Climate or weather? Is there even a difference? Yes, there is!
"Climate" is the average weather over an extended period of time in a particular place.
The World Meteorological Organisation ("Athmosphere Science") considers periods of 30 years as a normal climate period. For shorter periods, one does not speak of climate, but of weather or weathering.
Changes in climate over a longer period of time are called climate change.
Climate elements
Climate elements are meteorological data that are also used to determine weather. To study climate, they are statistically averaged over a longer period of time.
The most important climate elements are:
Temperature
Precipitation
Evaporation
Wind
Air pressure
Humidity
Radiation
Cloudiness
Spatial classification
The place or area whose climate is being considered can be small or large, rural or urban, global or regional. Depending on the spatial dimension, different forms are distinguished:
Microclimate
Macroclimate
There is a subdivision according to different scales. With microclimate, a small area is considered, for example the climate in a vineyard. The macroclimate looks at the climate of a large area, for example the tropical climate or the climate in the Arctic.
Sources:
This article was translated from German.
Klimawiki, Physische Geographie kompakt by Rüdiger Glaser et al. (2010), Earth System Knowledge Platform and Spektrum Lexikon Geographie
Image 1: Pixabay by skeeze
Image 2: Pixabay by Hans
Image 3: Pixabay by PIRO4D
