What is meaning of climate?

Question

What is meaning of climate?

Answer 1

Climate includes conditions of heat and cold, moisture and dryness, clearness and cloudness, wind and calm.

"For 80 years or so...the climate of the Arctic has been warming up".

Answer 2

A major problem in some of the very good otherwise answers so far is the 30-year average part. Because solar cycles can vary from 11 years to 50 years we can have huge normal climate shifts when several solar and earth cycles come together inconveniently. Point being the little ice age where there were 4 solar minimums, two of them extreme over a period of 500 years that led to a much colder than average climate through that period.

Then we have the Skandic/MWP warm cycle where for over 600 years it was a much warmer climate average noticeably higher than the two short peaks we have experienced during the current warming cycle. These two peaks lasted only about 10 years instead of the normal 50 or more! So all climates need to be evaluated not just against recent 30-year spans, but also against previous spans. For instance for the last two years here in Los Angeles they have had to go back to the 1920s to find equivalent low temperature records. In the 90s they had to go back to the 30s to find equivalent highs.

So the 30 year cycle is not a good comparison point for climate average and because of earthquakes and other geological events natural climate conditions can change radically. An example is the enhanced southwest monsoon in the spring and summer months has radically changed the general climate of southern California over the last 60 years from dry near desert to muggy sub tropical because of geologic changes in a ocean ridge extending from Baja California almost to Panama off the west coast. This ridge as it grows from earthquake activity and coral reef growth is altering some minor ocean currents altering the climate of large parts of North America!

Answer 3

Climate simply means the long term weather conditions in a particular area.

There seems to be no definition that I have found yet as to how many years this means.

It should cover 30 or more years for any proper or true meaning.

The fact that we do not have any valid scientific data for temperatures and weather conditions prior to 50 or so years ago makes things a bit difficult.

Prior to the last 50 years or so, there are journals of some dedicated 'weather watchers' and sea captains, etc...

Anything prior to the 1950's is (or should be), considered as interesting, but not used as any scientific evidence.

Prior to 1724, there was no way of measuring temperature until Fahrenheit developed the thermometer.

This would not have gone into mass production until the 1800's, and even then, the accuracy and calibration would not have been considered important, except in the science community.

Edit:

I agree with Charles that climate 'Should' be measured over a more lenghty period of time.

30 years is nothing on a geological scale!

Neither is 100, or 1000 years.

The point that I was trying to make, is that there seems to be no proper definition for a time scale for the term 'climate'.

It is only considered to be 'Long term weather conditions'.

Some people think that a day or two is a long time.

Some think that 30 years is a long time.

Some people think that chickens have lips.

Answer 4

Subject: IT IS NOT GLOBAL WARMING, BUT IT IS A SHIFT IN CLIMATE ZONES DUE TO THE DECREASE IN THE EARTH'S OBLIQUITY

> The earth's obliquity Angle decreases by 0.47" each

> year, which changes the focus of the sun's radiation

> on earth, resulting in climate shifts. As the

> obliquity angle decreases, the hemispheres change in

> basic temperature with the south becoming colder and

> the north becoming warmer.  When the obliquity angle

> reaches about 22 degrees, it will start to go the

> other way and the north will get colder again and the

> south will become warmer.  Obviously, and counter to

> Al Gores unlearned theories, the warming of the

> northern hemisphere cannot be stopped by man.  It will

> stop and reverse itself.  Then the climate shifts we

> presently experience will be goin the other way.  It

> is pure logic applied to astro-physical law.

>

> It has long been recognized that rather than staying

> constant, obliquity varies slowly with time as a

> result of external gravitational influences. The Moon

> and Sun's tidal torques on Earth's ellipticity give

> rise to the familiar 26,000-year astronomical

> precession, while the gravitational pull of other

> planets, primarily Jupiter and Venus, slowly perturbs

> the orientation of the ecliptic plane in space. The

> combined effect observed by Earth dwellers is an

> ~41,000-year oscillation in the obliquity with overall

> amplitude typically of about 2°. This oscillation is

> one of the three Milankovitch cycles that ultimately

> affect our long-term climatic system and serve as the

> pacemaker of ice ages. The present-day obliquity

> happens to be close to the mean value, and we are in

> the middle of a downswing (see figure (1)). In terms

> of real distance on the Earth's surface, one should

> see a slow equatorward shift of the tropics by 14.4 m

> a year-well over 1 km in a century!  

Answer 5

The weather condition where you live

.

Tropic to Polar climate are both different and yet the normal of each region on the planet

.

Climate can be effected by Oceans Large Lakes to land position on the earth To the length of daylight hours

.

Answer 6

What is climate?

Climate is the average weather usually taken over a 30-year time period for a particular region and time period. Climate is not the same as weather, but rather, it is the average pattern of weather for a particular region. Weather describes the short-term state of the atmosphere.

*Another definition for climate

Climate is defined as an area's long-term weather patterns. The simplest way to describe climate is to look at average temperature and precipitation over time. Other useful elements for describing climate include the type and the timing of precipitation, amount of sunshine, average wind speeds and directions, number of days above freezing, weather extremes, and local geography.

*Another one

What is climate?

"Climate" is a very general term that has a variety of closely related meanings. Usually, "climate" refers to the average, or typical, weather conditions observed over a long period of time for a given area. For instance, the climate of Wisconsin in the winter is cold, with occasional snow. The climate of the tropical oceans is warm and humid, with occasional showers or thunderstorms. Climate variations can occur from year to year, or one decade to another, one century to another, or any longer time scale.

There is still alot of uncertainty about what causes climate variations, with some of the factors being: variations in the sun, changes in ocean circulation, changes in land cover types, the production of greenhouse gases by mankind's burning of fossil fuels, and the role of man-made aerosols on cloud formation.

Interesting facts:

WHAT'S NATURAL AND WHAT'S MAN-MADE? The biggest uncertainty in predicting future climate change, including global warming, is knowing what part of observed climate change in the past is natural and what part is man-made. Since climate change occurs naturally, we don't know how much of the 1 deg. F warming in the last century is due to mankind pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere versus the Earth simply coming out of the "Little Ice Age".