecified error lower bound
a measure of the deviation of a delta 17O value from the value calculated from delta 18O on the same sample assuming mass-independent fractionation, that is delta 17O - 0.52 delta 18O.
delta 17O excess
Delta 17O
d17O excess
a laboratory method that measures the change in direction or intensity of electromagnetic radiation applied to a sample.
diffraction and scattering method
a scattering method for determining structure by measuring the change in direction or energy of scattered visible light. Light (from a laser source) is scattered by the electrons surrounding the atomic nuclei in the sample (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
laser light scattering
gas chromatography that uses a device that measures the change in thermal conductivity caused by a sample (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
gas chromatography - thermal conductivity detection
the age, either directly measured or inferred, of ice at the midpoint of a sample within an ice core.
ice age
the age, either directly measured or inferred, of trapped gas at the midpoint of a sample within an ice core.
gas age
the age, either directly measured or inferred, of ice at the oldest end of a sample within an ice core.
ice age at sample start
the age, either directly measured or inferred, of ice at the youngest end of a sample within an ice core.
ice age at sample end
the age, either directly measured or inferred, of trapped gas at the oldest end of a sample within an ice core.
gas age at sample start
the age, either directly measured or inferred, of trapped gas at the youngest end of a sample within an ice core.
gas age at sample end
a gas extraction method that liberates gas through the evaporation and recondensation of ice.
sublimation
inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry in which the sample is ionized in a plasma (a partially ionized gas such as Ar containing free electrons) which has been generated by electromagnetic induction. The beam of ions is then directed into magnetic field, the orientation of which is perpendicular to the beam. The magnetic field forces the charged particles into different circular trajectories, the radii of which depend on the strength of the magnetic field, the accelerating voltage, and the mass of the ion (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
inductively-coupled plasma sector field mass spectrometry
ICP-SF-MS
a laboratory method of calculating air content of ice by measuring the pressure and temperature of air of a known volume.
barometric method
the average grain size in a sample.
grain size mean
a formation property that describes or quantifies layers within a sample that formed due to unusual environmental or climatic events.
event layer
an identified mineral characterized by the linkage of sulfur with a metal.
sulfide mineral
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C21H44.
C21 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C22H46.
C22 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C23H48.
C23 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C24H50.
C24 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C25H52.
C25 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C26H54.
C26 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C28H58.
C28 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C30H62.
C30 n-alkane
x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy in which the energy spectrum of the X-rays emitted due to core-to-core transitions is measured using a diffraction grating or crystal (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
wavelength-dispersive x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy
WD-XRF
the mean temperature of a lake surface.
lake surface temperature
a circulation variable that describes or quantifies a climate pattern with identifiable characteristics, specific regional effects, and often oscillatory behavior (Credit: Wikipedia).
circulation index
an earth system variable that relates to the parts of climate influenced by water.
hydroclimatic variable
an earth system variable that measures or describes quantities, properties, and processes within a community of living organisms and the nonliving components of their environment.
ecosystem variable
column chromatography where the mobile phase is a liquid, the stationary phase consists of very small particles and the inlet pressure is relatively high (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
high-performance liquid chromatography
HPLC
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C31H63COOH.
C32 n-alkanoic acid
an alkene that is highly-branched and composed of a number of isoprene (C5H8) units and that is produced by a relatively small number of marine and freshwater diatoms belonging to the Haslea, Navicula, Pleurosigma, and Rhizosolenia genera (Credit: Belt et al. 2013, 10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.12.001).
highly-branched isoprenoid alkene
HBI
an organic compound index of n-alkanes that is defined as (C27+C29+C31)/(C17+C19+C21) by Bourbonniere and Meyers 1997 to reflect the ratio of higher-order terrestrial plant material to aquatic plant material derived from algae, photosynthetic bacteria, and submerged and emergent aquatics.
terrestrial to aquatic ratio
TAR
a data type that quantifies past changes in lake elevation or lake depth, either directly or using reconstruction methods, based on shoreline deposits or sediment cores.
lake levels
the hydroclimate ratio of the measured evapotranspiration to the amount of evaporation that would occur if a sufficient water source were available.
actual/potential evapotranspiration
an index of the El Niño Southern Oscillation that quantifies the occurrence of anomalously warm sea surface temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific.
El Niño event
a cryospheric variable that quantifies some aspect of the components of the cryosphere.
cryospheric quantity
a cryospheric quantity that is the elevation at which the mass balance of an ice sheet or glacier is zero over the year, that is where ablation equals accumulation.
equilibrium line altitude
ELA
an ecosystem index that quantifies the ratio of the rate of carbon assimilaton (photosynthesis) to the rate of transpiration in plants.
intrinsic water use efficiency
the mean temperature at the earth surface.
surface temperature
the mean temperature of the land surface.
land surface temperature
the mean temperature of air generally 1.25 to 2 meters above the earth surface.
surface air temperature
the hydroclimate rate that is the difference in rate between precipitation and evaporation at the earth's surface.
precipitation minus evaporation
P-E
the hydroclimate ratio of water vapor present in air to the amount of water needed to achieve saturation at the local temperature.
relative humidity
sea level that is the result of the rising or falling of land relative to the ocean surface.
relative sea level
a cryospheric quantity that is a measure of the extent to which the ocean surface is covered by sea ice.
sea ice cover
acetic acid that is insoluble.
insoluble acetic acid
acetic acid that is soluble.
soluble acetic acid
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C33H67COOH.
C34 n-alkanoic acid
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C26H53COOH.
C27 n-alkanoic acid
an alcohol with the general formula CnH(2n+2)O.
n-alkanol
a bulk geological material that consists of a small quantity of a substance that is measurable in its size or composition.
particles
the value below which a given percentage of observations in a group of observations fall.
percentile
A coefficient of determination that quantifies whether a statistical or physically-based model is a better predictor of validation period values than the mean climatology of the validation period and that is calculated as: 1 - (sum((observed-predicted)^2)/n)/(sum((observed-validation climatology)^2)/n).
validation coefficient of efficiency
validation CE
verification CE
a coefficient of determination that quantifies whether a statistical or physically-based model is a better predictor of validation period values than the mean climatology of the calibration period and that is calculated as: 1 - (sum((observed-predicted)^2)/n)/(sum((observed-calibration climatology)^2)/n).
validation reduction of error
a coefficient of determination that quantifies the percent of instrumental variable variance explained by a reconstruction of the the calibration period. It ranges from 0 (no calibrated variance) to 1.0 (perfect agreement between instrumental and reconstructed time series).
calibration coefficient of determination
calibration R-squared
calibration R2
calibration r2
a coefficient of determination that quantifies the percent of instrumental variable variance explained by a reconstruction of the validation period (i.e., the period of the instrumental record not used for calibration). It ranges from 0 (no correlation) to 1.0 (perfect correlation).
validation coefficient of determination
validation R squared
validation R-squared
validation R2
validation r2
verification R squared
verification R-squared
verification R2
verification r2
an extension of the correlation coefficent that measures the common variance between series in a tree ring chronology and that is calculated by taking the average of the correlations calculated between all series.
average correlation coefficient
RBAR
r bar
r-bar
an extension of the correlation coefficient that quantifies how well a chronology based on a finite number of samples represents the hypothetical perfect or true chronology and that is calculated as: (n*RBAR)/(n*RBAR + 1-RBAR) where n is the number of samples and RBAR is the mean intersample correlation coefficient.
expressed population signal
EPS
isotope ratio mass spectrometry in which the relative abundance of isotopes in a sample is determined by using an isotope dilution standard (the sample labelled with a rare isotope) (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
isotope dilution mass spectrometry
a light unit which measures radiant intensity and which is equal to one kilogram meter squared per second cubed per steradian (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
watt per steradian
W/sr
a length per time unit that is one hundredth of a meter, or 10^[-2] m, per one thousand years, or 10^[3] years.
centimeter per kiloyear
a count per time unit that is a simple count of the occurrence of a substance per one hundred years.
count per century
a count per area per time unit that is a simple count of a substance per one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m2, and per thousand years, or 10^[3] years.
count per square centimeter per kiloyear
a parts per notation unit that represents a one part per 10,000 deviation of a sample from the chondritic unifractionated reservoir (CHUR) standard (Credit: Wikipedia).
epsilon unit
a mass per area per time unit that is one thousandth of a kilogram, or 10^[-3] kg, per one square meter, per one thousand years.
gram per square meter per kiloyear
a length per time unit that is one meter per one second.
meter per second
a mass fraction unit that measures the number of milligrams, or 10^[-3] g, of one subcomponent of a sample relative to one milligram, or 10^[-3] g, of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
milligram per milligram
a mass density unit which is equal to mass of an object in milligrams, or 10^[-3] g, divided by the volume in cubic centimeters, or 10^[-6] cubic meters.
milligram per cubic centimeter
mg/cc
mg/cm3
milligram per cubic centimetre
a mass per area per time unit that is one thousandth of a gram, or 10^[-3] g, per one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m^[2], per one thousand years.
milligram per square centimeter per kiloyear
a mass fraction unit that measures the number of milligrams, or 10^[-6] kg, of one subcomponent of a sample relative to one kilogram of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
milligram per kilogram
a mass per area per time unit that is one millionth of a gram, or 10^[-6] g, per one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m^[2], per one thousand years.
microgram per square centimeter per kiloyear
a mass per area per time unit that is one millionth of a gram, or 10^[-6] g, per one square meter, per one year.
microgram per square meter per year
a mass fraction unit that measures the number of micrograms, or 10^[-6] g, of one subcomponent of a sample relative to one milligram, or 10^[-3] g, of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
microgram per milligram
a molality unit which expresses a concentration of a solution of one thousandth of a mole, or 10^[-3] mole, per one thousandth of a kilogram, or 10^[-3] kg, of solvent.
millimole per gram
a mole per area per time unit that is one thousandth of a mole, or 10^[-3] mole, per one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m, per one thousand years.
millimole per square centimeter per kiloyear
an electric potential difference unit which is equal to one thousandth of a volt or 10^[-3] V (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
millivolt
a mass per area per time unit that is one billionth of a gram, or 10^[-9] g, per one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m^[2], per one thousand years.
nanogram per square centimeter per kiloyear
a molality unit which expresses a concentration of a solution of one billionth of a mole, or 10^[-9] mole, per one thousandth of a kilogram, or 10^[-3] kg, of solvent.
nanomole per gram
an electrical resistivity unit that is the resistivity of a material multiplied by the distance across which an electrical current is applied measured in meters.
ohm meter
a mathematical unit that is the first derivative of a spectrum, yielding the change in percent per change in nanometer.
percent per nanometer
a mole per area per time unit that is one millionth of a mole, or 10^[-6] mole, per one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m, per one thousand years.
micromole per square centimeter per kiloyear
a molality unit which expresses a concentration of a solution of one millionth of a mole, or 10^[-6] mole, per one thousandth of a kilogram, or 10^[-3] kg, of solvent.
micromole per gram
a mole fraction unit that measures the number of micromoles, or 10^[-6] mole, of one subcomponent of a sample relative to one mole of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
micromole per mole
the elemental ratio of aluminum to calcium.
aluminum/calcium
Al/Ca
the elemental ratio of barium to aluminum.
barium/aluminum
Ba/Al
the elemental ratio of barium to iron.
barium/iron
Ba/Fe
the elemental ratio of barium to titanium.
barium/titanium
Ba/Ti
the elemental ratio of bromine to silicon.
bromine/silicon
Br/Si
the elemental ratio of calcium to iron.
calcium/iron
Ca/Fe
the elemental ratio of germanium to silicon.
germanium/silicon
Ge/Si
the elemental ratio of iron to aluminum.
iron/aluminum
Fe/Al
the elemental ratio of magnesium to aluminum.
magnesium/aluminum
Mg/Al
the elemental ratio of manganese to aluminum.
manganese/aluminum
Mn/Al
the elemental ratio of molybdenum to aluminum.
molybdenum/aluminum
Mo/Al
a chemical element with atomic number 76.
osmium
the elemental ratio of phosphorus to aluminum.
phosphorus/aluminum
P/Al
the elemental ratio of potassium to aluminum.
potassium/aluminum
K/Al
a chemical element with atomic number 75.
rhenium
the elemental ratio of sodium to calcium.
sodium/calcium
Na/Ca
the elemental ratio of sulfur to organic carbon.
sulfur/organic carbon
S/organic C
the elemental ratio of titanium to calcium.
titanium/calcium
Ti/Ca
the elemental ratio of uranium to thorium.
uranium/thorium
U/Th
the elemental ratio of vanadium to aluminum.
vanadium/aluminum
V/Al
the elemental ratio of zinc to silicon.
zinc/silicon
Zn/Si
the ratio of a radioactive isotope of rubidium with 50 neutrons and a stable isotope of strontium with 48 neutrons.
87Rb/86Sr
rubidium-87/strontium-86
the ratio of a radioactive isotope of samarium with 85 neutrons and a radioactive isotope of neodymium with 84 neutrons.
the ratio of a stable isotope of osmium with 111 neutrons and a stable isotope of osmium with 112 neutrons.
the ratio of a radioactive isotope of rhenium with 112 neutrons and a stable isotope of osmium with 112 neutrons.
the concentration of a radioactive isotope of thorium with 140 neutrons.
230Th
thorium-230
the concentration of a radioactive isotope of protactinium with 140 neutrons.
231Pa
protactinium-231
the ratio of a radioactive isotope of protactinium with 144 neutrons and a radioactive isotope of thorium with 141 neutrons.
the concentration of a radioactive isotope of thorium with 142 neutrons.
232Th
thorium-232
the concentration of a radioactive isotope of uranium with 142 neutrons.
uranium-234
the concentration of a radioactive isotope of uranium with 146 neutrons.
uranium-238
the ratio of a radioactive isotope of uranium with 146 neutrons and a radioactive isotope of thorium with 142 neutrons.
a plagioclase feldspar mineral that has the general formula (Ca,Na)Al(Si,Al)Si2O8 with 90-100% Na and 0-10% Ca.
albite
a silicate mineral with the general formula A2B5(Si,Al,Ti)8O22(OH,F,Cl,O)2 where A is generally Mg, Fe, Ca, or Na and B is generally Mg, Fe(2+), Al, or Fe(3+).
amphibole
a plagioclase feldspar mineral that has the general formula (Ca,Na)Al(Si,Al)Si2O8 with 0-10% Na and 90-100% Ca.
anorthite
an alkali feldspar mineral with the formula (Na,K)AlSi3O8.
anorthoclase
a mica group mineral that belongs to the series between Annite-Phlogopite and Siderophyllite-Eastonite.
biotite series
a mica group mineral with the formula KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH2).
muscovite
a plagioclase feldspar mineral that has the general formula (Ca,Na)Al(Si,Al)Si2O8 with 10-30% Na and 70-90% Ca.
bytownite
albite with the formula NaAlSi3O8.
cleavelandite
a mica group mineral with the formula (K,Na)(Mg,Fe2+,Fe3+)(Fe3+,Al)(Si,Al)4O10(OH)2.
glauconite
a hydroxide mineral with the formula alpha-Fe3+O(OH).
goethite
an identified mineral that is characterized by a halogen such as fluorine, chlorine, iodine, or bromine as the anion (Credit: Dictionary of Geological Terms).
halide mineral
a halide mineral with the formula NaCl.
halite
NaCl
an oxide mineral with the general formula X2O3, where X = Al, Fe, V, Cr, Ti.
hematite group
a plagioclase feldspar mineral that has the general formula (Ca,Na)Al(Si,Al)Si2O8 with 30-50% Na and 50-70% Ca.
labradorite
an oxide mineral with the formula Fe3+2O3.
maghemite
an oxide mineral with the formula: Fe(2+)Fe(3+)2O4.
magnetite
a potassium feldspar with the formula KAlSi3O8.
microcline
a plagioclase feldspar mineral that has the general formula (Ca,Na)Al(Si,Al)Si2O8 with 70-90% Na and 10-30% Ca.
oligoclase
orthoclase
adularia
a sulfide mineral with the formula FeS2.
pyrite
a silicate mineral with the general formula ABSi2O6 where A is mainly Mg, Fe2+, Ca, or Na and B is mainly Mg, Fe2+, or Al.
pyroxene
a smectite mineral with the formula Ca0.25(Mg,Fe)3((Si,Al)4O10)(OH)2·nH2O.
saponite
a silicate mineral with the general formula D3[Si2O5](OH)4 where D is Mg, Fe, Ni, Mn, Al, Zn.
serpentine
a carbonate with the formula FeCO3.
siderite
FeCO3
iron carbonate
a silicate mineral with the formula CaTiSiO5.
titanite
a silicate mineral with the formula Zr(SiO4).
zircon
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula BaO.
barium oxide
BaO
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula CaO2.
calcium dioxide
CaO2
calcium peroxide
an inorganic compound that is any one of a number of oxides of phosphorus, containing oxygen and phosphorus atoms.
phosphorus oxide
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula SrO.
strontium oxide
SrO
strontia
an inorganic compound that is any of the oxides of titanium, containing oxygen and titanium atoms.
titanium oxide
TiO
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula ZrO2.
zirconium dioxide
ZiO2
zirconia
a measurement of specific inorganic compounds, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure of enviromental conditions.
inorganic compound index
a ketone that is a long-chain unsaturated methyl and ethyl n-ketone produced by a few phytoplankton species of the class Prymnesiophyceae (Credit: Wikipedia).
alkenone
a sterol that has the chemical formula C28H46O and is synthesized by several unicellular algae (phytoplankton) and some terrestrial plants.
brassicasterol
a carbonyl compound with the general formula CHO2R where R is a long aliphatic chain (i.e., lacking an especially stable ring of atoms).
fatty acid
an organic compound index that is calculated as the ratio of ice proxy with 25 carbon atoms (IP25) to dinosterol and that is a sea ice indicator.
dinosterol ice proxy with 25 carbon atoms index
PDIP25
a highly-branched isoprenoid alkene that contains 25 carbon atoms and that is produced selectively by sea ice diatoms (Credit: Belt et al. 2013, 10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.12.001).
ice proxy with 25 carbon atoms
IP25
a class of cross-linked phenolic polymers found in vascular plants and some algae.
lignin
a magnetic ratio of the anhysteretic remanent magnetization to the magnetic susceptibility, which can yield a qualitative measure of magnetic grain size (higher values indicating finer grain sizes).
anhysteretic remanent magnetization/magnetic susceptibility
ARM/K
ARM/MS
the natural remanent magnetization that a rock acquires during its formation.
characteristic remanent magnetization
ChRM
a magnetic ratio of the natural remanent magnetization to the isothermal remanent magnetization, which can yield a qualitative measure of paleointensity of the geomagnetic field.
natural remanent magnetization/isothermal remanent magnetization
NRM/IRM
a magnetic moment that is the maximum magnetization of a material within an applied magnetic field.
saturation magnetization
a magnetic ratio of the saturation remanent magnetization to the saturation magnetization, which can yield a qualitative measure of magnetic grain size.
saturation remanent magnetization/saturation magnetization
Mrs/Ms
a foraminifer that has been identified taxonomically.
identified foraminifer
a measurement of foraminifera, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure.
foraminiferal index
the total count or percentage of foraminifers in an assemblage that have a test constructed from existing sedimentary grains as opposed to secreted by the organism.
total agglutinated foraminifers
the total count or percentage of foraminifers in an assemblage who live free on or in sediments or attached to substrata.
total benthic foraminifers
the total count or percentage of foraminifers in an assemblage that secrete a rigid calcite or aragonite shell.
total calcareous foraminifers
a particular species of the genus Cibicidoides.
Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi
a particular species of the genus Globigerina.
Globigerina bulloides
a particular species of the genus Globigerinella.
Globigerinella siphonifera
a particular species of the genus Globigerinoides.
Globigerinoides ruber
a particular species of the genus Trilobatus.
Trilobatus sacculifer
Globigerinoides sacculifer
a particular species of the genus Globorotalia.
Globorotalia menardii
Globorotalia truncatulinoides
a particular species of the genus Neogloboquadrina.
Neogloboquadrina dutertrei
Neogloboquadrina pachyderma
a particular species of the genus Orbulina.
Orbulina universa
a foraminiferal index that is the ratio of planktic to benthic foraminifers (or benthic to planktic foraminifers) in a sample.
planktic:benthic foraminifer
the total count or percentage of foraminifers in an assemblage whose habitat is floating in the water column.
total planktic foraminifers
a gastropod that has been identified taxonomically.
identified gastropod
an identifiable organism that belongs to the kingdom Animalia, phylum Brachiopoda.
brachiopod
a brachiopod that has been identified taxonomically, with any information such as genus or species listed in the 'Additional Information' field.
identified brachiopod
a measurement of brachiopods, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure.
brachiopod index
an identifiable organism that belongs to the kingdom Animalia, phylum Chordata and that is a gill-bearing aquatic crainate animal that lacks limbs with digits.
fish
a fish that has been identified taxonomically.
identified fish
a measurement of fish, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure.
fish index
an identifiable organism that belongs to the kingdom Protozoa, order Radiolaria.
radiolarian
a measurement of radiolarians, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure.
radiolarian index
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage that are present in freshwater environments.
total freshwater diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage whose habitat is near sea ice.
total ice diatoms
the total count or percentage of planktic or benthic diatoms in an assemblage whose habitat is the marine near-coastal zone.
total neritic diatoms
a diatom index that is the total number of diatoms in a sample.
total diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage tolerant of plentiful nutrients, eg, as occur in upwelling zones.
total copiotrophic diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage tolerant of warm water.
total warm water diatoms
an identifiable organism that is a unicellular algae and that belongs to kingdom Chromista, order Dictyochales.
silicoflagellate
a measurement of silicoflagellates, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure.
silicoflagellate index
a foraminifer who lives free on or in sediments (motile) or attached to substrata (sessile).
benthic foraminifer
a foraminifer who lives floating in the water column.
planktic foraminifer
any foraminifer that belongs to the genus Cibicidoides.
Cibicidoides sp.
an identifiable organism that is a unicellular phytoplankton and that belongs to the kingdom Chromista, phylum Haptophyta, class Prymnesiophyceae.
coccolithophore
any foraminifer that belongs to the genus Globigerina.
Globigerina sp.
any foraminifer that belongs to the genus Globigerinoides.
Globigerinoides sp.
Globigerinoides rubra
any foraminifer that belongs to the genus Globorotalia.
Globorotalia sp.
dust that is deposited on the land surface by winds.
loess
any foraminifer that belongs to the genus Neogloboquadrina.
Neogloboquadrina sp.
any foraminifer that belongs to the genus Orbulina.
Orbulina sp.
an identifiable organism that belongs to the kingdom Animalia, phylum Porifera.
sponge
a bulk geological material that that consists of mineral particles that originated from a volcano.
volcanic material
any foraminifer that belongs to the genus Uvigerina.
Uvigerina sp.
a particular species of the genus Uvigerina.
Uvigerina peregrina
an axis of the CIE L*a*b* color system, with negative values indicating blue and positive values indicating yellow.
blue-yellow contrast
an organic pigment with the formula C20H16N4.
chlorin
a dimension of the Munsell color system that represents color purity or saturation, with lower values indicating less saturation.
chroma
the angle of offset between the magnetic north of a sample's characteristic remanent magnetization and true north.
characteristic remanent magnetization declination
the ratio of two isotopes of silicon, 30Si/28Si, in a sample compared to that of a standard, typically NBS 28, as in: ((30Si/28Si sample)/(30Si/28Si standard) - 1) x 1000.
delta 30Si
d30Si
delta Si30
an identifiable organism including urchins and sand dollars that belongs to the kingdom Animalia, phylum Echinodermata, class Echinoidea.
echinoid
the total count of dinocysts in a sample.
total dinocysts
the abundance or concentration of particles with a diameter of 2 to 4 millimeters.
granule
a dimension of the Munsell color system that represents the differentiation between red, yellow, green, blue and purple.
hue
an electrical property that quantifies the measure of opposition that a circuit presents to a current from an applied voltage.
impedance
the angle between a horizontal plane and the characteristic remanent magnetization field lines of a material. This quantity can be used to infer paleolatitude.
characteristic remanent magnetization inclination
an ecosystem index that quantitatively measures how many different types are in a community and how evenly individuals are distributed across the types.
diversity index
a diversity index that measures species richness (biodiversity) as: (S-1)/ln N where S is the number of species observed and N is the total number of individuals in the sample.
Margalef diversity index
an axis of the CIE L*a*b* color system, with negative values indicating green and positive values indicating red.
red-green contrast
an electrical property that quantifies how strongly a specified material opposes the flow of an electric current.
resistivity
a measure obtained from the characteristic remanent magnetization of a sample of the strength of the magnetic field in earth's past.
paleointensity
an ecosystem process variable that quantifies the rate of generation of biomass in an ecosystem.
productivity
a measurement of productivity that quantifies the synthesis and storage of organic molecules during the growth and reproduction of photosynthetic organisms.
primary productivity
a diversity index that combines the number of different types and the evenness of their proportional abundances as: -[SUM(pi ln pi)] where pi is the proportion of individuals belonging to a type and the summation is across all types.
Shannon diversity index
Shannon entropy
Shannon-Weaver diversity index
Shannon-Wiener diversity index
a diversity index that measures how evenly individuals are distributed across types, as SUM[pi2] where pi is the proportional abundance of a type and the summation is across all types.
Simpson diversity index
a physical property that is the height of a layer or object from top to bottom.
thickness
a measure of the amount of water that is contained within a material, often expressed as a weight percent.
water content
a reconstructed seasonality that consists of five consecutive months of the calendar year.
5-month period
a five month period that spans the months of January to May.
Jan-May
a five month period that spans the months of February to June.
Feb-Jun
a five month period that spans the months of March to July.
Mar-Jul
a five month period that spans the months of April to August.
Apr-Aug
a five month period that spans the months of May to September.
May-Sep
a five month period that spans the months of June to October.
Jun-Oct
a five month period that spans the months of July to November.
Jul-Nov
a five month period that spans the months of August to December.
Aug-Dec
a five month period that spans the months of September to January.
Sep-Jan
a five month period that spans the months of October to February.
Oct-Feb
a five month period that spans the months of November to March.
Nov-Mar
a five month period that spans the months of December to April.
Dec-Apr
a reconstructed seasonality that consists of seven consecutive months of the calendar year.
7-month period
a seven month period that spans the months of January to July.
Jan-Jul
a seven month period that spans the months of February to August.
Feb-Aug
a seven month period that spans the months of March to September.
Mar-Sep
a seven month period that spans the months of April to October.
Apr-Oct
a seven month period that spans the months of May to November.
May-Nov
a seven month period that spans the months of June to December.
Jun-Dec
a seven month period that spans the months of July to January.
Jul-Jan
a seven month period that spans the months of August to February.
Aug-Feb
a seven month period that spans the months of September to March.
Sep-Mar
a seven month period that spans the months of October to April.
Oct-Apr
a seven month period that spans the months of November to May.
Nov-May
a seven month period that spans the months of December to June.
Dec-Jun
a reconstructed seasonality that consists of eight consecutive months of the calendar year.
8-month period
a reconstructed seasonality that consists of nine consecutive months of the calendar year.
9-month period
a reconstructed seasonality that consists of ten consecutive months of the calendar year.
10-month period
a reconstructed seasonality that consists of eleven consecutive months of the calendar year.
11-month period
an eight month period that spans the months of January to August.
Jan-Aug
an eight month period that spans the months of February to September.
Feb-Sep
an eight month period that spans the months of March to October.
Mar-Oct
an eight month period that spans the months of April to November.
Apr-Nov
an eight month period that spans the months of May to December.
May-Dec
an eight month period that spans the months of June to January.
Jun-Jan
an eight month period that spans the months of July to February.
Jul-Feb
an eight month period that spans the months of August to March.
Aug-Mar
an eight month period that spans the months of September to April.
Sep-Apr
an eight month period that spans the months of October to May.
Oct-May
an eight month period that spans the months of November to June.
Nov-Jun
an eight month period that spans the months of December to July.
Dec-Jul
a nine month period that spans the months of January to September.
Jan-Sep
a nine month period that spans the months of February to October.
Feb-Oct
a nine month period that spans the months of March to November.
Mar-Nov
a nine month period that spans the months of April to December.
Apr-Dec
a nine month period that spans the months of May to January.
May-Jan
a nine month period that spans the months of June to February.
Jun-Feb
a nine month period that spans the months of July to March.
Jul-Mar
a nine month period that spans the months of August to April.
Aug-Apr
a nine month period that spans the months of September to May.
Sep-May
a nine month period that spans the months of October to June.
Oct-Jun
a nine month period that spans the months of November to July.
Nov-Jul
a nine month period that spans the months of December to August.
Dec-Aug
a ten month period that spans the months of January to October.
Jan-Oct
a ten month period that spans the months of February to November.
Feb-Nov
a ten month period that spans the months of March to December.
Mar-Dec
a ten month period that spans the months of April to January.
Apr-Jan
a ten month period that spans the months of May to February.
May-Feb
a ten month period that spans the months of June to March.
Jun-Mar
a ten month period that spans the months of July to April.
Jul-Apr
a ten month period that spans the months of August to May.
Aug-May
a ten month period that spans the months of September to June.
Sep-Jun
a ten month period that spans the months of October to July.
Oct-Jul
a ten month period that spans the months of November to August.
Nov-Aug
a ten month period that spans the months of December to September.
Dec-Sep
an eleven month period that spans the months of January to November.
Jan-Nov
an eleven month period that spans the months of February to December.
Feb-Dec
an eleven month period that spans the months of March to January.
Mar-Jan
an eleven month period that spans the months of April to February.
Apr-Feb
an eleven month period that spans the months of May to March.
May-Mar
an eleven month period that spans the months of June to April.
Jun-Apr
an eleven month period that spans the months of July to May.
Jul-May
an eleven month period that spans the months of August to June.
Aug-Jun
an eleven month period that spans the months of September to July.
Sep-Jul
an eleven month period that spans the months of October to August.
Oct-Aug
an eleven month period that spans the months of November to September.
Nov-Sep
an eleven month period that spans the months of December to October.
Dec-Oct
a non-calendric period that encompasses the period during which rainfall and temperature allow plants to grow, without specification of certain days or months.
growing season
a non-calendric period that is defined as the coldest month of the year, with the actual calendar month being specific to a given geographic location and era.
coldest month
a non-calendric period that is defined as the warmest month of the year, with the actual calendar month being specific to a given geographic location and era.
warmest month
a particular species of the genus Orbicella that is commonly known as the boulder star coral.
Orbicella franksi
any coral that belongs to the genus Goniopora.
Goniopora sp.
a particular species of the genus Goniopora.
Goniopora hilli
an amino acid with the formula C3H7NO2.
alanine
an amino acid with the formula C6H14N4O2.
arginine
a circulation index that is calculated from the detrended average anomalies of sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic basin, usually from 0 to 80 degrees north and that represents internal (unforced variability).
Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation Index
AMO
an index of the El Niño Southern Oscillation that quantifies the occurrence of anomalously cold sea surface temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific.
La Niña event
a cryospheric quantity that is the elevation of the surface of a glacier, ice-cap or ice-sheet resting on bedrock or an ice-shelf, measured relative to some datum.
ice sheet elevation
a cryospheric quantity that is the volume of ice in a glacier, ice-cap or ice-sheet resting on bedrock or an ice-shelf.
ice sheet volume
the ice mass loss from a glacier, ice-cap, ice-sheet, or ice-shelf through calving into the ocean or other body of water
ice calving
a temperature index that counts the number of days with minimum temperatures above 0 degrees Celsius.
non-freezing days
a pressure variable that is the atmospheric pressure at sea level at a given location and time. When observed at a reporting station that is not at sea level, which is nearly all stations, it is a correction of the station pressure to sea level.
sea level pressure
SLP
a velocity variable that is the velocity of wind at some height in the atmosphere.
wind speed
the amount of water contained in snowpack, typically expressed as a depth.
snow water equivalent
SWE
the hydroclimatic rate that is the difference in rate between precipitation at the land surface and evaporation and transpiration from the land surface.
precipitation minus evapotranspiration
P-ET
the hydroclimatic rate that is the difference in rate between precipitation at the land surface and the evaporation that would occur from the land surface if a sufficient water source were available.
precipitation minus potential evapotranspiration
P-PET
a dissimilarity measure that is calculated as the proportional representation of a species P (Pij^1/2 - Pik^1/2)^2 summed across all species i for two samples j and k.
squared chord distance
a circulation index that describes the South Asian monsoon circulation using the difference between 850 hPa and 200 hPa wind speeds averaged over the region 10-30N, 70-110 E.
South Asian Summer Monsoon Index
SASM
a circulation index that is calculated as the leading principal component of sea level at San Francisco, an upwelling index, and the Northern Oscillation Index (i.e., the difference in sea level pressure anomalies between the North Pacific High and Darwin, Australia).
California Current Index
CCI
a circulation index that describes the low-frequency variability of the Southern Hemisphere extratropics and that is calculated from the difference of zonal mean sea level pressure between 40S and 65S latitude.
Southern Annular Mode
AAO
Antarctic oscillation
SAM
a solution property that is defined as the product of the concentrations of dissolved calcium and carbonate ions in seawater divided by the product of aragonite at equilibrium.
aragonite saturation state
the hydroclimate ratio of total sky obscured by clouds when measured from a particular location.
cloud cover
the radiative flux that is the amount of shortwave (solar) radiation from above that is measured at the lower boundary of the atmosphere.
surface downwelling shortwave radiation
a goodness-of-fit measure that quantifies the strength and direction of the linear relationship between two variables and that is defined as the (sample) covariance of the variables divided by the product of their (sample) standard deviations.
correlation coefficient
a circulation index that is calculated from modern observations as the second principal component of low-frequency filtered or smoothed sea surface temperatures generally between 60 degrees north and 40 degrees south latitude, either over the Pacific Basin or globally.
Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation Index
IPO
an ecosystem quantity that measures the difference in water content in soil between field capacity and the permanent wilting point.
plant available moisture
sea level that is the result of a change in the volume of water in the earth's oceans or of net changes in the volumes of the ocean basins.
eustatic sea level
a hydroclimate index that is based on the cumulative probability of a given rainfall event at a particular station in combination with the role of temperature on evapotranspiration.
standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index
SPEI
a circulation index that is calculated from 500 hPa geopotential height anomalies at four locations over the Pacific and North America or from the second principal component of Northern Hemisphere extratropical sea level pressure anomalies, and that relates to temperature and precipitation anomalies over North America.
Pacific-North American Pattern
PNA
a hydroclimate index that employs temperature and precipitation information, as an operational version of the Palmer Drought Severity Index, to estimate relative dryness taking into consideration the cumulative nature of long-term drought.
Palmer Modified Drought Index
a hydroclimate index that is based on the cumulative probability of a given rainfall event at a particular station.
standardized precipitation index
SPI
the elemental ratio of sulfur to calcium.
sulfur/calcium
S/Ca
the value, that when added to and subtracted from the mean estimate, creates a confidence interval that captures the true value 68% of the time.
68% confidence interval margin of error
reflectance that is quantified within an additive color model of the three primary colors.
RGB color system
reflectance that is quantified according to the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) color space defined by one lightness axis and two chrominance axes, exceeding those colors visible to humans.
CIE L*a*b* color system
CIELAB color system
reflectance that is quantified according to the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) color space defined by three parameters that are mathematical extrapolations of the Red-Green-Blue (RGB) color space that is visible to humans.
CIEXYZ color system
reflectance that is quantified according to three independent dimensions and based in human visual perception.
Munsell color system
a dimension of the Munsell color system that represents lightness, with zero being black and 10 being white.
value
a parameter of the CIEXYZ color system that is a mix of cone response curves chosen to be non-negative (Credit: Wikipedia).
CIE X
a parameter of the CIEXYZ color system that is a measure of luminance.
CIE Y
a parameter of the CIEXYZ color system that is a approximately equal to blue color.
CIE Z
a chemical element with atomic number 32.
germanium
a chemical element with atomic number 78.
platinum
a chemical element with atomic number 84.
polonium
a data type that includes measurements of past climatic conditions and climate-dependent phenomena as observed and recorded by humans not using modern meteorological instruments.
historical
a data type that includes measurements of climate conditions and climate-dependent phenomena made by humans using modern meteorological instruments.
instrumental
a measure of the sharpness of the peak of the grain size frequency distribution. The kurtosis of a univariate normal distribution is 3; values less than this indicate a flatter distribution and values greater than this indicate a more peaked distribution.
grain size kurtosis
a measure of the asymmetry of the grain size frequency distribution around the mean value. Negative values indicate that the left tail of the distribution is longer than the right tail (i.e., the mass of the distribution is concentrated on the right), and vice versa for positive values.
grain size skewness
an identified mineral with the sulfate radical SO4.
sulfate mineral
a sulfate mineral with the formula CaSO4·2(H2O).
gypsum
a plagioclase feldspar mineral that has the general formula (Ca,Na)Al(Si,Al)Si2O8 with 50-70% Na and 30-50% Ca.
andesine
an identified mineral that contains tetrahedral PO43- groups (Credit: Dictionary of Geological Terms).
phosphate mineral
a phosphate mineral with the formula Ca2Fe(2+)(PO4)2·4H2O.
anapaite
a sulfate mineral with the formula KHSO4.
mercallite
a silicate mineral with the formula Na4Zn2Si7O18·5H2O.
gaultite
an oxide mineral with the formula (Na,Ca)0.5(Mn4+,Mn3+)2O4·1.5H2O.
birnessite
a silicate mineral with the formula Fe3(2+)Al2(SiO4)3.
almandine
a sulfide mineral with the formula Pb14(Sb,As)6S23.
geocronite
the elemental ratio of nitrogen to sulfur.
nitrogen/sulfur
N/S
an amphibole with the formula NaNa2(Mg2Al2Li)(Si8O22)(OH2).
leakeite
a sulfate mineral with the formula Na2Ca(SO4)2.
glauberite
a sulfate mineral with the formula Na2SO4.
thénardite
a silicate mineral with the formula Mg2Al4Si5O18.
cordierite
a carbonate with the formula Ba3Ce2(CO3)5F2.
cebaite
a kaolinite mineral with the formula Al2Si2O5(OH)4.
dickite
a silicate mineral with the formula Mg3Al2(SiO4)3.
pyrope
a carbonate with the formula CaFe(2+)(CO3)2.
ankerite
cristobalite
a chlorite mineral with the formula Mg5Al(AlSi3O10)(OH)8.
clinochlore
leuchtenbergite
a sulfate mineral with the formula Na2Mg(SO4)2·4H2O.
blödite
a sulfide mineral with the formula CuS.
covellite
an arsenate mineral with the formula Be2AsO4(OH)·4H2O.
bearsite
a chlorite mineral with the formula (Fe2+,Mg,Al,Fe3+)6(Si,Al)4O10(OH,O)8.
chamosite
a silicate mineral with the formula Ca3Fe2(3+)(SiO4)3.
andradite
a sulfate mineral with the formula NaFe(3+)(SO4)2·6H2O.
amarillite
an identified mineral that is a hydrocarbon, a salt of an organic acid, or has some other source from a biological material.
organic compound mineral
an organic compound mineral with the formula K4[Fe(CN)6]·H2O.
kafehydrocyanite
a sulfate mineral with the formula (NH4)3H(SO4)2.
letovicite
a sulfate mineral with the formula Fe(3+)SO4(OH)·2H2O.
butlerite
an amphibole with the formula Na2CaMg5Si8O22(OH)2.
richterite
an oxide mineral with the formula BeAl2O4.
chrysoberyl
a serpentine mineral with the formula (Fe2+,Fe3+)3(Si,Fe3+)2 O5(OH)4.
cronstedtite
a pyroxene mineral with the formula MgSiO3.
clinoenstatite
a sulfide mineral with the formula Ag3AsS3.
proustite
a hematite group mineral with the formula: V2O3.
karelianite
a sulfide mineral with the formula Cu2S.
chalcocite
an oxide mineral with the formula Bi2O3.
bismite
a hydroxide mineral with the formula Ba(UO2)6O4(OH)6·8H2O.
billietite
a mica group mineral with the formula: KLi2AlSi4O10F2.
polylithionite
a phosphate mineral with the formula Ca(PO3OH)·2H2O.
brushite
a sulfate mineral with the formula Na2(Pb2Na)(SO4)3Cl).
caracolite
a sulfate mineral with the formula PbSO4.
anglesite
a silicate mineral with the formula Na2BeSi2O6.
chkalovite
an amphibole with the formula NaCa2(Mg3Ti(4+)Al)(Si6Al2)O22O2.
kaersutite
a phosphate mineral with the formula CuFe6(3+)(PO4)4(OH)8·4H2O.
chalcosiderite
a silicate mineral with the formula Na2ZrSi6O15·3H2O.
elpidite
ratios of two magnetic properties, commonly used as indicators of past environmental conditions.
magnetic ratios
a magnetic moment that is the magnetization remaining in a sample after exposure to an external magnetic field.
remanent magnetization
a magnetic property that measures the direction and/or strength of a magnetic field.
magnetic field properties
a magnetic property that measures the tendency of a material to interact with an external magnetic field.
magnetic moments
electronic spectroscopy that is based upon the ability of atoms to absorb or emit electromagnetic radiation. In atomic spectroscopy the sample is vaporized and then atomized (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
atomic spectroscopy
spectroscopy which probes the vibrational degrees of freedom of a molecule (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
vibrational spectroscopy
a diatom index that indicates environmental conditions based on the morphological types of diatoms in a sample.
diatom morphology-based index
a diatom index that indicates environmental conditions based on the habitat preferences of diatoms in a sample.
diatom habitat-based index
a diatom that has been identified taxonomically.
identified diatom
a diatom index that indicates environmental conditions based on the environmental tolerances of diatoms in a sample.
diatom tolerance-based index
a diatom index that indicates environmental conditions based on the ratio of two different groups of diatoms in a sample.
diatom ratio
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage whose habitats include flowing water and waves.
total rheophilic diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage whose habitats include air, shorelines, and wet walls.
total aerophilic diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage whose habitats include soil.
total edaphic diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage that spend some of their lifecycle resting on the sediment and some floating in the water column.
total meroplanktic diatoms
the total count or percentage of benthic diatoms in an assemblage whose habitat is attached to a biotic host.
total epizoic diatoms
the total count or percentage of benthic diatoms in an assemblage whose habitat is attached to rocks.
total epilithic diatoms
the total count or percentage of benthic diatoms in an assemblage whose habitat is attached to mud.
total epipelic diatoms
the total count or percentage of benthic diatoms in an assemblage whose habitat is attached to plants.
total epiphytic diatoms
the total count or percentage of benthic diatoms in an assemblage whose habitat is attached to sand.
total epipsammic diatoms
the total count or percentage of planktic diatoms in an assemblage whose habitat is the open ocean, away from coastal zones.
total pelagic diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage that are pennate and that have a raphe, or fissure in the valve that allows for movement.
total raphid diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage that are pennate and that lack a raphe, or fissure in the valve that allows for movement.
total araphid diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage for which each valve has a raphe, or fissure in the valve that allows for movement, and are symmetrical to both the apical (long) and transapical (short) axes.
total symmetrical biraphid diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage for which each valve has a raphe, or fissure in the valve that allows for movement, and are asymmetrical in the apical (long), transapical (short) or both axes.
total asymmetrical biraphid diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage that have one valve with a raphe, or fissure in the valve that allows for movement, and one valve without a raphe.
total monoraphid diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage that are asymmetrical to apical (long) axis and that have raphes, or fissures in the valves that allow movement, that are well developed and enclosed within a canal near the valve margin.
total epithemioid diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage that have raphes, or fissures in the valves that allow movement, that are extremely well developed and enclosed within a canal around the entire valve margin and raised onto a keel.
total surirelloid diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage that are often asymmetrical to the apical (long) axis and have short raphes, or fissures in the valve that allow movement.
total eunotioid diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage that a usuarelly symmetrical to both apical (long) and transapical (short) axes and that have raphes, or fissures in the valves that allow movement, that are well developed, and positioned near the valve margin within a canal and may be raised onto a keel.
total nitzschioid diatoms
the ratio of centric to pennate diatoms in a sample.
centric:pennate diatom
the ratio of neritic to pelagic diatoms in a sample.
neritic:pelagic diatom
the ratio of araphid to raphid diatoms in a sample.
araphid:raphid diatom
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage tolerant of cold water.
total cold water diatoms
dicothermal diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage that are present in environments with low nutrient levels.
total oligotrophic diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage tolerant of low pH environments.
total acidiphilic diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage tolerant of high pH environments.
total alkaliphilic diatoms
the total count or percentage of diatoms in an assemblage living in deep water environments characterized by, eg, low turbulence and low light levels.
total deep water diatoms
an organism that belongs to one of several families in the Order Diptera and that has been identified taxonomically.
identified midge
the count of total gastropod shells in a sample.
total gastropods
a measure of reflectance that is the amount of light in a unidirectional beam that is deflected in multiple directions by a material.
scattering
a measure of scattering in x-ray fluorescence analysis, that together with incoherent scattering can be used as a proxy for the amount of organic matter in a sample.
coherent scattering
a measure of scattering in x-ray fluorescence analysis, that together with coherent scattering can be used as a proxy for the amount of organic matter in a sample.
incoherent scattering
the standard deviation of a grain size frequency distribution. This is a commonly-used measure of the degree of sorting (i.e., high values indicate poorer sorting).
grain size standard deviation
an identifiable organism that is an ameboid protist with a test and that belongs to the kingdom Protozoa. Traditionally, those species that form large networks of anastomosing pseudopodia, despite of some of them having tests e.g. Foraminifera, are not counted amongst testate amoebae (Credit: Wikipedia).
testate amoeba
the total count of testate amoebae in a sample.
total testate amoebae
a testate amoeba that has been identified taxonomically.
identified testate amoeba
an identifiable organism commonly known as golden or golden-brown algae that belongs to the kingdom Chromista, class Chrysophyceae.
chrysophyte
Chrysophyceae
chrysomonads
golden algae
golden-brown algae
the total count of siliceous stomatocysts (resistant spores) of Chrysophyte algae.
total chrysophyte cysts
the total count of siliceous scales (produced by vegetative planktonic cells) of chrysophyte algae.
total chrysophyte scales
the total count of eggs of cladocerans in a sample.
total ephippia
the total count of spicules, structural elements of sponges.
total sponge spicules
a bulk biological material that consists of any element, such as calcium or silica, deposited within various structures and tissues of plants (Credit: Smol et al. 2001 Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments).
phytoliths
a diversity index that is a count of the total number of species in a sample.
total species
alkali feldspar minerals of the chemical composition KAlSi3O8 but with varying crystal structures.
potassium feldspar
an electromagnetic property that measures the amount of light transmitted by a material.
transmittance
the maximum value from which the range is calculated.
range upper bound
maximum
the minimum value from which the range is calculated.
range lower bound
minimum
a data transformation that involves processing data to make it behave statistically like white noise.
whitened
a statistical analysis method that combines multiple time series into one, for example by normalizing each and taking a simple average.
compositing method
a compositing method of combining multiple proxy records into one by first standardizing each, next averaging all, and last centering and scaling the resultant time series to match the variance of a target calibration time series.
composite plus scale
a compositing method that combines multiple proxy records into one by first standardizing each, next averaging all, and last using regression to calibrate the composite time series to a calibration time series.
composite plus regression
a statistical analysis method that uses an iterative learning or training process to model the relationship between predictor and predictand variables while minimizing error. The goal of this method is to identify and represent complex and often nonlinear relationships directly from the data being modeled.
artificial neural network
any coral that belongs to the genus Isidella.
Isidella sp.
any coral that belongs to the genus Isopora.
Isopora sp.
a sampling method in which material is removed from a specimen by illuminating it with a laser beam (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
laser ablation
the elemental ratio of yttrium to calcium.
yttrium/calcium
Y/Ca
a biological material that consists of an ensemble of similar cells from the same origin that together carry out a similar function.
tissue
a biological material that consists of undifferentiated components, often from different sources.
bulk biological material
a material used to create a climate reconstruction that is a measurement of a physical characteristic (e.g., electromagnetic property, formation property, other physical property) of a substance.
physical measurement
a physical measurement of the rate of linear growth in corals and related species, usually calculated from the width of an annual growth band.
a material used to create a climate reconstruction that consists of proxies from more than two proxy data types.
multiple proxies
a physical measurement of the rate of linear growth of a deposit (e.g., speleothem, mollusk shell), sometimes calculated from the width of an annual growth band.
a physical measurement of the width of all or of some subcomponent of one annual ring from a tree.
ring width
a physical measurement of the density of all or of some subcomponent of wood within one annual ring from a tree.
ring density
a physical measurement of the thickness of a sublayer of or an entire annually-resolved varve in a sediment sequence.
an assemblage of unicellular phytoplankton that belong to the kingdom Chromista, phylum Ochrophyta, class Bacillariophyceae.
diatom assemblage
an assemblage of organisms that belong to one of several families in the kingdom Animalia, phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, order Diptera.
midge assemblage
an assemblage of organisms that belong to the kingdom Protozoa, order Foraminiferida.
foraminifer assemblage
an assemblage of organisms that belong to the kingdom Protozoa, order Radiolaria.
radiolarian assemblage
a data type that includes measurements made on silt-sized material that is deposited on the land surface by winds.
loess and paleosol
the ratio of two isotopes of silicon, 29Si/28Si, in a sample compared to that of a standard, typically NBS 28, as in: ((29Si/28Si sample)/(29Si/28Si standard) - 1) x 1000.
delta 29Si
d29Si
delta Si29
a magnetic ratio of the saturation isothermal remanent magnetization to the magnetic susceptibility, which can yield a qualitative measure of magnetic grain size if the magnetic mineralogy is dominantly magnetite.
saturation isothermal remanent magnetization/magnetic susceptibility
SIRM/K
SIRM/MS
a magnetic field property that is the peak alternating field strength at which 50% of a remanent magnetization is demagnetized (Credit: Encyclopedia of Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism).
median destructive field
MDF
a count per mass unit that applies to one microgram, or 10^[-6] grams.
count per microgram
a mole per area per time unit that is one billionth of a mole, or 10^[-9] mole, per one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m, per one thousand years.
nanomole per square centimeter per kiloyear
the elemental ratio of calcium to strontium.
calcium/strontium
Ca/Sr
the elemental ratio of silicon to aluminum.
silicon/aluminum
Si/Al
the elemental ratio of silicon to strontium.
silicon/strontium
Si/Sr
the elemental ratio of titanium to aluminum.
titanium/aluminum
Ti/Al
the elemental ratio of thorium to uranium.
thorium/uranium
Th/U
the elemental ratio of zirconium to aluminum.
zirconium/aluminum
Zr/Al
the elemental ratio of zirconium to strontium.
zirconium/strontium
Zr/Sr
an alcohol with the formula C20H40O.
phytol
an organic hydroxy compound that has a hydroxyl group at the 3-position of the A-ring.
sterol
remains of coccolithophores or their likely relatives consisting primarily of coccoliths but additionally small calcite nannoliths of uncertain origin.
calcareous nannofossil
a particular species of the genus Clathromorphum.
Clathromorphum nereostratum
a benthic foraminifer whose test, or shell, consists of foreign particles from the environment cemented together.
agglutinated foraminifer
a benthic foraminifer that secretes a rigid calcite or aragonite test, or shell.
calcareous benthic foraminifer
an organooxygen compound with the general formula CHO2R where R is a long aliphatic chain (i.e., lacking an especially stable ring of atoms).
one of a series of realizations that are all equally probable and that together specify the likeliness of certain values being the true value.
ensemble member
a Bayesian inference method that uses a model written in multiple levels (hierarchical form) that estimates the parameters of the posterior distribution using the Bayesian method (Credit: Wikipedia).
Bayesian hierarchical modeling
a statistical analysis method that uses a dissimilarity measure between a sample and a set of standards to identify the environmental conditions likely present at the time of the sample.
analogue method
a ratio of scattering in x-ray fluorescence analysis, that can be used as a proxy for the amount of organic matter in a sample.
incoherent:coherent scattering
any coralline algae that belongs to the genus Clathromorphum.
Clathromorphum sp.
a measurement of gastropods, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure.
gastropod index
a measurement of organisms belonging to several families of the Order Diptera, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure.
midge index
a measurement of ostracods, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure.
ostracod index
a measurement of sponges, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure.
sponge index
a measurement of cladocerans, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure.
cladoceran index
a measurement of testate amoebae, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure.
testate amoeba index
a formation property that describes or quantifies the location or nature of sediment source areas.
provenance
a wave property that is a measure of the rate of movement of a compressional (P) wave.
P-wave velocity
a wave property that is a measure of the magnitude of a compressional (P) wave.
P-wave amplitude
a physical property relating to the characteristics of waves.
wave property
a goodness-of-fit measure that quantifies the proportion of a variable's total variance that is accounted for by certain factors or principal components.
communality
sampling metadata that identifies the depth of water above the sampling site.
collection water depth
the mean temperature at or below the land surface.
land temperature
the mean temperature at or below the surface of the ocean.
sea water temperature
the mean temperature at or below the surface of an ice sheet or glacier.
ice temperature
the mean temperature at or below the surface of a lake.
lake water temperature
an energy flux variable that is a measurement of fluxes of radiation within the Earth's atmosphere, at any levels ranging from the top of the atmosphere to the Earth surface.
radiative flux variable
a forcing variable that is a measurement of incoming solar radiation at the top of the atmosphere. This quantity varies latitudinally and seasonally.
insolation
top-of-atmosphere downwelling shortwave radiation
a hydroclimate index that describes conditions on a scale ranging from 'wetter' to 'drier.'
moisture index
an assemblage of organisms that are an ameboid protist with a test and that belong to the kingdom Protozoa.
testate amoebae assemblage
a coefficient of determination that quantifies whether a statistical or physically-based model is a better predictor of observed values than the mean climatology of the calibration period and that is calculated as: 1 - (sum((observed-predicted)^2)/n)/(sum((observed-calibration climatology)^2)/n), where each of the n data points is used to both train (calibrate) and test (validate) the model but never at the same time and the the measure is an average of the reduction of error over the n trials.
cross-validation reduction of error
a hypothesis testing variable that is the ratio of the departure of the estimated value of a parameter from its hypothesized value relative to its standard error.
t-statistic
a measurement of coccolithophores, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure.
coccolithophore index
a measurement of diatoms, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure.
diatom index
the saturation magnetization under constant temperature conditions.
saturation isothermal magnetization
the elemental ratio of calcium to potassium.
calcium/potassium
Ca/K
the elemental ratio of chlorine to potassium.
chlorine/potassium
Cl/K
the elemental ratio of iron to potassium.
iron/potassium
Fe/K
the elemental ratio of silicon to potassium.
silicon/potassium
Si/K
the elemental ratio of strontium to potassium.
strontium/potassium
Sr/K
the elemental ratio of sulfur to potassium.
sulfur/potassium
S/K
the elemental ratio of titanium to potassium.
titanium/potassium
Ti/K
a chemical element with atomic number 43.
technetium
a temperature per time unit that is the change of one degree kelvin per one hundred years.
kelvin per century
an event layer that relates to tree growth, tree injury, or wildfire.
tree demographic and injury and fire event code
an event layer that relates to tree growth or wildfires.
tree demographic and fire event code
a magnetic field strength unit that is per unit mass of one kilogram.
ampere per meter per kilogram
a count per mass unit that applies to one gram.
count per gram
a volume per area per time unit that is one millionth of a mole, or 10^[-6] m3, per one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m, per one thousand years.
cubic centimeter per square centimeter per kiloyear
a specific volume unit which is equal to a thousandth of a cubic meter per kilogram or 10^[-3] m^[3]/kg.
cubic centimeter per gram
cm3/g
cubic centimetre per gram
a mass per area per time unit that is one thousandth of a gram, or 10^[-3] g, per one square meter, per one year.
milligram per square meter per year
a volume unit that is one acre of surface area to a depth of one foot. This is approximately 1233 cubic meters.
acre foot
a count per volume unit that applies to one milliliter, or 10^[-3] liters.
count per milliliter
an area unit which is equal to one million square meters or 10^[6] m^[2].
square kilometer
km2
square kilometre
a volume unit which is equal to the volume of a cube with edges one meter in length. One cubic meter equals to 1000 liters (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
cubic meter
cubic metre
a volume per time unit that is one cubic meter per one second.
cubic meter per second
a count per area per time unit that is a simple count of a substance per one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m2, and per one second.
count per square centimeter per second
a count per area per time unit that is a simple count of a substance per one square meter and per one second.
count per square meter per second
a volume area unit that is one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m2, per one thousandth of a liter, or 10^[-3] L.
square centimeter per milliliter
a specific volume unit which is equal to a millionth of a cubic meter per kilogram or 10^[-6] m^[3]/kg.
cubic centimeter per kilogram
cm3/kg
cubic centimetre per kilogram
a volume fraction unit that measures the number of cubic centimeters of one subcomponent of a sample relative to one liter of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
cubic centimeter per liter
a count per mass per time unit that is a simple count of a substance per kilogram of sample per hour.
count per kilogram per hour
a count per area unit that applies to an area of one square centimeter, or 10^[-4] square meters.
count per square centimeter
a count per volume unit that applies to one cubic centimeter, or 10^[-6] cubic meters.
count per cubic centimeter
a count per mass unit that applies to one kilogram.
count per kilogram
a count per volume unit that applies to one liter.
count per liter
a count per time unit that is a simple count of the occurrence of a substance per one one minute.
count per minute
a specific activity unit which is equal to the activity of a kilogram of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per minute or there is one atom disintegration per minute.
disintegration per minute per kilogram
a dimensionless unit that relates the part (the numerator) to the whole (the denominator) and that, by definition, ranges from 0 to 1 (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
fraction
a volume per time unit that is a cubic foot, or approximately 0.283 cubic meters, per one second.
cubic foot per second
a linear density unit which is equal to the mass of an object in grams per one decimeter, or 10^[-1] m.
gram per decimeter
g/dm
gram per decimetre
a mass density unit which is equal to mass of an object in grams divided by the volume in liters (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
gram per liter
g/L
gram per litre
a mass per time unit that is one billion tons, or 10^[9] tons, per one year.
gigaton per year
a unit which is a standard measure of the force applied to a given area, with SI units being pascals (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
pressure unit
a pressure unit which is equal to one hundred pascals, or 10^[-2] Pa.
hectopascal
hPa
mbar
millibar
a length unit that is equal to 2.54 centimeters.
inch
a temperature unit for accumulated temperature.
kelvin day
a mass per area per time unit that is one kilogram per one square meter, per one year.
kilogram per square meter per year
an area density unit which is equal to the mass of an object in kilograms per square kilometer, or 10^[6] m^[2].
kilogram per square kilometer
a mass density unit which is equal to mass of an object in kilograms divided by the volume in cubic meters (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
kilogram per cubic meter
kg/m3
kilogram per cubic metre
a volume unit which is equal to one billion cubic meters or 10^[9] m^[3].
cubic kilometer
a length per time unit that is one meter per one thousand years, or 10^[3] years.
meter per kiloyear
a length per time unit that is one meter per one year.
meter per year
a volume per time unit that is one cubic meter per one year.
cubic meter per year
a magnetic moment unit that is one thousandth of an ampere square meter, or 10^[-3] Am2, per unit mass in kilograms.
milliampere square meter per kilogram
a mass density unit which is equal to mass of an object in milligrams, or 10^[-3] g, divided by the volume in liters (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
milligram per liter
mg/L
milligram per litre
a mass density unit which is equal to mass of an object in milligrams, or 10^[-3] g, divided by the volume in cubic meters.
milligram per cubic meter
mg/m3
milligram per cubic metre
a specific volume unit which is equal to one liter volume occupied by one kilogram of a particular substance.
milliliter per gram
millilitre per gram
ml/g
a specific volume unit which is equal to a thousandth of a liter per kilogram or 10^[-3] l/kg (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
milliliter per kilogram
millilitre per kilogram
ml/kg
a length per time unit that is one thousandth of a meter, or 10^[-3] m, per one day.
millimeter per day
a length per time unit that is one thousandth of a meter, or 10^[-3] m, per one month.
millimeter per month
a length per time unit that is one thousandth of a meter, or 10^[-3] m, per one year.
millimeter per year
an area per area per time unit that is one millionth of a square meter, or 10^[-6] m2, per one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m2, per year.
square millimeter per square centimeter per year
a volume area unit that is one millionth of a square meter, or 10^[-6] m2, per one thousandth of a liter, or 10^[-3] L.
square millimeter per milliliter
a mole fraction unit that measures the number of moles of one subcomponent of a sample relative to one mole of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
mole per mole
a molality unit which expresses a concentration of a solution of one molecule per one thousandth of a kilogram, or 10^[-3] kg, of solvent.
molecule per gram
a mass unit which is equal to one billion kilograms or 10^[9] kg.
megaton
an electric current unit which is equal to one billionth of an ampere or 10^[-9] A.
nanoampere
a mass per area per time unit that is one billionth of a gram, or 10^[-9] g, per one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m^[2], per one year.
nanogram per square centimeter per year
a mass density unit which is equal to mass of an object in nanograms, or 10^[-9] g, divided by the volume in liters.
nanogram per liter
nanogram per litre
ng/L
a molarity unit which expresses a concentration of a solution of one billionth of a mole, or 10^[-9] mole, per one cubic meter of solvent.
nanomole per cubic meter
a mole fraction unit that measures the number of nanomoles, or 10^[-9] mole, of one subcomponent of a sample relative to one mole of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
nanomole per mole
an electrical conduction unit which is equal to one billionth of a siemens, or 10^[-9] siemens.
nanosiemens
nmho
an electrical conduction unit which is equal to ampere/volt (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
siemens
mho
a parts per notation unit which denotes the amount of a given substance in a total amount of 1,000,000,000,000 regardless of the units of measure used as long as they are the same or 1 part in 10^[15] (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
parts per quadrillion
ppq
a specific activity unit which is equal to 3.7 x 10^[-2] atom disintegrations per second in a mass of one kilogram.
picoCurie per kilogram
a parts per million unit calculated using the isotopic concentration of standard air.
per meg AIR
a mass per area per time unit that is one trillionth of a gram, or 10^[-12] g, per one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m^[2], per one year.
picogram per square centimeter per year
a mass density unit which is equal to mass of an object in picograms, or 10^[-12] g, divided by the volume in liters.
picogram per liter
pg/L
picogram per litre
an electrical conductivity unit that is the electrical current strength between two electrodes with an applied constant voltage placed in a solution a specified distance apart.
siemens per meter
a mass unit which is equal to one trillion grams or 10^[12] g.
teragram
a substance unit equal to one trillion moles or 10^[12] mol.
teramole
a relative unit that is the ratio of 1 tritium atom to 1018 hydrogen atoms.
tritium unit
an electric current unit which is equal to one millionth of an ampere or 10^[-6] A.
microampere
an equivalent per mass unit that is one millionth of an equivalent, or 10^[-6] equivalents, per kilogram.
microequivalent per kilogram
an equivalent per mass unit that is one millionth of an equivalent, or 10^[-6] equivalents, per liter.
microequivalent per liter
a mass fraction unit that measures the number of micrograms, or 10^[-9] kilograms, of one subcomponent of a sample relative to one kilogram of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
microgram per kilogram
a mass density unit which is equal to mass of an object in micrograms, or 10^[-6] g, divided by the volume in liters (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
microgram per liter
microgram per litre
ug/L
a length per time unit that is one millionth of a meter, or 10^[-6] m, per one year.
micrometer per year
an area per area per time unit that is one trillionth of a square meter, or 10^[-12] m2, per one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m2, per year.
square micrometer per square centimeter per year
a volume area unit that is one trillionth of a square meter, or 10^[-12] m2, per one thousandth of a liter, or 10^[-3] L.
square micrometer per milliliter
a molality unit which expresses a concentration of a solution of one millionth of a mole, or 10^[-6] mole, per kilogram of solvent.
micromole per kilogram
a molarity unit which expresses a concentration of a solution of one millionth of a mole, or 10^[-6] mole, per one liter of solvent.
micromole per liter
a reciprocal length per time unit that is one year per one hundredth of a meter, or 10^[-2] m.
year per centimeter
an electrical conductivity unit that is one millionth of a siemen, or 10^[-6] S, per meter.
microsiemens per meter
micromho per meter
uS/m
an electric potential difference unit which is equal to the work per unit charge. One volt is the potential difference required to move one coulomb of charge between two points in a circuit while using one joule of energy (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
volt
a sample identification that is an alphanumeric code generated by the System for Earth Science Registration for a physical sample.
International Geo Sample Number
a relative unit for the salinity of water that is defined in terms of the ratio of the electrical conductivity of a water sample at 15 degrees Celsius and the pressure of one standard atmosphere, to that of a solution of 32.4356 grams of potassium chloride (KCl) in 1 kilogram of water at the same temperature and pressure. By definition, a ratio that is exactly equal to one corresponds to a practical salinity of 35.
practical salinity unit
a mass fraction unit that measures the number of nanograms, or 10^[-9] g, of one subcomponent of a sample relative to one gram of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
nanogram per gram
a mass fraction unit that measures the number of picograms, or 10^[-12] g, of one subcomponent of a sample relative to one gram of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
picogram per gram
a duration unit of 10^[3] years, calibrated to actual years if derived from radiocarbon dating.
calendar kiloyear
a duration unit of years, calibrated to actual years if derived from radiocarbon dating.
calendar year
a unit which represents a standard measurement occurrence of a process per unit time (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
rate unit
a unit which represents a standard measurement of how much of a given substance there is mixed with another substance (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
concentration unit
a statistical variable that results from compositing multiple, usually normalized, proxy time series.
proxy composite
an assemblage of organisms that belong to the kingdom Animalia, phylum Arthropoda, class Ostracoda.
ostracod assemblage
a solution property that is the combined content of all inorganic and organic substances contained in a liquid in molecular, ionized or micro-granular (colloidal sol) suspended form (Credit: Wikipedia).
total dissolved solids
an duration unit of years, derived from radiocarbon dating without calibration to actual years.
radiocarbon year
an duration unit of 10^[3] years, derived from radiocarbon dating without calibration to actual years.
radiocarbon kiloyear
the mass of the cross-sectional area of one year of tree growth.
basal area mass increment
a physical property that is the spatial extent of a two-dimensional figure or shape.
area
the cross-sectional area of one year of tree growth.
basal area increment
the diameter of tracheid cells in wood that formed in the beginning of the growing season and that tend to be large and thin-walled.
earlywood tracheid diameter
a sterol that has the chemical formula C30H50O.
taraxerol
a sterol that has the chemical formula C27H46O.
cholesterol
a hydrocarbon that is an acyclic and saturated with the general chemical formula CnH(2n+2).
alkane
an aromatic compound having one or more hydroxyl (OH) groups attached to a carbon atom of an aromatic ring.
phenol
a hydrocarbon that is unsaturated with at least one carbon-carbon double bond and the general formula CnH2n.
alkene
an organic compound that is highly-stable, cyclic, and planar with a ring of resonance bonds.
aromatic compound
a branched alkane that has the formula C19H40.
pristane
a branched alkane that has the formula C20H42.
phytane
an unbranched isoprenoid triterpene having the formula CnH2n-10 and that is a product of the green algae Botryococcus braunii (Credit: Wikipedia).
botryococcene
an area unit which is equal to one millionth of a square meter or 10^[-6] m^[2] (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
square millimeter
mm2
square millimetre
an aromatic compound that is a hydrocarbon and that is composed of multiple aromatic rings and no branching structures.
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
a fatty acid that contains at least one carbon to carbon double or triple bond.
unsaturated fatty acid
a fatty acid that contains no carbon to carbon multiple bonds.
saturated fatty acid
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C34H70.
C34 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C35H72.
C35 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C32H66.
C32 n-alkane
a measurement of specific organic compounds, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure of environmental conditions.
organic compound index
an n-alkanol with the chemical formula C28H58O that is a biomarker of terrestrial plants.
octacosanol
an organic compound that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption (Credit: Wikipedia).
organic pigment
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C15H31COOH.
C16 n-alkanoic acid
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C16H33COOH.
C17 n-alkanoic acid
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C17H35COOH.
C18 n-alkanoic acid
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C18H37COOH.
C19 n-alkanoic acid
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C19H39COOH.
C20 n-alkanoic acid
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C20H41COOH.
C21 n-alkanoic acid
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C22H45COOH.
C23 n-alkanoic acid
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C24H49COOH.
C25 n-alkanoic acid
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C28H57COOH.
C29 n-alkanoic acid
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C30H61COOH.
C31 n-alkanoic acid
a n-alkanoic acid with the formula C32H65COOH.
C33 n-alkanoic acid
an organic hydroxy compound that has a hydroxyl functional group bound to a saturated carbon atom.
alcohol
a carbonyl compound that has the general formula RC(=O)R'.
ketone
an organooxygen compound that has the general formula RC(=O)R'.
the concentration of 230Th that is produced by the decay of dissolved 234U in the water column, that is measured sedimentary 230Th with any contributions from detrital material or decay of sedimentary 234U removed.
230Th excess
thorium-230 excess
the amount of total barium minus the fraction associated with terrigenous material.
barium excess
Ba excess
the concentration of 231Pa that is produced by the decay of dissolved 235U in the water column, that is measured sedimentary 231Pa with any contributions from detrital material or decay of sedimentary 235U removed.
231Pa excess
protactinium-231 excess
the ratio of 231Pa to 230Th that is produced by the decay of dissolved uranium in the water column, that is measured sedimentary 231Pa/230Th with any contributions from detrital material or decay of sedimentary uranium removed.
231Pa/230Th excess
protactinium-231/thorium-230 excess
a chromotype of Globigerinoides ruber that produces unpigmented, or white, tests.
Globigerinoides ruber white
a chromotype of Globigerinoides ruber that produces pink-pigmented tests.
Globigerinoides ruber pink
a morphotype of Globigerinoides ruber that is symmetrical with spherical chambers.
Globigerinoides ruber sensu stricto
a morphotype of Globigerinoides ruber that forms compact, non-spherical chambers.
Globigerinoides ruber sensu lato
a morphotype of Trilobatus sacculifer that has a sac-like terminal chamber.
Trilobatus sacculifer with sac
a morphotype of Trilobatus sacculifer that lacks a sac-like terminal chamber.
Trilobatus sacculifer without sac
the left-coiling morphotype of Neogloboquadrina pachyderma.
Neogloboquadrina pachyderma sinistral
the right-coiling morphotype of Neogloboquadrina pachyderma.
Neogloboquadrina pachyderma dextral
the encrusted variant of Globorotalia truncatulinoides.
Globorotalia truncatulinoides encrusted
the non-encrusted variant of Globorotalia truncatulinoides.
Globorotalia truncatulinoides non-encrusted
a hydrated, amorphous form of silicon dioxide with the formula SiO2•nH20 that is biogenically precipitated by a variety of organisms including chrysophytes, diatoms, radiolarians, silicoflagellates, and sponges (Credit: Last et al. 2001 Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments).
biogenic silica
biogenic opal
an alkenone unsaturation index that compares the amounts of C37:2, C37:3, and C37:4 alkenones, as (C37:2-C37:4)/(C37:2+C37:3+C37:4).
alkenone unsaturation index Uk37
an alkenone unsaturation index that compares the amounts of C37:2 and C37:3 alkenones, as C37:2/(C37:2+C37:3).
alkenone unsaturation index Uk37 prime
Uk37 prime
the ratio of two isotopes of sulfur, 34S/32S, in a sample compared to that of a standard, typically Vienna-CDT, as in: ((34S/32S sample)/(34S/32S standard) - 1) x 1000.
delta 34S
d34S
delta S34
the concentration of a stable isotope of sulfur with 16 neutrons.
32S
sulfur-32
the ratio of two isotopes of sulfur, 33S/32S, in a sample compared to that of a standard, typically Vienna-CDT, as in: ((33S/32S sample)/(33S/32S standard) - 1) x 1000.
delta 33S
d33S
delta S33
the ratio of two isotopes of sulfur, 36S/32S, in a sample compared to that of a standard, typically Vienna-CDT, as in: ((36S/32S sample)/(36S/32S standard) - 1) x 1000.
delta 36S
d36S
delta S36
a geographic variable that quantifies the surface area of one or multiple lakes.
lake area
a geographic variable that quantifies the surface area of wetlands over specified geographic bounds.
wetland area
a geographic variable that describes the direction of streamflow in the past.
paleodrainage direction
a geographic variable that quantifies the surface area of the ocean over specified geographic bounds.
ocean area
an error measure that quantifies how well a statistical or physically-based model fits a set of observations.
goodness-of-fit measure
a goodness-of-fit measure that quantifies the relative similarity between a sample and its modern analogue for an analogue method calculation.
dissimilarity measure
the root mean square error applied to the validation period, defined as the sample standard deviation of the differences between predicted values and observed values over the validation period, or sqrt (sum(predicted-observed)^2/sample size).
validation root mean square error
validation RMSE
verification RMSE
a statistical variable that is calculated using eigenvector-based methods to combine multiple data variables for data compression and dimensionality reduction.
multivariate eigenvector-based variable
a hydroclimate variable that measures a hydroclimatic quantity or rate relative to another.
hydroclimate ratio
a hydroclimate variable that measures a quantity per time.
hydroclimate rate
a hydroclimate variable that measures a quantity on a relative scale.
hydroclimate index
the mean temperature over a particular time period.
temperature
the highest temperature over a particular time period.
maximum temperature
the lowest temperature over a particular time period.
minimum temperature
the minimum temperature at the earth surface over a particular time period in a given location.
minimum surface temperature
the minimum temperature of air at a level of the atmosphere.
minimum air temperature
the maximum temperature at the earth surface over a particular time period in a given location.
maximum surface temperature
the maximum temperature of air at a level of the atmosphere.
maximum air temperature
a storm variable that quantifies aspects of storms that travel in relatively narrow zones driven by the prevailing winds, including their location or their strength.
storm track
a circulation index that is calculated from the average anomalies of sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic basin, usually from 0 to 80 degrees north and that represents the combined externally forced climate signal along with internal variability.
Atlantic Multidecadal Variability Index
AMV
the hydroclimate ratio of catchment runoff to catchment precipitation.
runoff coefficient
an assemblage of golden or golden-brown algae that belong to the kingdom Chromista, class Chrysophyceae.
chrysophyte assemblage
an assemblage of organisms that belong to the kingdom Chromista, division Pyrrophycophyta.
dinoflagellate assemblage
a parts per notation unit which denotes the amount of a given substance in a total amount of 1000 regardless of the units of measure as long as they are the same (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
parts per thousand
a molality unit which expresses a concentration of a solution of one billionth of a mole, or 10^[-9] mole, per kilogram of solvent.
nanomole per kilogram
a data transformation that involves replacing missing values with data values estimated using some statistical technique.
infilled
a numerical model in which observations are combined with physical laws to produce estimates of parameters.
inverse model
a numerical simulation in which the current state is used to predict the next state, with adjustment of parameters to improve fit to observations.
forward model
a specific energy unit that is typically a measure of kinetic energy per unit mass.
square meter per square second
a density unit which is a standard measure of the mass of a substance in a given volume (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
mass density unit
a statistical variable that is calculated for hypothesis testing.
hypothesis testing variable
a hypothesis testing variable that is the probability of finding either the observed or more extreme results when the null hypothesis (H0) of a study question is true.
p-value
a goodness-of-fit measure that is is the proportion of the variance in the dependent variable that is predictable from the independent variable(s).
coefficient of determination
R squared
R-squared
a goodness-of-fit measure that measures a systematic difference between the predictand and the predictor and is calculated as the difference between the average prediction and the average observed value.
bias
a goodness-of-fit measure that measures the differences between values predicted by a model or an estimator and the values actually observed.
root mean square error
RMSE
an earth system variable that quantifies the distribution or location of physical features.
geographic variable
a radiolarian that has been identified taxonomically.
identified radiolarian
a coccolithophore that has been identified taxonomically.
identified coccolithophore
a sponge that has been identified taxonomically.
identified sponge
any foraminifer that belongs to the genus Globigerinella.
Globigerinella sp.
a unit which is a standard measure of the volume of a given mass of substance (the reciprocal of density) (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
specific volume unit
an electromagnetic unit which represents a standard measurement of the movement of electrically charged particles per unit shape of the transmission medium (electrical conductor). The electrical conductivity is related to electrical conductance by G = sigma * A / l where G is conductance, sigma is conductivity, A is area of conductor and l is length of the conductor.
electrical conductivity unit
a concentration unit which is a standard measure of the number of moles of a given substance per kilogram of solvent (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
molality unit
a concentration unit which is a standard measure of the number of moles of a given substance per liter of solution (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
molarity unit
units unknown.
unspecified unit
a concentration unit that denotes the mass of one subcomponent of a sample as a proportion the mass of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
mass fraction unit
a concentration unit which denotes the number of moles of solute as a proportion of the total number of moles in a solution (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
mole fraction unit
a unit which is a standard measure of the radioactivity of a given mass of substance.
specific activity unit
a concentration unit that is a standard measurement of area per unit volume.
volume area unit
the elemental ratio of lithium to magnesium.
lithium/magnesium
Li/Mg
a silicoflagellate that has been identified taxonomically.
identified silicoflagellate
a coccolithophore index that is the total number of coccoliths, the individual plates of calcium carbonate produced by coccolithophores, in a sample.
total coccoliths
a dimensionless unit that is a ratio of a measurement to some arbitrarily or non-arbitrarily chosen reference value.
relative unit
a concentration unit that denotes the volume of one subcomponent of a sample as a proportion of the volume of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
volume fraction unit
an echinoid that has been identified taxonomically.
identified echinoid
a measurement of echinoids, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure.
echinoid index
a cladoceran that has been identified taxonomically.
identified cladoceran
the amounts or relative amounts of the elements, or isotopes of the elements, that constitute a substance.
chemical composition
a chemical that is composed of two or more elements.
compound
a reconstructed seasonality that does not strictly adhere to specified months of the calendar year.
non-calendric period
an organic compound that contains at least one carbon-sulfur bond.
organosulfur compound
an organic compound that contains at least one carbon-oxygen bond.
organooxygen compound
an ostracod that has been identified taxonomically.
identified ostracod
an alkane that has a branched structure, in which the carbon backbone splits off in one or more directions.
branched alkane
an alkane with one or more rings or loops.
cyclic alkane
an organic compound that consists of carbon and hydrogen only.
hydrocarbon
an organic compound having at least one hydroxy group attached to a carbon atom.
organic hydroxy compound
an organic compound index that is a measure of the number of carbon atoms in a organic compound chain.
chain length index
a chain length index that is the average number of carbon atoms within organic compound chains in a sample.
average chain length
a chain length index that is the most frequently measured value of the number of carbon atoms in organic compound chains within a sample.
modal chain length
an alcohol that has the formula C30H50O and that are organic compounds produced by higher-order terrestrial vegetation.
arborinol
an alcohol that consists of a long hydrocarbon chain and two hydroxy groups.
long-chain alkyl diol
a chemical element with atomic number 10.
neon
a chemical element with atomic number 36.
krypton
a chemical element with atomic number 54.
xenon
a chemical element with atomic number 91.
protactinium
a circulation index that relates to the frequency or strength of tropical or extratropical storms.
storm variable
a standard deviation that is calculated as 100 multiplied by the sample standard deviation divided by the sample mean. It describes whether the standard deviation is large or small compared to the mean.
relative standard deviation
a forcing variable that is the radiation from the sun integrated over the whole electromagnetic spectrum and over the entire solar disk. The quantity applies outside the atmosphere, by default at a distance of one astronomical unit from the sun.
solar irradiance
TSI
solar constant
total solar irradiance
Clathromorphum compactum
Lithothamniom compactum
an alkenone unsaturation index that compares the amounts of C36:2 and C36:3 alkenones, as C36:2/(C36:2+C36:3).
alkenone unsaturation index Ume36
a molality unit which expresses a concentration of a solution of one thousandth of a mole, or 10^[-3] mole, per kilogram of solvent.
millimole per kilogram
mmol/kg
a material used to create a climate reconstruction that is based on a measurement of chemical composition.
the collection of organisms that occur together in space and time.
biological assemblage
a reconstruction material that is the ratio of elements or of compounds.
a measure that is defined as the sum of the square difference of individual observations from the mean divided by the total number of observations.
variance
an earth system variable that relates to the chemical composition or properties of a component of the earth system.
chemical variable
the depth in the oceans below which the rate of supply of calcium carbonate is equal to its dissolution and no calcium carbonate is preserved.
calcium carbonate compensation depth
calcite compensation depth
lysocline depth
a solution property that is the amount of salt dissolved in a body of water.
salinity
an inorganic compound that has the chemical formula CO3(2-).
carbonate ion
a mass per area per time unit that is one millionth of a gram, or 10^[-6] g, per one ten-thousandth of a square meter, or 10^[-4] m^[2], per one year.
microgram per square centimeter per year
a foraminiferal index that measure the degree to which foraminifers have been broken or fragmented.
foraminifer fragmentation
the mean diameter of particles in generally the 10-63 micrometer fraction of terrigenous material.
sortable silt mean grain size
a mass per area per time unit that is one millionth of a gram, or 10^[-6] g, per one square meter, per one day.
microgram per square meter per day
a count per volume unit that applies to one cubic meter.
count per cubic meter
Globorotalia inflata
a carbonyl compound that contains one or more amino groups of NH2.
amino acids with the formulas C4H7NO4 or C4H8N2O3, that are often measured together because they easily convert from one to the other.
aspartic acid and asparagine
amino acids with the formulas C5H9NO4 or C5H10N2O3, that are often measured together because they easily convert from one to the other.
glutamic acid and glutamine
a mass per time unit that is one millionth of a gram, or 10^[-6] g, per one day.
microgram per day
a mole per area per time unit that is one mole, per one square meter, per one second.
mole per square meter per second
an age unit of day position in the year, starting with January 1.
day of year
Globorotalia crassaformis
the abundance or concentration of particles with a diameter between 2 and 63 millimeters.
gravel
measurements relating to the age of a sample.
age variable
the age offset caused by a disequilibrium between atmospheric 14C and the 14C of water in a lake or in the global ocean.
reservoir age
an adjustment to ocean reservoir age that accounts for local disequilibrium between atmospheric and surface ocean 14C.
delta reservoir age
measurements of the location of a sample within a core, usually relative to either the core top or core bottom.
depth variable
an area unit which is equal to an area enclosed by a square with sides each 1 meter long (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
square meter
square metre
a pressure unit which is equal to the pressure or stress on a surface caused by a force of 1 newton spread over a surface of 1 m^[2] (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
pascal
a volume unit which is equal to one thousandth of a cubic meter or 10^[-3] m^[3], or to 1 decimeter (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
liter
litre
a density unit which is a standard measure of the mass exerting an influence on a one-dimensional object (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
linear density unit
an electromagnetic unit which is a standard measure of the flow of electric charge (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
electric current unit
an electromagnetic unit which is a standard measure of the work done per unit charge as a charge is moved between two points in an electric field (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
electric potential difference unit
an electromagnetic unit that is a standard measure of the strength of a magnetic field and that can be thought of as the concentration of field lines through an area perpendicular to their direction.
magnetic flux density unit
a unit which represents a standard measurement of the movement of electrically charged particles through a transmission medium (electrical conductor) (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
electrical conduction unit
the count of total radiolarians in a sample.
total radiolarians
the count of total silicoflagellates in a sample.
total silicoflagellates
an identifiable organism that belongs to the kingdom Chromista, division Pyrrophycophyta.
dinoflagellate
a dinoflagellate that has been identified taxonomically.
identified dinoflagellate
a measurement of dinoflagellates, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure.
dinoflagellate index
a coccolithophore index that is the total number of calcareous nannofossils, primarily coccoliths but additionally small calcite nannoliths of uncertain origin, in a sample.
total calcareous nannofossils
Globorotalia hirsuta
Globorotalia tumida
a data type that includes output from numerical models such as global climate models or proxy system models.
paleoclimatic modeling
a data type that includes measurements of factors, generally originating from outside the climate system, that influence or change climate.
climate forcing
the root mean square error subtracted from the predicted value, which yields a lower (minimum) bound of an interval that captures actual values 68% of the time.
one root mean square error lower bound
the root mean square error added to the predicted value, which yields an upper (maximum) bound of an interval that captures actual values 68% of the time.
one root mean square error upper bound
two times the root mean square error. Actual values are within two root mean square error of the predicted value 95% of the time.
two root mean square error
two times the root mean square error subtracted from the predicted value, which yields a lower (minimum) bound of an interval that captures actual values 95% of the time.
two root mean square error lower bound
two times the root mean square error added to the predicted value, which yields an upper (maximum) bound of an interval that captures actual values 95% of the time.
two root mean square error upper bound
a goodness-of-fit measure that is defined as the sample standard deviation of the differences between predicted values and observed values, or sqrt (sum(predicted-observed)^2/sample size). Actual values are within one root mean square error of the predicted value 68% of the time.
one root mean square error
a data type that includes measurements of plant pollen and spores.
pollen
the total count of foraminifers in a sample.
total foraminifers
a data type that includes measurements made on insect remains.
insect
a data type that includes measurements from a number of novel paleoclimate proxy types and methods.
other collections
a particular species of the genus Pulleniatina.
Pulleniatina obliquiloculata
Cibicidoides mundulus
any foraminifer that belongs to the genus Cibicides.
Cibicides sp.
Cibicidoides kullenbergi
Cibicidoides pachyderma
Cibicides pachyderma
any foraminifer that belongs to the genus Nuttallides.
Nuttallides sp.
a particular species of the genus Nuttallides.
Nuttallides umbonifera
any foraminifer that belongs to the genus Oridorsalis.
Oridorsalis sp.
a particular species of the genus Oridorsalis.
Oridorsalis umbonatus
any foraminifer that belongs to the genus Melonis.
Melonis sp.
a particular species of the genus Melonis.
Melonis affinis
Melonis barleeanus
Neogloboquadrina incompta
a wave property that is the distance over which a wave's shape repeats.
wavelength
any coral that belongs to the genus Pseudodiploria.
Pseudodiploria sp.
an identifiable organism that belongs to kingdom Animalia, phylum Porifera, class Demospongiae.
sclerosponge
an identifiable organism that belongs to the kingdom Plantae and order Corallinales.
coralline algae
an age unit of day position in the month, starting with the first day of the month.
day of month
an age unit of month position in the year, starting with January.
month of year
any foraminifer that belongs to the genus Trilobatus.
Trilobatus sp.
any foraminifer that belongs to the genus Pulleniatina.
Pulleniatina sp.
a measurement of the concentration of a single isotope.
single isotope concentration
a measure of chemical composition that relates to variants of a given element that differ in neutron number.
isotope
an alkenone that contains 37 carbon atoms.
C37 alkenone
a C37 alkenone that is di-unsaturated.
C37:2 alkenone
a C37 alkenone that is tri-unsaturated.
C37:3 alkenone
a C37 alkenone that is tetra-unsaturated.
C37:4 alkenone
an alkenone that contains 38 carbon atoms.
C38 alkenone
a C38 alkenone that is di-unsaturated.
C38:2 alkenone
a data type that includes measurements of plant remains large enough to be observed without a microscope.
plant macrofossils
a duration unit that is equal to 10^[6] years.
million year
a formation property that quantifies the amount of horizontal movement of a deposit (e.g., ice) since its original emplacement.
horizontal displacement
the abundance or concentration of particles of specified grain size classes.
grain size class
a parameter that describes a specific aspect of a grain size frequency distribution.
grain size parameter
an earth system variable that quantifies the degree or intensity of heat present in a material.
temperature variable
a temperature variable that combines temperature information to yield an indicator of hot or cold conditions.
temperature index
spectroscopy that probes the electronic degrees of freedom of an atom or molecule (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
electronic spectroscopy
a concentration unit that is a simple count of the number of units of a given substance, as an agreed arbitrary amount (e.g., atoms, grains, tests), per a specific volume of sample (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
count per volume unit
a concentration unit that is a simple count of the number of units of a given substance, as an agreed arbitrary amount (e.g., atoms, grains, tests), per a specific area of sample.
count per area unit
a concentration unit that is a simple count of the number of units of a given substance, as an agreed arbitrary amount (e.g., atoms, grains, tests), per a specific mass of sample.
count per mass unit
an electromagnetic unit that is a standard measure of the strength of a magnetic field and that can be thought of as the strength of the field that is produced at the center of a single circular conductor with a one meter diameter carrying a steady current of 1 ampere.
magnetic field strength unit
an electromagnetic unit that represents a standard measurement of how strongly a material opposes the flow of an electrical current.
electrical resistivity unit
an electromagnetic unit which is a standard measure of the intensity of light (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
light unit
a concentration unit that is the amount of solute that reacts with an arbitrary amount of another substance in a given chemical reaction (e.g., in an acid-base or a oxidation-reduction reaction) per mass amount of solution.
equivalent per mass unit
a concentration unit that is the amount of solute that reacts with an arbitrary amount of another substance in a given chemical reaction (e.g., in an acid-base or a oxidation-reduction reaction) per volume amount of solution.
equivalent per volume unit
a duration unit which is approximately equal to the length of time of one of cycle of the moon's phases which in science is taken to be equal to 30 days (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
month
a duration unit which is equal to 3600 seconds or 60 minutes (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
hour
an electromagnetic unit that is a standard measurement of the intensity of magnetization of a material.
magnetic moment unit
a rate unit that is a standard measure of a linear distance of movement or accumulation of material per unit time.
length per time unit
a rate unit that is a standard measure of the accumulation or flow of mass per unit area per time.
mass per area per time unit
a rate unit that is a standard measure of the accumulation or flow of a mole of material per unit area per time.
mole per area per time unit
a rate unit that is a standard measure of the occurrence of a material as indicated by a simple count per unit time.
count per time unit
a rate unit that is a standard measure of the count of a material per mass of sample per time.
count per mass per time unit
a rate unit that is a standard measure of the occurrence of a counted material per area per time.
count per area per time unit
a rate unit that is a standard measure of the accumulation or flow of volume over a unit time.
volume per time unit
a rate unit that is a standard measure of the flow or accumulation of mass per unit time.
mass per time unit
a rate unit that is a standard measure of the accumulation or flow of volume per unit area per time.
volume per area per time unit
a unit that is a standard measure of energy per unit mass.
specific energy unit
a rate unit that is a standard measure of the area of a material per unit area of sample per time.
area per area per time unit
a rate unit that is a standard measure of the change in temperature of a substance per unit time.
temperature per time unit
an ecosystem variable that is a periodic animal or plant life cycle event that is influenced by climate and other habitat factors (Credit: Wikipedia).
phenological event
a phenological event that is the timing of a grain harvest.
grain harvest date
a phenological event that is the timing of the grape harvest.
grape harvest date
a cryospheric quantity that is the timing of the onset of ice break-up on a body of water such as a river, lake, or ocean.
ice break-up date
the hydroclimatic rate of precipitation in the form of ice crystals.
snowfall
a pressure variable that is the atmospheric pressure at the earth's surface at a given location and time.
surface pressure
a velocity variable that is the direction of the wind at an unspecified height in the atmosphere.
wind direction
an earth system variable that relates to the occurrence of a event within human society, often as a consequence of weather or climate.
societal event
a temperature unit which is equal to 5/9ths of a kelvin. Negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit is equal to negative 40 degrees Celsius (Credit: Units of measurement ontology)
degree Fahrenheit
a light unit which measures irradiance and which is equal to 1 watt of radiant power incident per one square meter surface area (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
watt per square meter
the hydroclimatic rate of water transfer to the atmosphere from soil, waterbodies, and canopy interception, excluding transpiration from plants.
evaporation
a circulation index that is calculated as the difference in sea level pressure anomalies at the North Pacific High and at Darwin, Australia.
Northern Oscillation Index
NOI
an ecosystem quantity that measures the area or fractional area of vegetated land burned by a wildfire.
burned area
an age unit of hour position in the day, starting with midnight.
hour of day
a length per time unit that is equivalent to one nautical mile per hour, which is approximately 0.51444 meters per second.
knot
a volume unit which is equal to one million liters or 10^[6] L.
megaliter
megalitre
an electrical conduction unit which is equal to one millionth of a siemens, or 10^[-6] siemens.
microsiemens
an electrical resistivity unit that is the resistivity of a material multiplied by the distance across which an electrical current is applied measured in centimeters.
ohm centimeter
a radiative flux that is the amount of light available for photosynthesis, which is generally the sum of light (photons) in the wavelength range of 400 to 700 nanometers per area per time.
photosynthetically active radiation
a mole per area per time unit that is one millionth of a mole, or 10^[-6] mole, per one square meter per one second.
micromole per square meter per second
the density of seawater that is calculated using in situ salinity and potential temperature, but pressure equal to zero rather than the in situ pressure, and 1000 kilogram per cubic meter is subtracted. Also defined as the potential density a parcel of seawater would have if raised to the surface adiabatically.
sigma-theta
the temperature that a parcel of fluid would have if brought adiabatically to a reference pressure.
potential temperature
the density of seawater that is calculated using in situ temperature and salinity, but pressure equal to zero rather than the in situ pressure, and 1000 kilogram per cubic meter is subtracted. Also defined as the density a parcel of seawater would have if raised to the surface.
sigma-t
any inorganic compound that is formally derived from boric acid.
borate ion
BO3
an organochlorine compound derived from methane, ethane or propane that contains atoms of carbon, chlorine, and fluorine only.
chlorofluorocarbon
a chlorofluorocarbon with the formula CCl3F.
chlorofluorocarbon-11
CFC-11
trichlorofluoromethane
a chlorofluorocarbon with the formula CCl2F2.
chlorofluorocarbon-12
CFC-12
dichlorodifluoromethane
an organic compound containing at least one carbon-halogen bond.
organohalogen compound
the sum of all inorganic carbon species dissolved in a solution. The inorganic carbon species include carbon dioxide, carbonic acid, bicarbonate anion, and carbonate.
dissolved inorganic carbon
DIC
total CO2
a solution property that is a measure of the amount of bases in a solution that can be converted to uncharged species by a strong acid (Credit: Wikipedia).
alkalinity
the amount of gaseous oxygen dissolved in water.
dissolved oxygen
a solution property that is defined as the product of the concentrations of dissolved calcium and carbonate ions in seawater divided by the product of calcite at equilibrium.
calcite saturation state
a solution property that is the difference between the measured dissolved oxygen concentration and its equilibrium saturation concentration in water with the same physical and chemical properties (Credit: BCO-DMO).
apparent oxygen utilization
AOU
a solution property expressing the extent to which a particular substance in solution is dissociated into ions, equal to the product of the concentrations of the respective ions divided by the concentration of the undissociated molecule.
dissociation constant
a circulation index that is a measure of the volume of water upwelling in the ocean.
Upwelling Index
a rate unit which is a standard measure of the accumulation or flow of volume per time associated with a particular length scale.
volume per time per length unit
a volume per time per length unit that is cubic meters per second per one hundred meters, often used to measure a rate of coastal upwelling per one hundred meters of coastline.
cubic meter per second per hundred meters
a measurement of the partitioning of isotopes that occurs during one or more physical or biological processes such as a chemical reaction or phase change.
isotopic fractionation factor
a measurement of the difference in hydrogen isotopic composition between two phases or two materials and that represents the sum of many individual fractionations during physical and biochemical processes. This quantity is dimensionless and is typically calculated as [(delta 2Ha/1000 + 1)/(delta 2Hb/1000 + 1) - 1 ] * 1000 where a and b represent the product and the reactant, respectively.
delta 2H apparent fractionation factor
a cryospheric quantity that is the elevation of the surface of bedrock under an ice sheet or glacier, measured relative to some datum.
bedrock elevation
a unit which is a standard measure of the mass of a homogeneous substance containing 6.02 x 10^[23] atoms or molecules (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
molar mass unit
a molar mass unit which is equal to one kilogram of mass of one mole of chemical element or chemical compound (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
kilogram per mole
an identifiable organism that belongs to the kingdom Animalia, phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta.
an insect that has been identified taxonomically.
identified insect
an organism belonging to the Order Coleoptera that has been identified taxonomically.
identified beetle
a measurement of insects, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure.
insect index
the radiative flux that is the amount of longwave (thermal) radiation from above that is measured at the lower boundary of the atmosphere under the hypothetical condition of a cloud-free sky.
surface downwelling clear-sky longwave radiation
the radiative flux that is the amount of longwave (thermal) radiation from above that is measured at the lower boundary of the atmosphere.
surface downwelling longwave radiation
the radiative flux that is the amount of shortwave (solar) radiation from above that is measured at the lower boundary of the atmosphere under the hypothetical condition of a cloud-free sky.
surface downwelling clear-sky shortwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the difference between longwave radiation from above (downwelling) and longwave radiation from below (upwelling) that is measured at the lower boundary of the atmosphere.
surface net downward longwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the difference between longwave radiation from above (downwelling) and longwave radiation from below (upwelling) that is measured at the lower boundary of the atmosphere under the hypothetical condition of a cloud-free sky.
surface net downward clear-sky longwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the difference between shortwave radiation from above (downwelling) and shortwave radiation from below (upwelling) that is measured at the lower boundary of the atmosphere.
surface net downward shortwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the difference between shortwave radiation from above (downwelling) and shortwave radiation from below (upwelling) that is measured at the lower boundary of the atmosphere under the hypothetical condition of a cloud-free sky.
surface net downward clear-sky shortwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the difference between shortwave+longwave radiation from above (downwelling) and shortwave+longwave radiation from below (upwelling) that is measured at the lower boundary of the atmosphere.
surface net downward radiation
a radiative flux that is the difference between longwave radiation from below (upwelling) and longwave radiation from above (downwelling) that is measured at the lower boundary of the atmosphere.
surface net upward longwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the amount of longwave (thermal) radiation from below that is measured at the lower boundary of the atmosphere.
surface upwelling longwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the amount of longwave (thermal) radiation from below that is measured at the lower boundary of the atmosphere under the hypothetical condition of a cloud-free sky.
surface upwelling clear-sky longwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the amount of shortwave (solar) radiation from below that is measured at the lower boundary of the atmosphere.
surface upwelling shortwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the amount of shortwave (solar) radiation from below that is measured at the lower boundary of the atmosphere under the hypothetical condition of a cloud-free sky.
surface upwelling clear-sky shortwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the difference between longwave radiation from above (downwelling) and longwave radiation from below (upwelling) that is measured at the top of the atmosphere.
top-of-atmosphere net downward longwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the difference between shortwave+longwave radiation from above (downwelling) and shortwave+longwave radiation from below (upwelling) that is measured at the top of the atmosphere.
top-of-atmosphere net downward radiation
a radiative flux that is the difference between shortwave radiation from above (downwelling) and shortwave radiation from below (upwelling) that is measured at the top of the atmosphere.
top-of-atmosphere net downward shortwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the difference between longwave radiation from above (downwelling) and longwave radiation from below (upwelling) that is measured at the top of the atmosphere under the hypothetical condition of a cloud-free sky.
top-of-atmosphere net downward clear-sky longwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the difference between shortwave radiation from above (downwelling) and shortwave radiation from below (upwelling) that is measured at the top of the atmosphere under the hypothetical condition of a cloud-free sky.
top-of-atmosphere net downward clear-sky shortwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the difference between longwave radiation from below (upwelling) and longwave radiation from above (downwelling) that is measured at the top of the atmosphere.
top-of-atmosphere net upward longwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the difference between longwave radiation from below (upwelling) and longwave radiation from above (downwelling) that is measured at the top of the atmosphere under the hypothetical condition of a cloud-free sky.
top-of-atmosphere net upward clear-sky longwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the difference between shortwave radiation from below (upwelling) and shortwave radiation from above (downwelling) that is measured at the top of the atmosphere.
top-of-atmosphere net upward shortwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the amount of longwave (thermal) radiation from below that is measured at the top of the atmosphere.
top-of-atmosphere outgoing longwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the amount of longwave (thermal) radiation from below that is measured at the top of the atmosphere under the hypothetical condition of a cloud-free sky.
top-of-atmosphere outgoing clear-sky longwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the amount of shortwave (solar) radiation from below that is measured at the top of the atmosphere.
top-of-atmosphere outgoing shortwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the amount of shortwave (solar) radiation from below that is measured at the top of the atmosphere under the hypothetical condition of a cloud-free sky.
top-of-atmosphere outgoing clear-sky shortwave radiation
a variable impacting radiative fluxes that is the ratio of reflected light to incident light at the top of the atmosphere.
planetary albedo
a measure of wind speed that is the magnitude of the northward vector component of wind at some level in the atmosphere.
northward wind speed
a measure of wind speed that is the magnitude of the eastward vector component of wind at some level in the atmosphere.
eastward wind speed
a velocity variable that is the upward component of air velocity when air pressure is being used as the vertical coordinate. If the vertical air velocity is upwards, it is negative when expressed as a tendency of air pressure; downwards is positive.
vertical pressure velocity
omega
the hydroclimatic rate of precipitation in the form of liquid water.
rainfall
the hydroclimatic rate of precipitation (rain+snow) that is grid-cell in scale and that originates from the model cloud scheme.
large-scale precipitation
the hydroclimatic rate of precipitation (rain+snow) that originates from convective storms parameterized by the model convection scheme.
convective precipitation
snowfall that is grid-cell in scale and that originates from the model cloud scheme.
large-scale snowfall
snowfall that originates from convective storms parameterized by the model convection scheme.
convective snowfall
an forcing variable that is an index of the activity of the sun, measured through counts of individual and grouped sunspots on the visible disk of the sun.
sunspot number
a forcing variable that is used to approximate the modulation of galactic cosmic rays by the sun's activity as they pass through the heliosphere.
solar modulation potential
a forcing variable that measures the ionization of the earth's atmosphere by galactic cosmic rays.
cosmic ray-induced ionization
a forcing variable that measures the flux of high-energy radiation mainly originating outside the solar system into the earth's atmosphere.
cosmic ray flux
an isotope fractionation factor for delta 13C that represents the fractionation that occurs during photosynthesis. This quantity is typically calculated as [(delta 13Ca/1000 + 1)/(delta 13Cb/1000 + 1) - 1 ] * 1000 where a and b represent the product and the reactant, respectively.
delta 13C photosynthetic fractionation factor
a count per mass per time unit that is a simple count of a substance per one thousandth of a kilogram, or 10^[-3] kg, of sample per second.
count per gram per second
a volume unit which is equal to one billionth of a cubic meter or 10^[-9] m^[3].
cubic millimeter
a light unit that measures integrated irradiance and which is equal to one billion joules, or 10^[9] J, of radiant energy per one square meter surface area.
gigajoule per square meter
a mass per area per time unit that is one kilogram per one square meter, per one second.
kilogram per square meter per second
a light unit which is equal to one thermochemical calorie per square centimeter per day, and to about 0.484583 watt per square meter.
langley per day
an electric potential difference unit which is equal to one million volts or 10^[6] V (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
megavolt
an earth system variable that quantifies a forcing on the climate system that is external.
forcing variable
a forcing variable that quantifies the atmospheric loading of sulfate from volcanism.
volcanic sulfate
a forcing variable that quantifies the radiative forcing, often expressed in watt per square meter, of volcanism.
volcanic forcing
a forcing variable that quantifies the radiative forcing, often expressed in watt per square meter, of atmospheric greenhouse gases.
greenhouse gas forcing
a forcing variable that quantifies the radiative forcing, often expressed in watt per square meter, of anthropogenic aerosols.
anthropogenic aerosol forcing
a forcing variable that quantifies an aspect of the earth's orbit (e.g., eccentricity, obliquity, precession).
orbital parameter
a variable impacting radiative fluxes that is the integral along the path of radiation of a volume scattering/absorption/attenuation coefficient for ambient aerosols. The radiative flux is reduced by a factor exp(-optical_depth) on traversing the path.
aerosol optical depth
a radiative flux variable that is the area-weighted mean radius of aerosols in a sample.
effective aerosol radius
snow temperature
the temperature that a parcel of sea water would have if brought adiabatically to a reference pressure, often the pressure at the ocean surface.
sea water potential temperature
the temperature that a parcel of air would have if brought adiabatically to a reference pressure, often 1 bar (100 kPa).
air potential temperature
a hydrologic material that consists of water sampled from a lake.
lake water
a hydrologic material that consists of rain, snow, sleet or hail that falls to the ground.
a hydrologic material that consists of water sampled from any level of the ocean.
sea water
a hydrologic material that consists of water sampled from a river.
river water
a hydrologic material that consists of water sampled from the surface of the ocean.
sea surface
a hydrologic material that consists of water filling the pores of a sediment sample.
sediment pore water
a material that is used in a statistically-based climate reconstruction.
reconstruction material
an organic compound index that compares the relative abundances of different glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers in a sample.
glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether index
a unit which is a standard measure power or the rate of doing work (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
power unit
a power unit which is equal to the power used when work is done at the rate of 1 joule per second (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
watt
a power unit which is equal to one quadrillion watts, or 10^[15] W.
petawatt
a length per time unit that is one hundredth of a meter, or 10^[-2] m, per second.
centimeter per second
a count per area unit that applies to an area of one square meter.
count per square meter
a temperature per time unit that is the change of one degree Celsius per one second.
degree Celsius per second
a temperature per time unit that is the change of one kelvin per one day.
kelvin per day
a temperature per time unit that is the change of one kelvin per one second.
kelvin per second
a mass unit that is one billion tons, or 10^[9] tons.
gigaton
an area density unit which is equal to the mass of an object in grams, or 10^[-3] kg, per square meter.
gram per square meter
a mass fraction unit that measures the number of kilograms of one subcomponent of a sample relative to one kilogram of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
kilogram per kilogram
a mass per time unit that is one thousand grams, or 10^[3] g, per one second.
kilogram per second
an area density unit which is equal to the mass of an object in kilograms per square meter.
kilogram per square meter
a molarity unit which expresses a concentration of a solution of one mole per one cubic meter of solvent.
mole per cubic meter
a rate unit that is a standard measure of the change in pressure per unit time.
pressure per time unit
a pressure per time unit that is one pascal per one second.
pascal per second
a rate unit that is a dimensionless quantity per unit time.
dimensionless per time unit
a dimensionless per time unit that is a dimensionless quantity per one second.
dimensionless per second
a unit which is a standard measure of the work done by a certain force (gravitational, electric, magnetic, force of inertia, etc) (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
energy unit
an energy unit that is the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water through 1 degree Celsius, and that is equivalent to 4.1868 joules.
calorie
the mean temperature at or below the soil surface.
soil temperature
a temperature variable that quantifies the change in temperature per time.
temperature tendency
an earth system variable that describes or quantifies motion and related properties in the atmosphere or ocean.
circulation variable
a transport variable of the ocean defined for latitude and longitude that quantifies the volume transport of water between two points.
barotropic streamfunction
a velocity variable that measures the horizontal change in wind velocity through space.
wind divergence
an ice sheet velocity that is the magnitude of a vector component along the ice sheet grid x-axis, positive with increasing x, sometimes meaning in an eastward direction.
ice sheet x velocity
a measure of sea water velocity that is the magnitude of a vector component along the ocean grid x-axis, positive with increasing x, and sometimes in an eastward direction.
sea water x velocity
a measure of sea ice velocity that is the magnitude of a vector component along the sea ice grid x-axis, positive with increasing x, and sometimes in an eastward direction.
sea ice x velocity
a circulation variable that is the measure of the dissipation of kinetic energy of a fluid within the earth system.
kinetic energy dissipation
a transport variable that measures the circulation of the ocean defined for latitude and depth and obtained as the integral of the ocean velocity between the east and west boundaries of the basin and from the surface to a given depth.
meridional overturning streamfunction
an ice sheet velocity that is the magnitude of a vector component along the ice sheet grid y-axis, positive with increasing y, sometimes meaning in a northward direction.
ice sheet y velocity
a measure of sea water velocity that is the magnitude of a vector component along the ocean grid y-axis, positive with increasing y, and sometimes in an northward direction.
sea water y velocity
a measure of sea ice velocity that is the magnitude of a vector component along the sea ice grid y-axis, positive with increasing y, and sometimes in a northward direction.
sea ice y velocity
a circulation variable that is the vorticity, or spinning motion, of the velocity field of a fluid relative to the earth.
relative vorticity
a velocity variable that is the magnitude of a vector indicating ice sheet motion at some level.
ice sheet velocity
a velocity variable that is the magnitude of a vector indicating sea water motion at some level in the ocean.
sea water velocity
a velocity variable that is the magnitude of a vector indicating sea ice motion.
sea ice velocity
a circulation variable that is the downward flux of momentum at the lower boundary of the atmosphere.
surface stress
a measure of surface stress that is the downward flux of momentum in the grid x direction, often eastward, at the lower boundary of the atmosphere, which accelerates the lower medium in the grid x direction and the upper medium in the negative grid x direction.
surface downward x stress
a measure of surface stress that is the downward flux of momentum in the grid y direction, often northward, at the lower boundary of the atmosphere, which accelerates the lower medium in the grid y direction and the upper medium in the negative grid y direction.
surface downward y stress
the velocity of sea water in the vertical direction at some depth, with positive indicating upward movement.
upward sea water velocity
an ice sheet velocity in the vertical direction at some depth, with positive indicating upward movement.
upward ice sheet velocity
the hydroclimatic rate that is the liquid water than drains from land and is the sum of surface runoff and subsurface drainage.
runoff
the runoff that drains across the land surface.
surface runoff
the runoff that drains through the soil column.
subsurface runoff
the hydroclimatic rate of water transfer from the land to the atmosphere from transpiration from plants.
transpiration
a hydroclimate ratio that is the mass fraction of water vapor in air.
specific humidity
a hydroclimate variable that quantifies some aspect of the concentration or distribution of water.
hydroclimate quantity
a hydroclimate quantity that is the content of water in all phases present in a specified soil layer or vertically integrated from the bottom to the top of the soil column.
soil moisture
a hydroclimate quantity that is the vertical integral from the bottom to top of the atmosphere of water in all phases.
precipitable water
the hydroclimate ratio of the mass of ice within a parcel of air to the mass of dry air.
cloud ice mixing ratio
the hydroclimate ratio of the mass of liquid water within a parcel of air to the mass of dry air.
cloud liquid water mixing ratio
a hydroclimate quantity that is the amount of condensed water, both liquid and ice, present in an atmospheric column or layer.
cloud condensed water content
the quantity of condensed water in the form of liquid water present in an atmospheric column or layer.
cloud liquid water content
the quantity of condensed water in the form of ice present in an atmospheric column or layer.
cloud ice content
a cryospheric quantity that is the volume of sea ice per specified area.
sea ice volume
a cryospheric quantity that is the vertical extent of sea ice.
sea ice thickness
a volume per time unit that is one millionth of a cubic meter, or 10^[-6] m, per one second.
cubic centimeter per second
a volume per time unit that is one million cubic meters, or 10^[6] cubic meters, per second.
sverdrup
sampling metadata that is the prescribed type (e.g., land, ocean, ice) at the bottom of the atmospheric column.
surface type
the sum of the specific gravitational potential energy relative to the geoid and the specific centripetal potential energy. This quantity yields surface elevation when divided by g.
surface geopotential
an ecosystem variable that quantifies aspects of ecosystem functioning such as fluxes of energy or mass.
ecosystem process
an ecosystem process variable that quantifies the consumption of biomass, for example the consumption of phytoplankton by zooplankton, and the related transfer of nutrients.
grazing
an ecosystem process variable that quantifies the death rate, often expressed in terms of biomass per time, within a particular group of organisms.
mortality
an ecosystem process variable that quantifies the production of ammonia from nitrogen gas by nitrogen-fixing organisms, called diazotrophs.
nitrogen fixation
an ecosystem process variable that quantifies the conversion of nitrate into gasesous compounds such as nitric oxide, nitrous oxide and molecular nitrogen which are then emitted to the atmosphere (Credit: Climate Forecast Standard Names).
denitrification
an ecosystem process variable that quantifies the excretion of waste products and its related nutrient cycling.
excretion
an ecosystem process variable that quantifies the the degradation of organic matter into inorganic forms of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other micronutrients, which consumes oxygen and releases energy (Credit: Climate Forecast Standard Names).
remineralization
an ecosystem process variable that quantifies the long-term removal of nutrients from an ecosystem, for example by transportation.
export
an ecosystem variable that quantifies some aspect of the components of an ecosystem.
ecosystem quantity
an ecosystem quantity that is the vertical height above the surface of the plant or vegetation canopy.
canopy height
an ecosystem quantity that is the quantity of carbon contained in dead inorganic material in or above the soil.
litter carbon
the quantity of carbon contained in a soil column or layer.
soil carbon
the ecosystem quantity of carbon contained in plants, including grasses, shrubs, and trees.
vegetation carbon
a measurement of ecosystem quantities or properties, such as a ratio or count, that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure.
ecosystem index
an ecosystem index that characterizes plant canopies and that is calculated as the one-sided green leaf area per unit ground surface area (Credit: Wikipedia).
leaf area index
an ecosystem process in which organic matter is burned by forest fires, etc and resulting in various chemical emissions.
biomass burning
an ecosystem process that refers to the production of carbon dioxide when soil organisms, both decomposers and producers, respire.
soil respiration
an ecosystem quantity of autotrophic prokaryotic or eukaryotic algae that live near the water surface where there is sufficient light to support photosynthesis.
phytoplankton
the ecosystem quantity of plankton consisting of small animals near the surface of aquatic environments that consume phytoplankton.
zooplankton
the quantity of phytoplankton of the phylum cyanobacteria distinct from other phytoplankton groups in their ability to fix nitrogen gas in addition to nitrate and ammonium.
diazotroph
an ecosystem variable that describes an occurrence or event that is relevant to an ecosystem.
ecosystem phenomenon
a cryospheric quantity that is the horizontal extent of a glacier, ice-cap or ice-sheet resting on bedrock or an ice-shelf.
ice sheet area
an earth system variable that relates to those parts of the earth surface where water is in solid form.
cryospheric variable
a cryospheric variable that quantifies aspects of cryosphere dynamics or thermodynamics such as fluxes of energy or mass.
cryospheric process
the ice mass loss from a glacier, ice-cap, ice-sheet, or ice-shelf through phase transformation to liquid water.
ice melt
a cryospheric quantity that is the vertical extent of a glacier, ice-cap or ice-sheet resting on bedrock or an ice-shelf.
ice sheet thickness
a cryospheric quantity that is a measure of the extent to which the land or sea ice surface is covered by snow.
snow cover
a cryospheric quantity that is the vertical extent of snow on the land surface or sea ice, expressed as a measured depth rather than as a liquid water equivalent.
snow depth
a cryospheric quantity that is the volume of snow covering the land surface or sea ice per given area.
snow volume
the concentration of a radioactive isotope of beryllium that has 3 neutrons and 4 protons.
7Be
the concentration of a stable isotope of carbon with 7 neutrons and 6 protons.
13C
the sum of all organic carbon species dissolved in a solution.
dissolved organic carbon
DOC
the sum of all organic nitrogen species dissolved in a solution.
dissolved organic nitrogen
DON
the sum of all organic phosphorus species dissolved in a solution.
dissolved organic phosphorus
DOP
a hydroclimatic rate that is the virtual (computational) flux of salt applied to fixed-volume ocean models to account for the salinification or dilution effects that precipitation, evaporation, river outflow, sea-ice etc can have through changing the volume of the ocean surface layer.
virtual salt flux
a molarity unit which expresses a concentration of a solution of one thousandth of a mole, or 10^[-3] mole, per one cubic meter of solvent.
millimole per cubic meter
a rate unit that is a standard measure of the accumulation or flow of a mole of material per unit volume per time.
mole per volume per time unit
a mole per volume per time unit that is one mole, per one cubic meter, per one second.
mole per cubic meter per second
a heat flux unit that is temperature in kelvin multiplied by a velocity in meter per second. This quantity can be converted to watt per square meter by using the specific heat capacity and density of the material.
kelvin meter per second
a reconstructed seasonality that consists of values for each of the twelve months of the calendar year.
monthly
an energy flux variable that is largely driven by the wind.
turbulent flux variable
a turbulent heat flux that is the exchange of heat between the surface and the air on account of evaporation including sublimation.
latent heat flux
a turbulent heat flux that is the exchange of heat between the surface and the air by motion of air.
sensible heat flux
an energy variable that quantifies fluxes of energy, or properties affecting this, within the earth system.
energy flux variable
a radiative flux that is the difference between longwave radiation from below (upwelling) and longwave radiation from above (downwelling) that is measured at the lower boundary of the atmosphere under the hypothetical condition of a cloud-free sky.
surface net upward clear-sky longwave radiation
a radiative flux that is the difference in shortwave radiative flux at the top of the atmosphere resulting from the presence of clouds, that is the difference between the net downward shortwave flux assuming clear sky conditions and the net downward shortwave flux with clouds present.
shortwave cloud radiative effect
a radiative flux that is the difference in longwave radiative flux at the top of the atmosphere resulting from the presence of clouds, that is the difference between the outgoing longwave flux assuming clear sky conditions and the outgoing longwave flux with clouds present.
longwave cloud radiative effect
a circulation length variable that is the depth or height of the lowest part of the atmosphere that is directly influenced by contact with the earth surface.
atmospheric boundary layer thickness
a transport variable that is the transport of heat by all processes in the ocean, and both sea water and sea ice, with northward transport being positive.
northward ocean heat transport
a transport variable that is the transport of salt by all processes in the ocean, and both sea water and sea ice, with northward transport being positive.
northward ocean salt transport
a bulk geological material that is the upper layer of the earth that consists of minerals, organic material, water, air, and organisms.
soil
the ratio of two isotopes of barium, 138Ba/134Ba, in a sample compared to that of a standard, as in: ((138Ba/134Ba sample)/(138Ba/134Ba standard) - 1) x 1000.
delta 138/134Ba
a per mil unit calculated using the isotopic concentration of standard NIST 3104a.
per mil NIST 3104a
a length unit that is equal to 0.3048 meters, or 12 inches (Credit: Units Ontology).
foot
an element ratio that is calculated from paired strontium/uranium and uranium/calcium measurements in order to correct for biological vital effects.
strontium-uranium
Sr-U
the elemental ratio of lead to zirconium.
lead/zirconium
Pb/Zr
the elemental ratio of lead to titanium.
lead/titanium
Pb/Ti
the elemental ratio of carbon to phosphorus.
carbon/phosphorus
C/P
an event layer within a tree ring sample that, through anatomical damage, shows evidence for subfreezing temperatures within an annual ring
frost ring
an event layer within a tree ring sample that, though light coloring of the latewood, shows evidence for adverse climate conditions
light ring
Acropora millepora
the elemental ratio of neodymium to calcium.
neodymium/calcium
the elemental ratio of zinc to calcium.
zinc/calcium
an energy unit that is the energy required for a force of one newton to move an object one meter in the direction of the force (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
joule
an energy content variable that quantifies the amount of heat contained in some specified volume of the ocean.
ocean heat content
an energy variable that quantifies the energy contained, or properties affecting this, within a part of earth system.
energy content variable
an earth system variable that quantifies energy, or properties affecting energy, within the earth system.
energy variable
an isotope ratio that measures the excess abundance of carbon dioxide with mass 47 (13C 18O 16O) in carbonate relative to a theoretical stochastic distribution.
Delta 47
a substance unit equal to a trillionth of a mol or 10^[-12] mol (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
picomole
a unit which is a standard measure of the mass exerting an influence on a given area (Credit: Units of measurement ontology).
area density unit
a mass fraction per area per time unit that measures the number of picograms, or 10^[-12] g, of one subcomponent of a sample relative to one gram of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample, per square centimeter, or 10^[-4] m^[2], per year.
picogram per gram per square centimeter per year
a rate unit that is a standard measure of the mass fraction concentration per unit area per time.
mass fraction per area per time unit
the ratio of two isotopes of calcium, 44Ca/40Ca, in a sample compared to that of a standard, as in: ((44Ca/40Ca sample)/(44Ca/40Ca standard) - 1) x 1000.
delta 44Ca
a per mil unit calculated using the isotopic concentration of standard bulk silicate earth.
per mil BSE
a molality unit which expresses a concentration of a solution of one billionth of a mole, or 10^[-9] mole, per milligram of solvent.
nanomole per milligram
an amino acid with the formula C5H9NO3.
hydroxyproline
a circulation variable that measures the force per unit area.
pressure variable
a circulation variable that measures the transport of a quantity (e.g., heat, salt, volume) per time.
transport variable
a circulation variable that is a measure of the speed of the atmosphere, ocean, or other fluid and its direction of flow.
velocity variable
a circulation variable that measures the linear dimensions (length, depth, height) of some aspect of the circulation.
circulation length variable
a carbonyl compound that is a waxy, polyester polymer that is a main component of the plant cuticle.
cutin
a bulk biological material that consists of microscopic grains produced by seed plants for reproduction.
a coefficient of determination that quantifies whether a statistical or physically-based model is a better predictor of observed values than the mean climatology of the validation period and that is calculated as: 1 - (sum((observed-predicted)^2)/n)/(sum((observed-validation climatology)^2)/n), where each of the n data points is used to both train (calibrate) and test (validate) the model but never at the same time and the the measure is an average of the coefficient of efficiency over the n trials.
cross-validation coefficient of efficiency
the root mean square error applied to the calibration period, defined as the sample standard deviation of the differences between predicted values and observed values over the calibration period, or sqrt (sum(predicted-observed)^2/sample size).
calibration root mean square error
a tree ring chronology method that is designed to reduce the impact of long-term trends in climate on the fitting of tree ring growth curves to raw tree ring data.
signal-free chronology method
any foraminifer that belongs to the genus Acarinina.
Acarinina sp.
a particular species of the genus Acarinina.
Acarinina soldadoensis
a measurement of the difference in hydrogen isotopic composition between two phases or two materials, expressed in per mil units and calculated as (alpha-1) *1000 where alpha is the isotopic fractionation factor between the two phases or materials.
delta 2H enrichment factor
sampling metadata that is a measure of the thickness of the measured sample.
sample thickness
a chemical element with atomic number 45.
rhodium
a chemical element with atomic number 89.
actinium
the ecosystem quantity of organisms that live in partnership with another organism, to the mutual benefit of each.
symbiont
a measurement of the ratio of variable to maximum fluorescence that is relevant to photosynthesis.
potential photochemical efficiency
a measure of absorbance that relates to the area available or required for absorption.
effective absorption cross section
an area per count unit that is 10^[-20] m^[2] per one quanta.
square angstrom per quanta
a molarity unit which expresses a concentration of a solution of one thousandth of a mole, or 10^[-3] mole, per one liter of solvent.
millimole per liter
a molarity unit which expresses a concentration of a solution of one billionth of a mole, or 10^[-9] mole, per one liter of solvent.
nanomole per liter
a geographic variable that quantifies the surface area of the land over specified geographic bounds.
land area
the cross-sectional area of ducts that transport resin within a tree.
resin duct area
the cryospheric process that is the loss of mass from a glacier, ice-cap, ice-sheet, or ice-shelf.
ice mass loss
a rate unit that is a standard measure of the accumulation or flow of mass per unit volume per time.
mass per volume per time unit
a mass per volume per time unit that is one thousandth of a kilogram, or 10^[-3] kg, per one millionth of a cubic meter, or 10^[-6] m^[3], per one thousand years.
gram per cubic centimeter per kiloyear
the ratio of the radioactive isotope of thorium with 140 neutrons and the radioactive isotope of uranium with 146 neutrons.
the ratio of the radioactive isotope of thorium with 140 neutrons and the radioactive isotope of thorium with 142 neutrons.
the activity ratio of two isotopes of uranium, 234U/238U, in a sample relative to a secular equilibrium value of 1, as in: ((234U/238U ) - 1) x 1000.
delta 234U
a dimensionless unit that is the ratio of activities, or rates of decay, of two radioactive isotopes.
activity ratio
a dimensionless unit that is the ratio of atoms of one kind to atoms of another kind.
atomic ratio
column chromatography where the mobile phase is a liquid, the stationary phase consists of very small (< 2 microm) particles and the inlet pressure is relatively high (Credit: Chemical Methods Ontology).
ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography
UHPLC
an organic compound index calculated based on the relative abundance of long chain alkyl 1,13- and 1,15-diols.
long-chain diol index
LDI
a circulation index that is calculated from mean sea level pressure and that captures east-west variations in the position of the South Pacific Convergence Zone.
South Pacific Convergence Zone Index
SPCZ
uranium/aluminum
the elemental ratio of vanadium to calcium.
vanadium/calcium
V/Ca
the elemental ratio of cobalt to calcium.
cobalt/calcium
Co/Ca
the elemental ratio of nickel to calcium.
nickel/calcium
Ni/Ca
the elemental ratio of molybdenum to calcium.
molybdenum/calcium
Mo/Ca
the elemental ratio of silver to calcium.
silver/calcium
Ag/Ca
the elemental ratio of tungsten to calcium.
tungsten/calcium
W/Ca
a physical measurement that is the level of blue light required to produce the color of a substance.
a pressure unit that is equivalent to 101325 pascal.
atmosphere
a mole per area per time unit that is one mole, per one square meter, per one year.
mole per square meter per year
a rate unit that is a standard measure of the accumulation of a mole of material per time.
mole per time unit
a mole per time unit that is one mole per one year.
mole per year
a mole per area per time unit that is one mole, per one square meter, per one year, and per one millionth of an atmosphere, or 10^[-6] atmosphere.
mole per square meter per year per microatmosphere
a measure of sea level rise or fall that is due to changing sea water density.
steric sea level change
steric sea level change that is caused by temperature effects on sea water density.
thermosteric sea level change
steric sea level change that is caused by density effects of the addition or removal of water from the ocean.
barosteric sea level change
steric sea level change that is caused by salinity effects on sea water density.
halosteric sea level change
steric sea level change that is caused by effects of salt phase (i.e., solid or dissolved) on sea water density.
salt-phase steric sea level change
a specific activity unit which is equal to the activity of a cubic centimeter of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per minute or there is one atom disintegration per minute.
disintegration per minute per cubic centimeter
the elemental ratio of zirconium to rubidium.
zirconium/rubidium
Zr/Rb
a mole per area unit that is one mole per one square meter.
mole per square meter
a concentration unit that measures the number of moles of a given substance per an area.
mole per area unit
a mass per time unit that is one billion tons, or 10^[9] tons, per one hundred years.
gigaton per century
a per mil unit calculated using the isotopic concentration of standard SRM 915a.
per mil SRM 915a
a count per time unit that is a simple count of the occurrence of a substance or an event per one month.
count per month
an isotope ratio that is the 14C/12C ratio of a sample to that of modern, which is defined as 95% of the radiocarbon concentration (in AD 1950) of NBS Oxalic Acid I (SRM 4990B, OX-I) normalized for delta 13C (Credit: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution). Note that this ratio is not technically a fraction since it does not have to be constrained between 0 and 1.
14C fraction modern
a ecosystem process that is the highest rate of carbon dioxide entering or water exiting a leaf through its stomata.
maximum stomatal conductance
an ecosystem quantity that is a measure of the length or the area of the stomatal opening.
stomatal size
an ecosystem index that is the ratio of the number of stomatal cells per unit area to the sum of stomatal cells plus epidermal cells per unit area, multiplied by 100.
stomatal index
an ecosystem quantity that is the count of stomata per area.
stomatal density
a count per volume unit that applies to one cubic millimeter, or 10^[-9] cubic meters.
count per cubic millimeter
a concentration per time unit that is a parts per thousand ratio per one thousand years.
per mil per kiloyear
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C36H74.
C36 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C37H76.
C37 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C38H78.
C38 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C39H80.
C39 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C40H82.
C40 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C20H42.
C20 n-alkane
a biological material that is the smallest independent unit of life and from which all tissues and organisms are composed.
cell
an organic compound index based on the relative proportions of archeol, a diphytanyl glycerol diether, and caldarcheol, a glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether, that was developed as a proxy for salinity.
archeol caldarcheol ecometric
ACE
the ratio of a radioactive isotope of xenon with 82 neutrons and a stable isotope of xenon with 75 neutrons.
the ratio of a stable isotope of xenon with 80 neutrons and a stable isotope of xenon with 75 neutrons.
the ratio of a stable isotope of xenon with 78 neutrons and a stable isotope of xenon with 75 neutrons.
the ratio of a stable isotope of krypton with 50 neutrons and a stable isotope of krypton with 48 neutrons.
86Kr/84Kr
the ratio of a stable isotope of argon with 22 neutrons and a stable isotope of argon with 18 neutrons.
40Ar/36Ar
the ratio of a stable isotope of krypton with 48 neutrons and a stable isotope of argon with 22 neutrons.
84Kr/40Ar
the ratio of a stable isotope of xenon with 78 neutrons and a stable isotope of argon with 22 neutrons.
the ratio of a stable isotope of xenon with 75 neutrons and a stable isotope of argon with 22 neutrons.
the ratio of a stable isotope of xenon with 78 neutrons and a stable isotope of krypton with 48 neutrons.
the ratio of a stable isotope of xenon with 75 neutrons and a stable isotope of krypton with 48 neutrons.
the elemental ratio of rubidium to calcium.
rubidium/calcium
Rb/Ca
an organic compound index that is the weighted average of ring numbers in glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) compounds. This index was developed to determine whether past GDGT distributions deviate from modern analogue distributions.
ring index
a hydrocarbon that is pentacyclic and has the general formula CnH(2n-8).
hopane
a diether lipid that is one of the main membrane lipids of archaea, single-cell organisms lacking cell nuclei.
archaeol
An organooxygen compound with formula ROR, where R is not hydrogen (Credit: ChEBI).
ether
An organooxygen compound containing the carbonyl group, C=O.
carbonyl compound
an area density unit which is equal to the mass of an object in nanograms, or 10^[-12] kilogram, per square micrometer, or 10^[-12] square meters.
nanogram per square micrometer
an organic compound index that is based on a ratio of glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers. This index was developed to detect the destabilization and disassociation of gas hydrates.
methane index
a per mil unit calculated using the isotopic concentration of standard NIST SRM 951a.
per mil SRM 951a
an organooxygen compound that is insoluble in water and soluble in nonpolar solvents.
lipid
a C38 alkenone that is tetra-unsaturated.
C38:4 alkenone
a C38 alkenone that is tri-unsaturated.
C38:3 alkenone
an organic compound index that is a ratio involving common and novel ketone isomers and that is used to identify species mixing effects.
ratio of isomeric ketones
RIK
a formation property that is the count of missing growth increments during the first years of growth. Originally, this term referred specifically to missing rings in trees between the tree pith and the first recorded year of growth. The term has since been applied analogously to bivalve shells.
pith offset
a bivalve whose common name is the Pacific geoduck.
Panopea generosa
the lower (minimum) bound of the confidence interval that captures the true value 50% of the time.
50% confidence interval lower bound
the upper (maximum) bound of the confidence interval that captures the true value 50% of the time.
50% confidence interval upper bound
the value, that when added to and subtracted from the mean estimate, creates a confidence interval that captures the true value 50% of the time.
50% confidence interval margin of error
an ecosystem index that groups plants according to particular characteristics such as their growth form, ecosystem role, phylogeny, physiology, or phenology. Plant functional types are often used in vegetation models and are groupings that are more specific than biomes.
plant functional type
an ecosystem index that is the fraction or percentage of ground area covered by the foliage of trees or shrubs. When expressed as a fraction, this index ranges from 0 to 1.
foliage projective cover
the upper (maximum) bound of the confidence interval that captures the true value 75% of the time.
75% confidence interval upper bound
the lower (minimum) bound of the confidence interval that captures the true value 75% of the time.
75% confidence interval lower bound
the value, that when added to and subtracted from the mean estimate, creates a confidence interval that captures the true value 75% of the time.
75% confidence interval margin of error
a chemical element with atomic number 52.
tellurium
a type of fluorescence that occurs due to ionization of a material by high-energy x-rays or gamma rays.
x-ray fluorescence
a natural glass that formed during the melting and rapid cooling of rocks vaporized from the impact of astronomical objects on Earth.
tektite
a particular species of the genus Turborotalita.
Turborotalita quinqueloba
any foraminifer that belongs to the genus Turborotalita.
Turborotalita sp.
a particular species of the genus Siderastrea that is commonly known as the Brazilian starlet coral.
Siderastrea stellata
an isotopic fractionation factor that quantifies the impact of biologic processes or parameters on fractionation during photosynthesis. These factors can include organism growth rate, cell size, or membrane permeability.
physiological scaling parameter
dioxyribonucleic acid (DNA) preserved in sediment that can be used to analyze ecological composition.
sedimentary ancient DNA
a per mil unit calculated using the isotopic concentrations of Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (VSMOW) and Standard Light Antarctic Precipitation (SLAP) such that the hydrogen and oxygen isotopic concentrations of SLAP relative to VSMOW are -428.0 and -55.5 per mil, respectively.
per mil VSMOW-SLAP
an isotope ratio that measures the excess abundance of carbon dioxide with mass 48 (12C 18O 18O) in carbonate relative to a theoretical stochastic distribution.
Delta 48
a volume unit which is equal to 10^[-18] m^[3].
cubic micrometer
a mass density unit which is equal to mass of an object in micrograms, or 10^[-6] g, divided by the volume in cubic micrometers, or 10^[-18] cubic meters.
microgram per cubic micrometer
a physical property that is the extent of an object from side to side.
width
a physical property that is the extent of an object from end to end.
length
an angle unit that is the SI unit for measuring angles. An arc of a circle with the same length as the radius of that circle subtends an angle of 1 radian (Wikipedia).
radian
the elemental ratio of uranium to boron.
uranium/boron
U/B
the elemental ratio of uranium to strontium.
uranium/strontium
U/Sr
the elemental ratio of boron to magnesium.
boron/magnesium
B/Mg
the elemental ratio of magnesium to lithium.
magnesium/lithium
Mg/Li
a mole fraction unit that measures the number of moles of one subcomponent of a sample relative to one millimole, or 10^[-3] mole, of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
mole per millimole
a transport variable that measures the longitudinal (north/south) flux of water in the Atlantic Ocean, often as the maximum value of the meridional overturning streamfunction at some specified latitude.
Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation Index
the abundance or concentration of particles with a diameter of 4 to 64 millimeters.
pebble
a summation or ratio of grain size classes that is significant to paleoclimate or paleoenvironment.
grain size index
an ecosystem quantity that is the length of the cells that surround a stomatal opening in a plant.
guard cell length
an ecosystem quantity that is the width of the cells that surround a stomatal opening in a plant.
guard cell width
a hydrologic material that is the fluid within a coral from which the coral skeleton precipitates.
calcifying fluid
an organic compound index calculated based on the relative abundance of long chain alkyl 1,13- and 1,14-diols and that indicates past upwelling and nutrient conditions.
diol index
an isotope ratio that is the amount of non-radioactive ("dead") carbon in a sample compared to the amount expected given the sample's age. This value is calculated as the ratio of the measured radiocarbon activity of the sample to the radiocarbon activity of the coeval atmosphere, subtracted from one and multiplied by 100.
14C dead carbon proportion
a per mil unit calculated using the Intercarb-Carbon Dioxide Equilibrium Scale.
per mil I-CDES
a cryospheric variable that measures a quantity on a relative scale.
cryospheric index
a cryospheric index that reflects the extent of regional ice cover.
glaciation index
a moisture index that describes conditions related to a monsoon on a scale ranging from 'wetter' to 'drier.'
monsoon index
a gradient unit that measures the latitudinal temperature gradient as the change of temperature in degree Celsius with distance in degree latitude.
degree Celsius per degree latitude
a gradient unit that measures a energy flux gradient as the change of energy flux in watt per meter square with distance in degree latitude.
watt per square meter per degree latitude
a unit that measures the change in a quantity over distance.
gradient unit
a count per mass unit that applies to one milligram, or 10^[-3] grams.
count per milligram
a mathematical unit that scales values by the mean (e.g., one mu unit is equal to the mean, 1.5 mu units is 1.5 times the mean, etc.)
mu unit
a circulation length variable that is the thickness of the upper, well-mixed portion of the ocean.
mixed layer depth
an energy flux variable that is the sum of all heat fluxes at the lower boundary of the atmosphere, including radiative, latent, and sensible heat fluxes.
surface heat flux
the amount of iron dissolved in a solution.
dissolved iron
the amount of phosphate dissolved in a solution.
dissolved phosphate
the elemental ratio of zirconium to potassium.
zirconium/potassium
Zr/K
a circulation index that is the position, often expressed as the mean latitude, of a fast-flowing atmospheric current.
jet stream position
a measurement, such as a ratio or count, of organisms not belonging to the same high-level taxonomic group that is derived from a series of observations and that is used as an indicator or measure.
organism index
a salinity per time unit that is one practical salinity unit per one second.
practical salinity unit per second
a molarity unit which expresses a concentration of a solution of one millionth of a mole, or 10^[-6] mole, per one cubic meter of solvent.
micromole per cubic meter
a mass per length per time unit that is one thousandth of a kilogram, or 10^[-3] kg, per one hundredth of a meter, or 10^[-2] m, per one year.
gram per centimeter per year
a rate unit that is a standard measure of the accumulation or flow of mass per unit length per time.
mass per length per time unit
a rate unit that is a standard measure of the change in salinity of a substance per unit time.
salinity per time unit
a count per area unit that applies to an area of one square micrometer, or 10^[-12] square meters.
count per square micrometer
Cibicidoides lobatulus
any foraminifer that belongs to the genus Planulina.
Planulina sp.
an aromatic compound that is an acidic organic polymer originating from microbial metabolism and found in soil, sediments, and aquatic environments.
fulvic acid
a circulation index that measures some aspect of the global-scale tropical atmospheric circulation known as the Hadley circulation, such as its strength, width, or northern or southern positional limits.
Hadley circulation index
a transport variable that measures the time elapsed since ocean water was last in contact with the atmosphere.
ventilation age
a transport variable that measures the flux of the deep water mass formed in the North Alantic Ocean.
North Atlantic Deep Water
NADW
a transport variable that measures the flux of the bottom water mass formed in the Southern Ocean.
Antarctic Bottom Water
AABW
a transport variable that measures the flux of the intermediate-depth water mass formed in the North Pacific Ocean.
North Pacific Intermediate Water
NPIW
an identifiable organism that belongs to the green algae, namely kingdom Plantae, division Chlorophyta.
chlorophyte
a chlorophyte that has been identified taxonomically, with any information such as genus or species listed in the 'Additional Information' field.
identified chlorophyte
a phosphate mineral with the formula Fe3(2+)(PO4)2·8H2O.
vivianite
an organooxygen compound that contains only carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms and that prior to any oxidation or reduction, generally have the empirical formula Cm(H2O)n.
carbohydrate
a carbohydrate with the formula C6H10O5 and IUPAC stereodescriptor (1R,2S,3S,4R,5R).
levoglucosan
a carbohydrate with the formula C6H10O5 and IUPAC stereodescriptor (1R,2S,3S,4S,5R).
mannosan
a carbohydrate with the formula C6H10O5 and IUPAC stereodescriptor (1R,2R,3S,4R,5R).
galactosan
a sterol that has the chemical formula C27H48O and IUPAC stereodescriptor (3S,5R,8R,9S,10S,13R,14S,17R) and that has frequently been used as a biomarker for the presence of fecal matter in the environment.
coprostanol
a sterol that has the chemical formula C27H48O and IUPAC stereodescriptor (3R,5R,8R,9S,10S,13R,14S,17R) and that has frequently been used as a biomarker for the presence of fecal matter in the environment.
epicoprostanol
a sterol that has the chemical formula C27H48O and IUPAC stereodescriptor (3S,5S,8S,9S,10S,13R,14S,17R) and that has frequently been used as a biomarker for the presence of fecal matter in the environment.
cholestanol
a sterol that has the chemical formula C29H52O.
stigmastanol
sitostanol
a sterol that has the chemical formula C29H50O.
sitosterol
an organic compound index that measures the relative predominance of submerged versus emergent aquatic plants and that is generally calculated from n-alkanes as (C23 + C25)/(C23 + C25 + C29 + C31).
P-aqueous
Paq
an organic compound index that measures changes in the composition of terrestrial vegetation and that is calculated from n-alkanes.
vegetation change index
Norm31
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C10H22.
C10 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C11H24.
C11 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C12H26.
C12 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C13H28.
C13 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C14H30.
C14 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C15H32.
C15 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C16H34.
C16 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C17H36.
C17 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C18H38.
C18 n-alkane
a n-alkane with the chemical formula C19H40.
C19 n-alkane
a circulation index that measures some aspect of the belt of low pressure where trade winds converge, such as its latitudinal position.
Intertropical Convergence Zone index
ITCZ
an index of the El Niño Southern Oscillation that is calculated as the sea surface temperature anomaly averaged over 0-10 degrees south latitude and 90 to 80 degrees west longitude.
Niño 1+2 sea surface temperature index
an index of the El Niño Southern Oscillation that is calculated as the sea surface temperature anomaly averaged over 5 degrees north to 5 degrees south latitude and 150 to 90 degrees west longitude.
Niño 3 sea surface temperature index
an index of the El Niño Southern Oscillation that is calculated as the sea surface temperature anomaly averaged over 5 degrees north to 5 degrees south latitude and 170 to 120 degrees west longitude.
Niño 3.4 sea surface temperature index
an index of the El Niño Southern Oscillation that is calculated as the sea surface temperature anomaly averaged over 5 degrees north to 5 degrees south latitude and 160 degrees east to 150 degrees west longitude.
Niño 4 sea surface temperature index
an ecosystem quantity that measures the presence of plants using the Calvin photosynthetic pathway.
C3 plants
an organic compound index that is calculated as the ratio of various branched tetraethers, with 6-methylated and 5-methylated isomers separated.
isomer ratio
a goodness-of-fit measure that quantifies how observed data fits expected data and that is calculated as the sum of ((observed-expected)^2/expected).
chi-square
a parts per million unit calculated using the isotopic concentrations of Standard Mean Ocean Water and Standard Light Antarctic Precipitation.
per meg VSMOW-SLAP
a mole per area per time unit that is one thousandth of a mole, or 10^[-3] mole, per one square meter, per one second.
millimole per square meter per second
a mass per area per time unit that is one billionth of a gram, or 10^[-9] g, per one square meter, per one day.
nanogram per square meter per day
a data transformation that involves applying the logarithm function, generally to reduce the skew of the data distribution.
log-transformed
a statistical analysis method that uses Bayes' Theorem to update the probability of a hypothesis being true as more information becomes available.
Bayesian inference
the ratio of silicon dioxide to organic carbon.
silicon dioxide/organic carbon
the ratio of carbonate to organic carbon.
carbonate/organic carbon
a chemical element with atomic number 53.
iodine
a grain size parameter that is defined as (2K-3S^2-6)/(K+3) where K is grain size kurtosis and S is grain size skewness
grain size delta variate
the ratio of a stable isotope of calcium with 26 neutrons and a stable isotope of calcium with 23 neutrons.
46Ca/43Ca
a rate unit that is a standard measure of concentration per unit time.
concentration per time unit
a concentration per time unit that is the amount of a given substance in a total amount of one million, or 10^[6], per one year.
parts per million per year
a concentration per time unit that is the amount of a given substance in a total amount of one billion, or 10^[9], per one year.
parts per billion per year
a concentration per time unit that is a parts per thousand ratio per one year.
per mil per year
a mass per time unit that is one trillion grams, or 10^[12] grams, per one year.
teragram per year
a count per area unit that applies to an area of one square millimeter, or 10^[-6] square meters.
count per square millimeter
a count per area per time unit that is a simple count of a substance per one square meter and per one day.
count per square meter per day
a pressure unit that is one millionth of an atmosphere, or 10^[-6] atmosphere, and which is equivalent to 0.101325 pascal.
microatmosphere
a count per area per time unit that is a simple count of a substance per one square meter and per one thousand years, or 10^[3] years.
count per square meter per kiloyear
a count per time unit that is a simple count of a substance per one thousand years, or 10^[3] years.
count per kiloyear
a molality unit which expresses a concentration of a solution of one mole per kilogram of solvent.
mole per kilogram
a length per time unit that is one meter per one million years, or 10^[6] years.
meter per million years
a mole fraction unit that measures the number of nanomoles, or 10^[-9] mole, of one subcomponent of a sample relative to one micromole, or 10^[-6] mole, of either another subcomponent or of the entire sample.
nanomole per micromole
a unit that is a measurement per unit length.
reciprocal length unit
a reciprocal length unit that is one per one meter.
reciprocal meter
an assemblage of organisms that are unicellular phytoplankton and belong to the kingdom Chromista, phylum Haptophyta, class Prymnesiophyceae.
coccolithophore assemblage
a sulfate mineral with the formula BaSO4.
barite