GEO 702 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Permafrost, Nasa Earth Observatory, Altimeter
• Climate Change
• Climate and Weather definitions:
• Climate is the pattern of variation in temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind,
precipitation, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological variables in a given
region over long periods.
• Climate can be contrasted to Weather, which is the present condition of the above
variables over shorter periods.
• Climate is the pattern of variations in different meteorological aspects including:
temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, precipitation, atmospheric particle
count (including pm10) so all these meteorological variables that are changing or have a
pattern through a long period of time in a specific region is called climate
• If you focus on a small region for example: just a country then its micro-climate so micro-
climate focuses on smaller regions like a country, province, smaller geographical area. So
any pattern of variations of the above examples of meteorological variables is called
climate.
• Weather has the same pattern but in short term period so a day, week, month - it's very
tangible - you cannot rely on weather - climate is what you expect and weather is what
you get - ex: we believe that on May 17 the temp will be 21 degrees so we sort of predict
what's supposed to be so whether it will be a pleasant weather, cold or hot and if we see
the same situation on may 17 if we see what we predict then that's what we will get, what
we will see and that is the weather. If our prediction/what we expect is not correct then
there's a change in climate - not a change in weather because weather is what you
actually get, climate is the prediction
• The difference between climate and weather is usefully summarized by the popular
phrase Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get. (Ref.: Natioal Weather
Service Office Tucson, Arizona)
4 Monthly average surface temperatures from 1961–1990. This is an example of how
climate varies with location and season Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate
• The map below shows monthly average temperature from 1961-1990 - it shows the
coldest through the warmest areas. Climate is usually generated by climate systems. There
are 5 climate systems which are:
• A region's climate is generated by the climate system, which has five components:
• The 5 climate systems which are:
1. Atmosphere: layer of gases surrounding the earth - so whatever is around in terms of
gas, air nitrogen, oxygen - so the gas that surrounds the air is called atmosphere
2. Hydrosphere: waters which cover the surface of the earth - hydrosphere is the
sphere of water so hydro is water -
3. Cryosphere: part of the Earth's surface that is constantly frozen - cryo is ice -
cryosphere means the sphere of ice - icecaps
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