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Climate variability can also result from external forcing, when events outside of the climate system's components produce changes within the system. Examples include changes in solar output and volcanism. Climate variability has consequences for sea level changes, plant life, and mass extinctions; it also affects human societies.
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. [28]
The main topics of research are the study of climate variability, mechanisms of climate changes and modern climate change. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] This topic of study is regarded as part of the atmospheric sciences and a subdivision of physical geography , which is one of the Earth sciences .
The five components of the climate system all interact. They are the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the lithosphere and the biosphere. [1]: 1451 Earth's climate system is a complex system with five interacting components: the atmosphere (air), the hydrosphere (water), the cryosphere (ice and permafrost), the lithosphere (earth's upper rocky layer) and the biosphere (living things).
[4] [5] Tipping behavior is found across the climate system, for example in ice sheets, mountain glaciers, circulation patterns in the ocean, in ecosystems, and the atmosphere. [5] Examples of tipping points include thawing permafrost , which will release methane , a powerful greenhouse gas , or melting ice sheets and glaciers reducing Earth's ...
Climate variability and change occurs when changes in Earth's climate system result in new weather patterns that remain in place for an extended period of time. This length of time can be as short as a few decades to as long as millions of years.
The water cycle also moves energy throughout the climate system. In addition, certain chemical elements are constantly moving between the components of the climate system. Two examples for these biochemical cycles are the carbon and nitrogen cycles. The climate system can change due to internal variability and external forcings.
For example, species abundance usually changes along environmental gradients in a more or less predictable way. However, the species abundance along an environmental gradient is not only determined by the abiotic factor associated with the gradient but, also by the change in the biotic interactions , like competition and predation, along the ...