General Definition and Importance

We see meteorologists on TV telling us what the weather for that day and that week will look like, but what if we want to know if we are going to experience a warmer winter or cooler summer in the coming years? That is when we study Earth’s climate. Climate refers to the long-term patterns of weather conditions in a particular region over a period of time, typically spanning several decades. Climate determines the overall atmospheric conditions experienced in a specific area, including the seasonal variations and frequency of extreme weather events.

Climate is influenced by a range of factors, including the interaction between the atmosphere, oceans, land surfaces, ice cover, and living organisms. Natural phenomena such as volcanic eruptions, solar radiation, and variations in Earth’s orbit contribute to climate variability. Additionally, human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, can significantly impact the climate system, leading to changes in temperature and precipitation patterns on a global scale.

Understanding climate is important for studying and predicting weather patterns, assessing environmental changes, and evaluating the potential impacts on ecosystems, societies, and economies. Climate science plays a crucial role in addressing issues like climate change, which refers to long-term shifts in the average weather conditions due to both natural and human causes.

---

Key Concepts

5.ESS2.1 Develop a model to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.

• Earth’s major systems are the geosphere (solid and molten rock, soil, and sediments), the hydrosphere (water and ice), the atmosphere (air), and the biosphere (living things, including humans). These systems interact in multiple ways to affect Earth’s surface materials and processes. The ocean supports a variety of ecosystems and organisms, shapes landforms, and influences climate. Winds and clouds in the atmosphere interact with the landforms to determine patterns of weather.

ES.ESS2.2 Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks and interactions that cause changes to other Earth’s systems.

• Earth’s systems, being dynamic and interacting, cause feedback effects that can increase or decrease the original changes.
• The foundation for Earth’s global climate system is the electromagnetic radiation from the Sun, as well as its reflection, absorption, storage, and redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and land systems, and this energy’s re-radiation into space.

ES.ESS2.4 Analyze and interpret data to explore how variations in the flow of energy into and out of Earth’s systems causes changes to the atmosphere and climate.

• The geological record shows that changes to global and regional climate can be caused by interactions among changes in the Sun’s energy output or Earth’s orbit, tectonic events, ocean circulation, volcanic activity, glaciers, vegetation, and human activities. These changes can occur on a variety of time scales from sudden (e.g., volcanic ash clouds) to intermediate (ice ages) to very long-term (tectonic cycles).

• The foundation for Earth’s global climate system is the electromagnetic radiation from the Sun, as well as its reflection, absorption, storage, and redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and land systems, and this energy’s re-radiation into space.
• Cyclical changes in the shape of Earth’s orbit around the Sun, together with changes in the tilt of the planet’s axis of rotation, both occurring over hundreds of thousands of years, have altered the intensity and distribution of sunlight falling on the Earth. These phenomena cause a cycle of ice ages and other changes in climate.

ES.ESS2.6 Develop a quantitative model to describe the cycling of carbon among the hydrosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere.

• Gradual atmospheric changes were due to plants and other organisms that captured carbon dioxide and released oxygen.
• Changes in the atmosphere due to human activity have increased carbon dioxide concentrations and thus affect climate.

ES.ESS3.1 Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate affect human activity

• Natural hazards and other geologic events have shaped the course of human history; they have significantly altered the sizes of human populations and have driven human migrations.