5.1 Climate System

• Climate - long-term average weather pattern in one place
• Climate - influenced by slow changes in the ocean, the land, the orbit of the Earth about the sun, and the energy output of the sun
• Climate - fundamentally controlled by the balance of energy of the Earth and its atmosphere
• Weather - conditions at one particular time and place, including temperature and rainfall
• Weather - can change very rapidly from day to day, and from year to year
• Weather - changes involve shifts in temperatures, precipitation, winds, and clouds.
• Sun - its energy is known as the main driver of the climate system
• Without the aid of greenhouses gasses absorbing and re-emitting heat, life would not be possible on earth.
• If the climate system remains still, the climate would not be altered around the globe.
• Generally, there is more heat in the middle portion of the earth (equator) than the Polar Regions.
• Climate Change - a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over a comparable period of time (UNFCCC)
• UNFCCC - United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
• Climate System - is created by complex interactions between the Sun, our atmosphere, oceans, land, ice and biosphere which in turn are affected by an area's latitude, elevation, terrain, and distance from coasts, mountains and lakes
• Climate Change Mechanisms

  First Method - changing the global average temperature of the earth through the alteration of solar energy's output
• Climate Change Mechanisms

  Second Method - the alteration of the Earth's brightness or albedo effect
• Albedo - refers to the percent of reflected sunlight
• Alteration of the reflectivity of sunlight or albedo effect can influence the rising of global temperature or cooling
• Climate Change Mechanisms

  Third Method - the alteration of the global atmospheric composition, as it affects the greenhouse effect