Weather refers to the condition of the atmosphere at a certain time and place, with regards to temperature, wind, pressure, and other elements. Climate can be considered the average weather in a region over a period of 30 years or more.
For more details, see the following resources:
Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2013)
Climate change is a change in the usual weather patterns that occur in a place. This change can be measured and persists for an extended amount of time, usually decades or longer.
The reflectivity of Earth's surface and atmosphere. Surface features, such as ice sheets, increase the amount of solar radiation that is reflected back into space. These factors and ways that they interact with one another have all contributed to the climate patterns and variability we see in earth's history.
For more details, see the following resources:
Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2013)
Climate on Earth is powered by energy from the sun. The shape of the Earth’s orbit around the sun, changes in the tilt of the Earth’s axis as it orbits the sun, and changes in the direction the Earth’s axis rotates all affect how energy from the sun reaches the Earth, affecting the climate. These changes happen in cycles on the scale of 40,000 years to 100,000 years.
More examples can be found at the following websites:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Earth Observatory (Graham 2000)
1. Ice cores - The ratio of oxygen isotopes in the ice can indicate the temperature at the time the ice was formed. Air bubbles trapped in ice can show what the greenhouse gas concentration of the atmosphere was at the time of formation.
2. Ocean sediment cores - The remains of small hard-shelled creatures are preserved in ocean sediments. The composition of their shells can reveal ocean temperatures at the time of their formation.
3. Pollen records - Fossilized pollen grains can indicate what types of plants were present at the time the fossils were formed.
4. Tree rings - The width of annual tree rings in temperate climates depend in part on soil moisture and temperature, and can therefore reveal information about these variables.
For more details, see the following resources:
Paleoclimatology Data
How do we determine past climate? (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research)
About Ice Cores (National Science Foundation, Ice Core Facility)
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that, human influence on the climate system is clear, and recent anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest in history.
For more details, see the following resources:
Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2014)
Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and water vapor (H2O) are all greenhouse gases. Water vapor leaves the atmosphere quickly, but methane can stay in the atmosphere for years, with carbon dioxide persisting for decades. Increases in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere result in an increased greenhouse effect, and more energy is re-emitted back to Earth, warming the surface further.
For more details, see the following resources:
Climate Change Science and Modeling: What You Need to Know (CCRC)
For more details, see the following resources:
Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2014)
Climate models have been used to reproduce the observed temperature record for the last century. When these models simulate changes using only natural variations without accounting for human greenhouse gas emissions, the Earth would have cooled rather than warmed. When the models include human greenhouse gas emissions, the results closely match the observed temperature record, clearly showing the anthropogenic (human) effect on warming temperatures and the Earth’s changing climate.
For a more details, see the following resources:
NASA Earth Observatory
National Climate Assessment, Chapter 2: Our Changing Climate (NCA 2018)
Climate models are called General Circulation Models (GCMs) and are used to simulate the global climate system. These models contain components from the ocean, atmosphere, land surface, and solid water surfaces (such as ice sheets).
There is uncertainty in GCMs because reproducing the climate system is so complex. The uncertainty in models comes mainly from complexities related to clouds, forcings (factors that force the climate system and energy balance of Earth), extemes, and feedbacks (factors that amplify or diminish the effects of forcings). There is also uncertainty surrounding future projections of climate because these can be based on plausible, but unknown, scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions, technological advances, population, and economics.
For more details, see the following resources:
Climate Change Science and Modeling: What You Need to Know (CCRC)
Cubasch, U., D. Wuebbles, D. Chen, M.C. Facchini, D. Frame, N. Mahowald, and J.-G. Winther, 2013: Introduction. In: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Stocker, T.F., D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S.K. Allen, J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA
https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2017/09/WG1AR5_Chapter01_FINAL.pdf
Graham, S. 2000. Milutin Milankovitch. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Earth Observatory. Web Article. Accessed May 15, 2019: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Milankovitch/milankovitch.php
Hayhoe, K., D.J. Wuebbles, D.R. Easterling, D.W. Fahey, S. Doherty, J. Kossin, W. Sweet, R. Vose, and M. Wehner, 2018: Our Changing Climate. In Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II [Reidmiller, D.R., C.W. Avery, D.R. Easterling, K.E. Kunkel, K.L.M. Lewis, T.K. Maycock, and B.C. Stewart (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, pp. 72–144. doi: 10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH2
IPCC, 2014: Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, R.K. Pachauri and L.A. Meyer (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, 151 pp.
Marcinkowski, K., Swanston, C. 2014. Climate change science and modeling: what you need to know. An interactive education module from the Climate Change Resource Center. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-902. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station.https://www.fs.usda.gov/ccrc/index.php?q=education/climate-change-scienc...
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. How do we determine past climate? Web Article. Accessed May 15, 2019. https://www.niwa.co.nz/climate/faq/how-do-we-determine-past-climate
National Science Foundation, Ice Core Facility. About Ice Cores. Web Article. Accessed May 15, 2019. https://icecores.org/about-ice-cores
