Climate
hideClimate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and numerous other meteorological elements in a given region over long periods of time. Climate can be contrasted to weather, which is the present condition of these same elements over periods up to two weeks.
The climate of a location is affected by its latitude, terrain, altitude, ice or snow cover, as well as nearby water bodies and their currents. Climates can be classified according to the average and typical ranges of different variables, most commonly temperature and rainfall. The most commonly used classification scheme is the one originally developed by Wladimir Köppen. The Thornthwaite system, in use since 1948, incorporates evapotranspiration in addition to temperature and precipitation information and is used in studying animal species diversity and potential impacts of climate changes. The Bergeron and Spatial Synoptic Classification systems focus on the origin of air masses defining the climate for certain areas.
Paleoclimatology is the study and description of ancient climates. Since direct observations of climate are not available before the 19th century, paleoclimates are inferred from proxy variables that include non-biotic evidence such as sediments found in lake beds and ice cores, and biotic evidence such as tree rings and coral. Climate models are mathematical models of past, present and future climates.
For more information about Climate, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with global climate
Iron controls patterns of nitrogen fixation in the Atlantic
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 02, 2009 |
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Scientists including researchers from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton and the University of Essex have discovered that interactions between iron supply, transported through the atmosphere from ...
Climate scientists uncover major accounting flaw in Kyoto Protocol, other climate legislation
Oct 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of 13 prominent scientists and land-use experts has identified an important but fixable error in legal accounting rules for bioenergy that could, if uncorrected, undermine efforts to reduce greenhouse ...
Those dog days of August: 3 times the heat by 2050?
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 19, 2009 |
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If you are wilting under the summer heat, consider this: your child may one day think of summer 2009 as "back in the cool old days." To illustrate expected increases in extreme summer heat, scientists at ...
Agricultural methods of early civilizations may have altered global climate, study suggests
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 17, 2009 |
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Massive burning of forests for agriculture thousands of years ago may have increased atmospheric carbon dioxide enough to alter global climate and usher in a warming trend that continues today, according to a new study that ...
Researchers reveal ocean acidification at Station ALOHA
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 06, 2009 |
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The burning of fossil fuels has released tremendous amounts of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, significantly impacting global climate. Were it not for the absorption of CO2 by ...
Big Advantage for the Small -- Climate change influences the size of marine organisms
Jul 23, 2009 |
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The ice is melting, the sea level is rising and species are conquering new habitats. The warming of the world climate has many consequences. In the current issue of the renowned journal 'Proceedings of the ...
Close relationship between past warming and sea-level rise
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jun 22, 2009 |
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Scientists from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, along with colleagues from Tuebingen and Bristol have reconstructed sea-level fluctuations over the last 520,000 years. Comparison of this record with data on ...
When palm trees gave way to spruce trees
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jun 17, 2009 |
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For climatologists, part of the challenge in predicting the future is figuring out exactly what happened during previous periods of global climate change.
Scientists Return from Expedition to Drill Beneath Frozen Russian Lake
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 28, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of scientists from the United States, Germany, Russia and Austria has just returned from a six-month drilling expedition to a frozen lake in Siberia: Lake El'gygytgyn, "Lake E" for ...
Biologists: Greening Arctic not likely to offset permafrost carbon release
May 27, 2009 |
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As the frozen soil in the Arctic thaws, bacteria will break down organic matter, releasing long-stored carbon into the warming atmosphere.
Study says businesses can create clean energy jobs
May 25, 2009 |
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(AP) -- The organizers of a global business summit on climate change say millions of new jobs would be created in the U.S. alone by relying almost entirely on renewable or low-carbon sources of electricity.
Geoscientist offers new evidence that meteorite did not wipe out dinosaurs
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 04, 2009 |
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A Princeton University geoscientist who has stirred controversy with her studies challenging a popular theory that an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs has compiled powerful new evidence asserting her position.
Fire influences global warming more than previously thought
Apr 23, 2009 |
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Fire's potent and pervasive effects on ecosystems and on many Earth processes, including climate change, have been underestimated, according to a new report.
Water levels dropping in some major rivers as global climate changes
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 21, 2009 |
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Rivers in some of the world's most populous regions are losing water, according to a new comprehensive study of global stream flow. The study, led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research ...
New Pollution Monitoring: Our Air is Dirtier Than We Thought
Apr 14, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.comOne of my pet peeves is the focus we have on global warming. While global climate change is important, it continues to provide a red herring of sorts, taking attention away the public health concern ...
