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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 ...
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." [12]
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. [1] On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the troposphere, [2] [3] just below the stratosphere.
Climate change occurs when changes of Earth's climate system result in new weather patterns that remain for an extended period of time. This duration of time can be as brief as a few decades to as long as millions of years. The climate system receives nearly all of its energy from the sun. The climate system also gives off energy to outer space.
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are A (tropical), B (arid), C (temperate), D (continental), and E (polar).
Climate – the average and variations of weather in a region over long periods of time. Meteorology – the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting (in contrast with climatology). Weather – the set of all the phenomena in a given atmosphere at a given time.
Also actiniform. Describing a collection of low-lying, radially structured clouds with distinct shapes (resembling leaves or wheels in satellite imagery), and typically organized in extensive mesoscale fields over marine environments. They are closely related to and sometimes considered a variant of stratocumulus clouds. actinometer A scientific instrument used to measure the heating power of ...
Mathematical models used to predict the long term weather of the Earth (climate models), have been developed that have a resolution today that are as coarse as the older weather prediction models. These climate models are used to investigate long-term climate shifts, such as what effects might be caused by human emission of greenhouse gases.