The Climate System

The climate system is governed by numerous interactions between closed loop systems. A modification of one aspect of these systems,  such as the carbon cycle, can influence the overall climate system and lead to change…

• Weather: Reffers to the changes taking place in the atmosphere at present over short periods of time (the science of meteorology)

• Climate: Defines the tendency of the weather over long periods of time (the science of climatology)

The major factors that determine the patterns of climate on earth can be explained in terms of8:
• the strength of the incident radiation from the sun, which determines the overall planetary temperature of the earth;

• the spherical shape of the earth and the orientation of its axis;

• the greenhouse effect of water vapour and other radiatively active trace gases;

• the various physical, chemical and biological processes that take place within the atmospheregeosphere- biosphere climate system, in particular:

- the global energy balance,
- the global water cycle,
- the global carbon cycle and other biogeochemical cycles;

• the rotation of the earth, which substantially modifies the large-scale thermally-driven circulation patterns of the atmosphere and ocean; and

• the distribution of continents and oceans.

Source of Information : Climate Change: A Silent Threat by Sylvain Richer de Forges

The Climate System