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Earth's climate system is a
complex system A complex system is a system composed of many components which may interact with each other. Examples of complex systems are Earth's global climate, organisms, the human brain, infrastructure such as power grid, transportation or communication sy ...
having five interacting components: the
atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A ...
(air), the
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 ...
(water), the
cryosphere ] The cryosphere (from the Ancient Greek, Greek ''kryos'', "cold", "frost" or "ice" and ''sphaira'', "globe, ball") is an all-encompassing term for those portions of Earth's surface where water is in solid form, including sea ice, lake ice, ri ...
(ice and permafrost), the
lithosphere A lithosphere () is the rigid, outermost rocky shell of a terrestrial planet or natural satellite. On Earth, it is composed of the crust and the portion of the upper mantle that behaves elastically on time scales of up to thousands of years ...
(earth's upper rocky layer) and the
biosphere The biosphere (from Greek βίος ''bíos'' "life" and σφαῖρα ''sphaira'' "sphere"), also known as the ecosphere (from Greek οἶκος ''oîkos'' "environment" and σφαῖρα), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also ...
(living things). ''
Climate 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 meteorologi ...
'' is the statistical characterization of the climate system, representing the average
weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the ...
, typically over a period of 30 years, and is determined by a combination of processes in the climate system, such as ocean currents and wind patterns. Circulation in the atmosphere and oceans is primarily driven by solar
radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visi ...
and transports heat from the tropical regions to regions that receive less energy from the Sun. The water cycle also moves energy throughout the climate system. In addition, different chemical elements, necessary for life, are constantly recycled between the different components. The climate system can change due to internal variability and external forcings. These external forcings can be natural, such as variations in solar intensity and volcanic eruptions, or caused by humans. Accumulation of heat-trapping
greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (), carbon dioxide (), methane ...
es, mainly being emitted by people burning
fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels ma ...
s, is causing
global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
. Human activity also releases cooling
aerosols An aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be natural or anthropogenic. Examples of natural aerosols are fog or mist, dust, forest exudates, and geyser steam. Examples of a ...
, but their net effect is far less than that of greenhouse gases. Changes can be amplified by feedback processes in the different climate system components.


Components of the climate system

The ''atmosphere'' envelops the earth and extends hundreds of kilometres from the surface. It consists mostly of inert
nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...
(78%),
oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements ...
(21%) and
argon Argon is a chemical element with the symbol Ar and atomic number 18. It is in group 18 of the periodic table and is a noble gas. Argon is the third-most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere, at 0.934% (9340 ppmv). It is more than twice a ...
(0.9%). Some trace gases in the atmosphere, such as
water vapour (99.9839 °C) , - , Boiling point , , - , specific gas constant , 461.5 J/( kg·K) , - , Heat of vaporization , 2.27 MJ/kg , - , Heat capacity , 1.864 kJ/(kg·K) Water vapor, water vapour or aqueous vapor is the gaseous pha ...
and
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 ...
, are the gases most important for the workings of the climate system, as they are
greenhouse gases A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (), carbon dioxide (), methane ...
which allow visible light from the
Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
to penetrate to the surface, but block some of the
infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of Light, visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from ...
radiation the Earth's surface emits to balance the Sun's radiation. This causes surface temperatures to rise. The
hydrological cycle The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or the hydrological cycle, is a biogeochemical cycle that describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. The mass of water on Earth remains fairly const ...
is the movement of water through the atmosphere. Not only does the hydrological cycle determine patterns of
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. ...
, it also has an influence on the movement of energy throughout the climate system. The ''hydrosphere'' proper contains all the liquid water on Earth, with most of it contained in the world's oceans. The ocean covers 71% of Earth's surface to an average depth of nearly , and
ocean heat content In oceanography and climatology, ocean heat content (OHC) is a term for the energy absorbed by the ocean, where it is stored for indefinite time periods as internal energy or enthalpy. The rise in OHC accounts for over 90% of Earth’s excess t ...
is much larger than the heat held by the atmosphere. It contains
seawater Seawater, or salt water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has appro ...
with a salt content of about 3.5% on average, but this varies spatially.
Brackish water Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...
is found in
estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environme ...
and some lakes, and most
freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does incl ...
, 2.5% of all water, is held in ice and snow. The ''
cryosphere ] The cryosphere (from the Ancient Greek, Greek ''kryos'', "cold", "frost" or "ice" and ''sphaira'', "globe, ball") is an all-encompassing term for those portions of Earth's surface where water is in solid form, including sea ice, lake ice, ri ...
'' contains all parts of the climate system where
water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as ...
is solid. This includes
sea ice Sea ice arises as seawater freezes. Because ice is less dense than water, it floats on the ocean's surface (as does fresh water ice, which has an even lower density). Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth's surface and about 12% of the world's o ...
, ice sheets,
permafrost Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...
and snow cover. Because there is more land in the
Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...
compared to the Southern Hemisphere, a larger part of that hemisphere is covered in snow. Both hemispheres have about the same amount of sea ice. Most frozen water is contained in the ice sheets on
Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...
and
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...
, which average about in height. These ice sheets slowly flow towards their margins. The ''
Earth's crust Earth's crust is Earth's thin outer shell of rock, referring to less than 1% of Earth's radius and volume. It is the top component of the lithosphere, a division of Earth's layers that includes the crust and the upper part of the mantle. The ...
,'' specifically mountains and valleys, shapes global wind patterns: vast mountain ranges form a barrier to winds and impact where and how much it rains. Land closer to open ocean has a more moderate climate than land farther from the ocean. For the purpose of modelling the climate, the land is often considered static as it changes very slowly compared to the other elements that make up the climate system. The position of the continents determines the geometry of the oceans and therefore influences patterns of ocean circulation. The locations of the seas are important in controlling the transfer of heat and moisture across the globe, and therefore, in determining global climate. Lastly, the ''biosphere'' also interacts with the rest of the climate system.
Vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic charac ...
is often darker or lighter than the soil beneath, so that more or less of the Sun's heat gets trapped in areas with vegetation. Vegetation is good at trapping water, which is then taken up by its roots. Without vegetation, this water would have run off to the closest rivers or other water bodies. Water taken up by plants instead evaporates, contributing to the hydrological cycle. Precipitation and temperature influences the distribution of different vegetation zones.
Carbon assimilation Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon makes up ...
from seawater by the growth of small
phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. ...
is almost as much as land plants from the atmosphere. While humans are technically part of the
biosphere The biosphere (from Greek βίος ''bíos'' "life" and σφαῖρα ''sphaira'' "sphere"), also known as the ecosphere (from Greek οἶκος ''oîkos'' "environment" and σφαῖρα), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also ...
, they are often treated as a separate components of Earth's climate system, the ''
anthroposphere The anthroposphere (sometimes also referred as the technosphere) is that part of the environment that is made or modified by humans for use in human activities and human habitats. It is one of the Earth's spheres. The term was first used by ninet ...
,'' because of human's large impact on the planet.


Flows of energy, water and elements


Energy and general circulation

The climate system receives energy from the Sun, and to a far lesser extent from the Earth's core, as well as tidal energy from the Moon. The Earth gives off energy to outer space in two forms: it directly reflects a part of the radiation of the Sun and it emits infra-red radiation as
black-body radiation Black-body radiation is the thermal electromagnetic radiation within, or surrounding, a body in thermodynamic equilibrium with its environment, emitted by a black body (an idealized opaque, non-reflective body). It has a specific, continuous spe ...
. The balance of incoming and outgoing energy, and the passage of the energy through the climate system, determines
Earth's energy budget Earth's energy budget accounts for the balance between the energy that Earth receives from the Sun and the energy the Earth loses back into outer space. Smaller energy sources, such as Earth's internal heat, are taken into consideration, but m ...
. When the total of incoming energy is greater than the outgoing energy, Earth's energy budget is positive and the climate system is warming. If more energy goes out, the energy budget is negative and Earth experiences cooling. More energy reaches the tropics than the polar regions and the subsequent temperature difference drives the global circulation of the
atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A ...
and oceans. Air rises when it warms, flows polewards and sinks again when it cools, returning to the equator. Due to the conservation of
angular momentum In physics, angular momentum (rarely, moment of momentum or rotational momentum) is the rotational analog of linear momentum. It is an important physical quantity because it is a conserved quantity—the total angular momentum of a closed syst ...
, the Earth's rotation diverts the air to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern hemisphere, thus forming distinct atmospheric cells.
Monsoons A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscill ...
, seasonal changes in wind and precipitation that occur mostly in the tropics, form due to the fact that land masses heat up more easily than the ocean. The temperature difference induces a pressure difference between land and ocean, driving a steady wind. Ocean water that has more salt has a higher
density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematicall ...
and differences in density play an important role in
ocean circulation 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 contours, ...
. The
thermohaline circulation Thermohaline circulation (THC) is a part of the large-scale ocean circulation that is driven by global density gradients created by surface heat and freshwater fluxes. The adjective ''thermohaline'' derives from '' thermo-'' referring to temp ...
transports heat from the tropics to the polar regions. Ocean circulation is further driven by the interaction with wind. The salt component also influences the freezing point temperature. Vertical movements can bring up colder water to the surface in a process called
upwelling Upwelling is an physical oceanography, oceanographic phenomenon that involves wind-driven motion of dense, cooler, and usually nutrient-rich water from deep water towards the ocean surface. It replaces the warmer and usually nutrient-depleted ...
, which cools down the air above.


Hydrological cycle

The hydrological cycle or water cycle describes how it is constantly moved between the surface of the Earth and the atmosphere. Plants evapotranspirate and sunlight
evaporates Evaporation is a type of vaporization that occurs on the surface of a liquid as it changes into the gas phase. High concentration of the evaporating substance in the surrounding gas significantly slows down evaporation, such as when humidi ...
water from oceans and other water bodies, leaving behind
salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...
and other minerals. The evaporated freshwater later rains back onto the surface. Precipitation and evaporation are not evenly distributed across the globe, with some regions such as the tropics having more rainfall than evaporation, and others having more evaporation than rainfall. The evaporation of water requires substantial quantities of energy, whereas a lot of heat is released during condensation. This ''
latent heat Latent heat (also known as latent energy or heat of transformation) is energy released or absorbed, by a body or a thermodynamic system, during a constant-temperature process — usually a first-order phase transition. Latent heat can be underst ...
'' is the primary source of energy in the atmosphere.


Biochemical cycles

Chemical elements, vital for life, are constantly cycled through the different components of the climate system. The
carbon cycle The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth. Carbon is the main component of biological compounds as well as a major compon ...
is directly important for climate as it determines the concentrations of two important greenhouse gases in the atmosphere: and
methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane ...
. In the fast part of the carbon cycle, plants take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using
photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored in ...
; this is later re-emitted by the breathing of living creatures. As part of the slow carbon cycle, volcanoes release by degassing, releasing carbon dioxide from the Earth's crust and mantle. As in the atmosphere makes rain a bit
acidic In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a ...
, this rain can slowly dissolve some rocks, a process known as ''
weathering Weathering is the deterioration of rocks, soils and minerals as well as wood and artificial materials through contact with water, atmospheric gases, and biological organisms. Weathering occurs '' in situ'' (on site, with little or no movement ...
''. The minerals that are released in this way, transported to the sea, are used by living creatures whose remains can form
sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
s, bringing the carbon back to the lithosphere. The
nitrogen cycle The nitrogen cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which nitrogen is converted into multiple chemical forms as it circulates among atmospheric, terrestrial, and marine ecosystems. The conversion of nitrogen can be carried out through both biolo ...
describes the flow of active nitrogen. As atmospheric
nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...
is inert, micro-organisms first have to convert this to an active nitrogen compound in a process called ''fixing nitrogen'', before it can be used as a building block in the biosphere. Human activities play an important role in both carbon and nitrogen cycles: the burning of fossil fuels has displaced carbon from the lithosphere to the atmosphere, and the use of
fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...
s has vastly increased the amount of available fixed nitrogen.


Changes within the climate system

Climate is constantly varying, on timescales that range from seasons to the lifetime of the Earth. Changes caused by the system's own components and dynamics are called ''internal climate variability''. The system can also experience ''external forcing'' from phenomena outside of the system (e.g. a change in Earth's orbit). Longer changes, usually defined as changes that persist for at least 30 years, are referred to as ''climate changes'', although this phrase usually refers to the current global climate change. When the climate changes, the effects may build on each other, cascading through the other parts of the system in a series of
climate feedbacks In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
(e.g. albedo changes), producing many different effects (e.g.
sea level rise Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cr ...
).


Internal variability

Components of the climate system vary continuously, even without external pushes (external forcing). One example in the atmosphere is the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), which operates as an atmospheric pressure see-saw. The Portuguese
Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
typically have high pressure, whereas there is often lower pressure over
Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...
. The difference in pressure oscillates and this affects weather patterns across the North Atlantic region up to central
Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelag ...
. For instance, the weather in Greenland and Canada is cold and dry during a positive NAO. Different phases of the North Atlantic oscillation can be sustained for multiple decades. The ocean and atmosphere can also work together to spontaneously generate internal climate variability that can persist for years to decades at a time. Examples of this type of variability include the
El Niño–Southern Oscillation El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is an irregular periodic variation in winds and sea surface temperatures over the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean, affecting the climate of much of the tropics and subtropics. The warming phase of the sea te ...
, the
Pacific decadal oscillation The Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) is a robust, recurring pattern of ocean-atmosphere climate variability centered over the mid-latitude Pacific basin. The PDO is detected as warm or cool surface waters in the Pacific Ocean, north of 20°N. O ...
, and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. These variations can affect global average surface temperature by redistributing heat between the deep ocean and the atmosphere; but also by altering the cloud, water vapour or sea ice distribution, which can affect the total energy budget of the earth. The oceanic aspects of these oscillations can generate variability on centennial timescales due to the ocean having hundreds of times more mass than the
atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A ...
, and therefore very high thermal inertia. For example, alterations to ocean processes such as thermohaline circulation play a key role in redistributing heat in the world's oceans. Understanding internal variability helped scientists to attribute recent climate change to greenhouse gases.


External climate forcing

On long timescales, the climate is determined mostly by how much energy is in the system and where it goes. When the Earth's energy budget changes, the climate follows. A change in the energy budget is called a forcing, and when the change is caused by something outside of the five components of the climate system, it is called an ''external forcing''. Volcanoes, for example, result from deep processes within the earth that are not considered part of the climate system. Off-planet changes, such as solar variation and incoming asteroids, are also "external" to the climate system's five components, as are human actions. The main value to quantify and compare climate forcings is
radiative forcing Radiative forcing (or climate forcing) is the change in energy flux in the atmosphere caused by natural or anthropogenic factors of climate change as measured by watts / metre2. It is a scientific concept used to quantify and compare the extern ...
.


Incoming sunlight

The
Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
is the predominant source of energy input to the Earth and drives atmospheric circulation. The amount of energy coming from the Sun varies on shorter time scales, including the 11-year
solar cycle The solar cycle, also known as the solar magnetic activity cycle, sunspot cycle, or Schwabe cycle, is a nearly periodic 11-year change in the Sun's activity measured in terms of variations in the number of observed sunspots on the Sun's surf ...
and longer-term time scales. While the solar cycle is too small to directly warm and cool Earth's surface, it does influence a higher layer of the atmosphere directly, the
stratosphere The stratosphere () is the second layer of the atmosphere of the Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is an atmospheric layer composed of stratified temperature layers, with the warm layers of air h ...
, which may have an effect on the atmosphere near the surface. Slight variations in the Earth's motion can cause large changes in the seasonal distribution of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface and how it is distributed across the globe, although not to the global and yearly average sunlight. The three types of
kinematic Kinematics is a subfield of physics, developed in classical mechanics, that describes the motion of points, bodies (objects), and systems of bodies (groups of objects) without considering the forces that cause them to move. Kinematics, as a fie ...
change are variations in Earth's eccentricity, changes in the tilt angle of Earth's axis of rotation, and
precession Precession is a change in the orientation of the rotational axis of a rotating body. In an appropriate reference frame it can be defined as a change in the first Euler angle, whereas the third Euler angle defines the rotation itself. In oth ...
of Earth's axis. Together these produce
Milankovitch cycles Milankovitch cycles describe the collective effects of changes in the Earth's movements on its climate over thousands of years. The term was coined and named after Serbian geophysicist and astronomer Milutin Milanković. In the 1920s, he hypot ...
, which affect climate and are notable for their correlation to
glacial A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...
and
interglacial period An interglacial period (or alternatively interglacial, interglaciation) is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age. The current Holocene in ...
s.


Greenhouse gases

Greenhouse gases trap heat in the lower part of the atmosphere by absorbing
longwave In radio, longwave, long wave or long-wave, and commonly abbreviated LW, refers to parts of the radio spectrum with wavelengths longer than what was originally called the medium-wave broadcasting band. The term is historic, dating from the e ...
radiation. In the Earth's past, many processes contributed to variations in greenhouse gas concentrations. Currently, emissions by humans are the cause of increasing concentrations of some greenhouse gases, such as ,
methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane ...
and . The dominant contributor to the
greenhouse effect The greenhouse effect is a process that occurs when energy from a planet's host star goes through the planet's atmosphere and heats the planet's surface, but greenhouse gases in the atmosphere prevent some of the heat from returning directly ...
is water vapour (~50%), with
cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may ...
s (~25%) and (~20%) also playing an important role. When concentrations of long-lived greenhouse gases such as are increased and temperature rises, the amount of water vapour increases as well, so that water vapour and clouds are not seen as external forcings, but instead as feedbacks. Rock
weathering Weathering is the deterioration of rocks, soils and minerals as well as wood and artificial materials through contact with water, atmospheric gases, and biological organisms. Weathering occurs '' in situ'' (on site, with little or no movement ...
is a very slow process that removes carbon from the atmosphere.


Aerosols

Liquid and solid particles in the atmosphere, collectively named ''aerosols'', have diverse effects on the climate. Some primarily scatter sunlight and thereby cool the planet, while others absorb sunlight and warm the atmosphere. Indirect effects include the fact that aerosols can act as
cloud condensation nuclei Cloud condensation nuclei (CCNs), also known as cloud seeds, are small particles typically 0.2 µm, or one hundredth the size of a cloud droplet. CCNs are a unique subset of aerosols in the atmosphere on which water vapour condenses. This c ...
, stimulating cloud formation. Natural sources of aerosols include
sea spray Sea spray are aerosol particles formed from the ocean, mostly by ejection into Earth's atmosphere by bursting bubbles at the air-sea interface. Sea spray contains both organic matter and inorganic salts that form sea salt aerosol (SSA). SSA ha ...
, mineral dust,
meteorites A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or moon. When the original object ...
and
volcanoes A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...
, but humans also contribute as human activity such as causing
wildfires A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...
or combustion of fossil fuels releases aerosols into the atmosphere. Aerosols counteract a part of the warming effects of emitted greenhouse gases, but only until they fall back to the surface in a few years or less. Although volcanoes are technically part of the lithosphere, which itself is part of the climate system, volcanism is defined as an external forcing agent. On average, there are only several
volcanic eruptions Several types of volcanic eruptions—during which lava, tephra (ash, lapilli, volcanic bombs and volcanic blocks), and assorted gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure—have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often ...
per century that influence Earth's climate for longer than a year by ejecting
ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...
s of SO2 into the
stratosphere The stratosphere () is the second layer of the atmosphere of the Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is an atmospheric layer composed of stratified temperature layers, with the warm layers of air h ...
. The sulfur dioxide is chemically converted into aerosols that cause cooling by blocking a fraction of sunlight to the Earth's surface. Small eruptions affect the atmosphere only subtly.


Land use and cover change

Changes in land cover, such as change of water cover (e.g. rising sea level, drying up of lakes and
outburst flood In geomorphology, an outburst flood—a type of megaflood—is a high-magnitude, low-frequency catastrophic flood involving the sudden release of a large quantity of water. During the last deglaciation, numerous glacial lake outburst floods were ca ...
s) or
deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated ...
, particularly through human use of the land, can affect the climate. The
reflectivity The reflectance of the surface of a material is its effectiveness in reflecting radiant energy. It is the fraction of incident electromagnetic power that is reflected at the boundary. Reflectance is a component of the response of the electronic ...
of the area can change, causing the region to capture more or less sunlight. In addition, vegetation interacts with the hydrological cycle, so that precipitation is also affected. Landscape fires release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and release
black carbon Chemically, black carbon (BC) is a component of fine particulate matter (PM ≤ 2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter). Black carbon consists of pure carbon in several linked forms. It is formed through the incomplete combustion of fossil fuel ...
, which darkens snow making it easier to melt.


Responses and feedbacks

The different elements of the climate system respond to external forcing in different ways. One important difference between the components is the speed at which they react to a forcing. The atmosphere typically responds within a couple of hours to weeks, while the deep ocean and ice sheets take centuries to millennia to reach a new equilibrium. The initial response of a component to an external forcing can be damped by negative feedbacks and enhanced by positive feedbacks. For example, a significant decrease of solar intensity would quickly lead to a temperature decrease on Earth, which would then allow ice and snow cover to expand. The extra snow and ice has a higher
albedo Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of solar radiation out of the total solar radiation and measured on a scale from 0, corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation, to 1, corresponding to a body that refle ...
or reflectivity, and therefore reflects more of the Sun's radiation back into space before it can be absorbed by the climate system as a whole; this in turn causes the Earth to cool down further.


References


Sources

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