Climate is the long-term
weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years.
More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of
meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the
meteorological variables that are commonly measured are
temperature,
humidity,
atmospheric pressure,
wind, and
precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
. In a broader sense, climate is the state of the components of the
climate system, including the
atmosphere,
hydrosphere
The hydrosphere () is the combined mass of water found on, under, and above the surface of a planet, minor planet, or natural satellite. Although Earth's hydrosphere has been around for about 4 billion years, it continues to change in shape. This ...
,
cryosphere,
lithosphere and
biosphere and the interactions between them.
The climate of a location is affected by its
latitude/
longitude,
terrain,
altitude,
land use and nearby
water bodies
A body of water or waterbody (often spelled water body) is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refers to oceans, seas, and lakes, but it includes smaller pools of water such as ...
and their currents.
Climates can be
classified
Classified may refer to:
General
*Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive
*Classified advertising or "classifieds"
Music
*Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper
* The Classified, a 1980s American ro ...
according to the average and typical variables, most commonly
temperature and
precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
. The most widely used classification scheme was the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
. The
Thornthwaite system, in use since 1948, incorporates
evapotranspiration along with temperature and
precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
information and is used in studying
biological diversity and how
climate change affects it. Finally, the Bergeron and
Spatial Synoptic Classification system Based upon the Bergeron air mass
In meteorology, an air mass is a volume of air defined by its temperature and humidity. Air masses cover many hundreds or thousands of square miles, and adapt to the characteristics of the surface below them. Th ...
s focus on the origin of air masses that define the climate of a region.
Paleoclimatology is the study of ancient climates.
Paleoclimatologists
Paleoclimatology ( British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the study of climates for which direct measurements were not taken. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of Earth's history, the reconstruction of ancient climate is important to ...
seek to explain climate variations for all parts of the Earth during any given
geologic period, beginning with the time of the Earth's formation. Since very few direct observations of climate were available before the 19th century,
paleoclimates are inferred from
proxy variables. They include non-biotic evidence—such as sediments found in
lake beds
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...
and
ice cores—and
biotic evidence—such as
tree rings
Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of chronological dating, dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the stud ...
and coral.
Climate models are mathematical models of past, present, and future climates. Climate change may occur over long and short timescales from various factors. Recent warming is discussed in
global warming, which results in redistributions. For example, "a 3 °C
°Fchange in mean annual temperature corresponds to a shift in isotherms of approximately in latitude (in the temperate zone) or in elevation. Therefore, species are expected to move upwards in elevation or towards the poles in
latitude in response to shifting climate zones."
Definition
Climate () is commonly defined as the weather averaged over a long period. The standard averaging period is 30 years, but other periods may be used depending on the purpose. Climate also includes statistics other than the average, such as the magnitudes of day-to-day or year-to-year variations. The
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
2001 glossary definition is as follows:
The
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) describes "
climate normals" as "reference points used by
climatologists
Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "place, zone"; and , ''-logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. This modern field of stud ...
to compare current climatological trends to that of the past or what is considered typical. A climate normal is defined as the arithmetic average of a climate element (e.g. temperature) over a 30-year period. A 30-year period is used as it is long enough to filter out any interannual variation or anomalies such as
El Niño–Southern Oscillation, but also short enough to be able to show longer climatic trends."
The WMO originated from the
International Meteorological Organization which set up a technical commission for climatology in 1929. At its 1934
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...
meeting the technical commission designated the thirty-year period from 1901 to 1930 as the reference time frame for climatological standard normals. In 1982 the WMO agreed to update climate normals, and these were subsequently completed on the basis of climate data from 1 January 1961 to 31 December 1990.
The 1961-1990 climate normals serve as the baseline reference period. The next set of climate normals to be published by WMO is from 1991 to 2010. Aside from collecting from the most common atmospheric variables (air temperature, pressure, precipitation and wind), other variables such as humidity, visibility, cloud amount, solar radiation, soil temperature, pan evaporation rate, days with thunder and days with hail are also collected to measure change in climate conditions.
The difference between climate and weather is usefully summarized by the popular phrase "Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get." Over
historical time spans, there are a number of nearly constant variables that determine climate, including
latitude, altitude, proportion of land to water, and proximity to oceans and mountains. All of these variables change only over periods of millions of years due to processes such as
plate tectonics. Other climate determinants are more dynamic: the
thermohaline circulation of the ocean leads to a warming of the northern Atlantic Ocean compared to other ocean basins. Other
ocean current
An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of sea water generated by a number of forces acting upon the water, including wind, the Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbeling, and temperature and salinity differences. Depth conto ...
s redistribute heat between land and water on a more regional scale. The density and type of vegetation coverage affects solar heat absorption, water retention, and rainfall on a regional level. Alterations in the quantity of atmospheric
greenhouse gases determines the amount of solar energy retained by the planet, leading to
global warming or
global cooling. The variables which determine climate are numerous and the interactions complex, but there is general agreement that the broad outlines are understood, at least insofar as the determinants of historical climate change are concerned.
Climate classification
Climate classifications are systems that categorize the world's climates. A climate classification may correlate closely with a
biome classification, as climate is a major influence on life in a region. One of the most used is the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
scheme first developed in 1899.
There are several ways to classify climates into similar regimes. Originally,
climes were defined in
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cu ...
to describe the weather depending upon a location's latitude. Modern climate classification methods can be broadly divided into ''genetic'' methods, which focus on the causes of climate, and ''empiric'' methods, which focus on the effects of climate. Examples of genetic classification include methods based on the
relative frequency of different
air mass types or locations within
synoptic weather disturbances. Examples of
empiric classifications include
climate zones defined by
plant hardiness
Hardiness of plants describes their ability to survive adverse growing conditions. It is usually limited to discussions of climatic adversity. Thus a plant's ability to tolerate cold, heat, drought, flooding, or wind are typically considered measu ...
, evapotranspiration,
or more generally the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
which was originally designed to identify the climates associated with certain
biomes
A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...
. A common shortcoming of these
classification schemes is that they produce distinct boundaries between the zones they define, rather than the gradual transition of climate properties more common in nature.
Record
Paleoclimatology
Paleoclimatology is the study of past climate over a great period of the
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...
's history. It uses evidence with different time scales (from decades to millennia) from ice sheets, tree rings, sediments, pollen, coral, and rocks to determine the past state of the climate. It demonstrates periods of stability and periods of change and can indicate whether changes follow patterns such as regular cycles.
Modern
Details of the modern climate record are known through the taking of measurements from such weather instruments as
thermometer
A thermometer is a device that measures temperature or a temperature gradient (the degree of hotness or coldness of an object). A thermometer has two important elements: (1) a temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb of a mercury-in-glass thermometer ...
s,
barometers, and
anemometers during the past few centuries. The instruments used to study weather over the modern time scale, their observation frequency, their known error, their immediate environment, and their exposure have changed over the years, which must be considered when studying the climate of centuries past. Long-term modern climate records skew towards population centres and affluent countries. Since the 1960s, the launch of satellites allow records to be gathered on a global scale, including areas with little to no human presence, such as the Arctic region and oceans.
Climate variability
Climate variability is the term to describe variations in the mean state and other characteristics of climate (such as chances or possibility of
extreme weather, etc.) "on all spatial and temporal scales beyond that of individual weather events." Some of the variability does not appear to be caused systematically and occurs at random times. Such variability is called ''random variability'' or ''
noise''. On the other hand, periodic variability occurs relatively regularly and in distinct modes of variability or climate patterns.
There are close correlations between Earth's climate oscillations and astronomical factors (
barycenter changes,
solar variation,
cosmic ray
Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our own ...
flux,
cloud albedo feedback,
Milankovic cycles), and modes of
heat distribution between the ocean-atmosphere climate system. In some cases, current, historical and
paleoclimatological
Paleoclimatology (American and British English spelling differences, British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the study of climates for which direct measurements were not taken. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of Earth's history, the ...
natural oscillations may be masked by significant
volcanic eruptions,
impact events, irregularities in
climate proxy
In the study of past climates (" paleoclimatology"), climate proxies are preserved physical characteristics of the past that stand in for direct meteorological measurements and enable scientists to reconstruct the climatic conditions over a longe ...
data,
positive feedback processes or
anthropogenic emissions
Emission may refer to:
Chemical products
* Emission of air pollutants, notably:
**Flue gas, gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue
** Exhaust gas, flue gas generated by fuel combustion
** Emission of greenhouse gases, which absorb and emit radi ...
of substances such as
greenhouse gases.
Over the years, the definitions of ''climate variability'' and the related term ''
climate change'' have shifted. While the term ''climate change'' now implies change that is both long-term and of human causation, in the 1960s the word climate change was used for what we now describe as climate variability, that is, climatic inconsistencies and anomalies.
Climate change
Climate change is the variation in global or regional climates over time. It reflects changes in the variability or average state of the atmosphere over time scales ranging from decades to millions of years. These changes can be caused by processes internal to the
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...
, external forces (e.g. variations in sunlight intensity) or, more recently, human activities.
In recent usage, especially in the context of
environmental policy, the term "climate change" often refers only to changes in modern climate, including the rise in average surface
temperature known as
global warming. In some cases, the term is also used with a presumption of human causation, as in the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The UNFCCC uses "climate variability" for non-human caused variations.
Earth has undergone periodic climate shifts in the past, including four major
ice ages. These consisting of glacial periods where conditions are colder than normal, separated by
interglacial periods. The accumulation of snow and ice during a glacial period increases the surface
albedo, reflecting more of the Sun's energy into space and maintaining a lower atmospheric temperature. Increases in
greenhouse gases, such as by
volcanic activity, can increase the global temperature and produce an interglacial period. Suggested causes of ice age periods include the positions of the
continents, variations in the Earth's orbit, changes in the solar output, and volcanism. However, these naturally-caused changes in climate occur on a much slower time scale than the present rate of change which is caused by the emission of greenhouse gases by human activities.
Climate models
Climate models use quantitative methods to simulate the interactions and transfer of radiative energy between the
atmosphere,
oceans, land surface and ice through a series of physics equations. They are used for a variety of purposes; from the study of the dynamics of the weather and climate system, to projections of future climate. All climate models balance, or very nearly balance, incoming energy as short wave (including visible) electromagnetic radiation to the Earth with outgoing energy as long wave (infrared) electromagnetic radiation from the earth. Any imbalance results in a change in the average temperature of the earth.
Climate models are available on different resolutions ranging from >100 km to 1 km. High resolutions in
global climate models are computational very demanding and only few global datasets exists. Global climate models can be dynamically or statistically downscaled to regional climate models to analyze impacts of climate change on a local scale. Examples are ICON or mechanistically downscaled data such as CHELSA (Climatologies at high resolution for the earth's land surface areas).
The most talked-about applications of these models in recent years have been their use to infer the consequences of increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, primarily
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is t ...
(see
greenhouse gas). These models predict an upward trend in the
global mean surface temperature
In earth science, global surface temperature (GST; sometimes referred to as global mean surface temperature, GMST, or global average surface temperature) is calculated by averaging the temperature at the surface of the sea and air temperature ...
, with the most rapid increase in temperature being projected for the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.
Models can range from relatively simple to quite complex:
* Simple radiant heat transfer model that treats the earth as a single point and averages outgoing energy
* this can be expanded vertically (radiative-convective models), or horizontally
* finally, (coupled) atmosphere–ocean–
sea ice global climate models discretise and solve the full equations for mass and energy transfer and radiant exchange.
[Climateprediction.net]
Modelling the climate.
Retrieved on 2008-05-02.
See also
*
Climate inertia
*
Climate Prediction Center
*
Climatic map
A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes.
Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Altho ...
*
Climograph
A climograph is a graphical representation of a location's basic climate. Climographs display data for two variables: (a) monthly average temperature and (b) monthly average precipitation. These are useful tools to quickly describe a location's c ...
*
Ecosystem
An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...
*
Effect of Sun angle on climate
*
Greenhouse effect
*
List of climate scientists
This list of climate scientists contains famous or otherwise notable persons who have contributed to the study of climate science. The list is compiled manually, so will not be complete, up to date, or comprehensive. See also :Climatologists.
...
*
List of weather records
*
Microclimate
A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often with a slight difference but sometimes with a substantial one. The term may refer to areas as small as a few squ ...
*
National Climatic Data Center
*
Outline of meteorology
The following outline is provided as ''an overview of and topical guide to'' the field of Meteorology.
; Meteorology : The interdisciplinary, scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere with the primary focus being to understand, explain, and ...
*
Tectonic–climatic interaction
References
Sources
*
AR5 Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis — IPCC**
*
**
*
*
Further reading
The Study of Climate on Alien Worlds; Characterizing atmospheres beyond our Solar System is now within our reachKevin Heng July–August 2012
American Scientist
Reumert, Johannes: "Vahls climatic divisions. An explanation"(''
Geografisk Tidsskrift'', Band 48; 1946)
External links
NOAA Climate Services PortalNOAA State of the ClimateNASA's Climate change and global warming portalClimate Prediction Project– Arctic
IPCC Data Distribution Centre– Climate data and guidance on use.
HistoricalClimatology.com– Past, present and future climates – 2013.
Globalclimatemonitor– Contains climatic information from 1901.
ClimateCharts– Webapplication to generate climate charts for recent and historical data.
International Disaster DatabaseParis Climate Conference
{{Authority control
Meteorological concepts
*