What is climate? What is climate change?

Climate is the average weather in a given area over a longer period of time. A
description of a climate includes information on, e.g. the average temperature in
different seasons, rainfall, and sunshine. Also a description of the (chance of)
extremes is often included. Climate change is any systematic change in the long-term
statistics of climate variables such as temperature, precipitation, pressure, or wind
sustained over several decades or longer. Climate change can be due to natural
external forcings (changes in solar emission or changes in the earth’s orbit, natural
internal processes of the climate system) or it can be human induced.

The classical period used for describing a climate is 30 years, as defined by the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO).

What's the difference between weather and

climate?
Weather is what the forecasters on
the TV news predict each day. They
tell people about the temperature,
cloudiness, humidity, and whether a
storm is likely in the next few days.
That’s weather! It is the mix of events
that happens each day in our
atmosphere. Weather is not the same
everywhere. It may be hot and sunny in
one part of the world, but freezing and
snowy in another.

Climate is the average weather in a

place over many years. While the weather can change in just a few hours,
climate takes hundreds, thousands, even millions of years to change.

climate, conditions of the atmosphere at a particular location over a

long period of time; it is the long-term summation of the atmospheric
elements (and their variations) that, over short time
periods, constitute weather. These elements are solar
radiation, temperature, humidity, precipitation (type, frequency, and
amount), atmospheric pressure, and wind (speed and direction). To
the nonspecialist, climate means expected or habitual weather at a
particular place and time of year. To the specialist, climate also
denotes the degree of variability of weather, and it includes not only
the atmosphere but also the hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, and
such extraterrestrial factors as the sun. See also urban climate.
Climate, on the other hand, is more than just one or two rainy days. Climate describes
the weather conditions that are expected in a region at a particular time of year.

Is it usually rainy or usually dry? Is it typically hot or typically cold? A region’s climate is
determined by observing its weather over a period of many years—generally 30 years
or more.

So, for example, one or two weeks of rainy weather wouldn’t change the fact that
Phoenix typically has a dry, desert climate. Even though it’s rainy right now, we still
expect Phoenix to be dry because that's what the case is usually.

Just as climate itself encompasses many elements, including temperature,

precipitation and wind conditions, the climate system includes five basic components:
the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere and biosphere. These essential
components are not passive, and they don't work alone. Rather, Earth's climate is
governed by an intricate and dynamic interaction among these five components.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere is essentially the air that envelops the Earth's surface. Measured in
volume, the dry air of the atmosphere contains 78.08 percent nitrogen, 20.95 percent
oxygen, 0.93 percent argon and 0.038 percent carbon dioxide. Although no concrete
boundary defines the atmosphere, it does not exert any visible effects on climate after
about 75 miles above Earth's surface. Of all the five components of climate, the
atmosphere is the most dynamic and changeable. For instance, the heating and
cooling of air creates wind currents that carry water vapor and move heat from one
part of the Earth to another.

Hydrosphere

The fresh and salt waters of the earth, including lakes, rivers, subterranean waters
and oceans, make up the hydrosphere. The ocean accounts for about 70 percent of
the planet's surface. The waters of the hydrosphere store and transport energy, break
down minerals, store carbon dioxide and, especially in the case of oceans, retain a
massive amount of heat. As this heat helps prevent drastic temperature changes,
oceans serve as the planet's climate regulators.
Cyrosphere

The cryosphere is the ice on the earth's surface. This includes ice sheets, glaciers,
permafrost, sea ice and snow cover. In addition to storing great amounts of water, the
ice of the cryosphere reflects solar radiation back into space. Perhaps most
importantly, the cryosphere contributes to deep ocean water circulation. As large ice
volumes accumulate and melt, the process causes variations in sea level.

Lithosphere

The lithosphere is the Earth's solid land. As the outermost shell of the planet, the
lithosphere includes soils, plains, mountains and anything geologically connected to
them. In comparison to the other four components, the lithosphere exerts relatively
little influence on climate, although the composition of land and soil affects how
radiation from the sun is either absorbed or reflected back into the atmosphere.
Additionally, the texture of the lithosphere affects the impact of wind as it travels over
the earth's surface. The surface texture of the earth, for instance, creates rain shadow
deserts.

Biosphere

All of the living plants and animals on earth compose the biosphere, including marine
and terrestrial organisms. Living creatures exert a huge influence on the uptake and
release of greenhouse gases. The Earth's plants store significant amounts of carbon
dioxide, making them key players in the carbon cycle. The biosphere also affects the
planet's climate through surface albedo, or the reflection of light. The large-scale
texture of plant growth in the biosphere influences the process of water transfer from
land to the atmosphere, just as it influences the travel of wind. Large forests contribute
to the creation of their own local climates.

Climate Influences

Climate influences include such astronomical factors as the distance of the Earth from
the sun and the orientation of the planet as it spins on its axis. Activity at the surface
also influences climate, including production of greenhouse gases by natural and
man-made processes. It is therefore difficult to localize climate to any one layer of the
atmosphere.

Processes in the upper stratosphere, such as the interaction of ultraviolet sunlight with
ozone, have as much effect as those at the ground level, such as volcanic eruptions
that spew dust and gases into the air or rush hour traffic in busy cities, which fills the
air with heat-trapping carbon dioxide.
the composite or generally prevailing weather conditions of a region, as
temperature, air pressure, humidity, precipitation, sunshine, cloudiness, and
winds, throughout the year, averaged over a series of years.
a region or area characterized by a given climate:to move to a warm climate.
the prevailing attitudes, standards, or environmental conditions of a group,
period, or place:a climate of political unrest.