Draft:Outline of climatology
Scientific study of climate (weather conditions averaged over a period of time)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to climatology:
Climatology (from Greek κλίμα, klima, "slope"; and -λογία, -logia) or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospheric condition during an extended to indefinite period of time; weather is the condition of the atmosphere during a relative brief period of time. The main topics of research are the study of climate variability, mechanisms of climate changes and modern climate change. This topic of study is regarded as part of the atmospheric sciences and a subdivision of physical geography, which is one of the Earth sciences. Climatology includes some aspects of oceanography and biogeochemistry.
The main methods employed by climatologists are the analysis of observations and modelling of the physical processes that determine climate. Short term weather forecasting can be interpreted in terms of knowledge of longer-term phenomena of climate, for instance climatic cycles such as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO), the North Atlantic oscillation (NAO), the Arctic oscillation (AO), the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO), and the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO). Climate models are used for a variety of purposes from studying the dynamics of the weather and climate system to predictions of future climate.
What type of thing is climatology?
Climatology can be described as all of the following:
- Academic discipline
- Branch of science
- Branch of Earth science – field of science related to the planet Earth. Earth science is the branch of science dealing with the physical constitution of the earth and its atmosphere.
- Atmospheric science
- Subfield of physical geography
- Branch of Earth science – field of science related to the planet Earth. Earth science is the branch of science dealing with the physical constitution of the earth and its atmosphere.
Branches of climatology
- Applied climatology – uses climatic principles and analysis to solve human problems related to water resources, agriculture, health, and forestry.
- Bioclimatology
- Dynamic climatology – studies the atmospheric motion of the atmosphere such as disturbance and wind circulation. It was introduced by Bergeron 1930.
- Earth rainfall climatology –
- Historical climatology –
- Paleoclimatology –
- Paleotempestology –
- Physical climatology – studies the atmospheric energy in the climate. It was introduced by Milenkovitch in 1820 and Simpson in 1824.
- Synoptic climatology – studies the regional and local climate of an area with the aid of climatic weather. It was initiated by Koppen in 1870.
- Tornado climatology –
- Tropical cyclone climatology
- Urban climatology –
History of climatology
Climates
Climate classification
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
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| A (Tropical) |
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| B (Dry) |
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| C (Temperate) |
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| D (Continental) |
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| E (Polar) |
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Climate phenomena
- Climate oscillation – Examples of climate oscillations and their frequency include:
- glacial periods of the last ice age – period around 100 000 years (see Quaternary glaciation#Astronomical cycles and 100,000-year problem)
- North African climate cycles – tens of thousands of years
- Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation – around 50 to 70 years, but unpredictable
- El Niño Southern Oscillation – 2 to 7 years
- Pacific decadal oscillation – 8 to 12 years? (not clear)
- Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation – 15 to 30 years? (not clear)
- Arctic oscillation – no particular periodicity
- North Atlantic Oscillation – no particular periodicity
- North Pacific Oscillation – ?
- Hale cycle or sunspot cycle – about 11 years (may be discernible in climate records; see solar variation)
- Quasi-biennial oscillation – about 30 months
- Climate change
