Climate

Both weather and climate include precipitation and temperature, winds, and atmospheric changes.  Climate, in contrast to weather, refers to the long term changes in these variables - the weather of an area averaged over a period of 30 or more years. 

When we learn about climate change, we are learning about how Earth's long term temperature and precipitation patterns change. It does not refer to seasonal changes; in other words, having a colder than average winter does not mean global climate change does not exist! Global climate change refers to observations about the changes in Earth's climate over the long term.

The following screencast will explore terms associated with climate, how scientists classify the world's climate zones, and explore climatic research tools and the evidence used to support the hypothesis of climate change.

After you have completed this part of the lesson, you can check the associated box on the main course page to mark it as complete

Last modified: Monday, 8 January 2018, 12:58 PM