Defining Climate
Climatology
- Climatology is the study of Earth's climate and the factors that cause past, present, and future climatic changes.
- Climate describes the long-term weather patterns
- Climate describes the variations of temperature, precipitation, and other weather variables
Normals
- Standard values for a location
- Data averaged on a monthly basis of at least 30 years
- Daily data including temperature and the amounts of rainfall
Limitations of normals
- Normals offer valuable information, they must be used with caution
- Normals are not intended to describe usual weather conditions; they average over a long period of time.
Causes of Climate
- Differences in latitude, topography, closeness of lakes and oceans, availability of moisture, global wind patterns, ocean currents, and air masses are different causes of climate.
Tropics
- Tropical areas recieve the most sun radiation, because the sun's rays are perpendicular to Earth's surface.