What Is Weather, Climate and Atmosphere?
Many features make up the atmosphere, climate and weather that affect the Earth every day. Scientists have created different definitions for each based on causes and conditions that occur there. Although climate and weather have been recognized since the beginning of humankind, only in more recent times have experts been able to access and study the more distant characteristics of the atmosphere.
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What Is Weather?
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Weather describes the volatile conditions caused by air pressure, humidity and temperature. It is set in motion by the winds caused by temperature differences in the atmosphere of the Earth. As wind, airborne moisture, air pressure and temperature intermingle, different conditions occur that form the weather. As these various conditions intensify, storms are created that result in dramatic weather such as tornadoes, hurricanes, massive amounts of rain (and associated flooding), severe lack of rain (known as drought), snow and other icy precipitation and intense heat or cold.
Areas that enjoy relatively stable winds, moisture, pressure and temperature have fairly consistent weather that usually varies only slightly from day to day. However, regions located where opposing conditions meet often encounter extreme weather conditions that change dramatically, quickly and frequently. In these regions, residents may experience sunshine, rain, high winds, snow, warm temperatures and cold temperatures in the course of a single day.
What Is Climate?
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Climate is the term used to describe the general effects of sunlight and ocean currents on a particular region. It is most dependent upon the energy these light rays bring from the sun and also the ability of the oceans and atmosphere to circulate the energy, in the form of heat, efficiently around the planet. Climate tends to be much more predictable than weather and changes only slowly over a period of many hundreds of years, if at all.
In general, regions that are closer to the equator receive the most intense amounts of the sun's heat energy and therefore have the warmest climates. Those regions that are the farthest away from the equator receive much less of the sun's energy and tend to have much colder climates. A regular pattern of weather over a long period of time is considered to be indicative of a region's climate.
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What Is Atmosphere?
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Atmosphere is the name given to the layers of air around planet Earth that are held in place by gravity. They are the troposphere---0 to 9 miles out, the stratosphere---9 to 30 miles out, the mesosphere---30 to 50 miles out and the thermosphere---more than 50 miles out. Each layer of the atmosphere contains differing numbers and types of gas particles. As the sun's energy strikes these gas particles and excites them to move, winds are formed. As these winds circulate around the planet, weather is formed and climate is affected.
The angle that the sun's rays strike the various areas of Earth's atmosphere plays a major factor in how much energy is transferred into the different layers of the atmosphere and whether that area will become hot or cold. Once the portions of the atmosphere reach different temperatures, movement begins to occur that drives the weather of the planet, which over several hundreds of years creates climate.
How Is Weather Predicted?
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Scientists develop complex computer models to make extremely well-educated guesses about what weather might develop. Much of this modeling is based on hundreds of years of careful observation and documentation of specific weather conditions.
In the past, weather forecasting was often based on folklore, which relied on a variety of natural phenomena to predict upcoming conditions. Much of this has been proven to be false by modern science, but portions of this lore have been discovered to have been quite accurate and based on natural precursors to regular weather occurrences.
Why Are Weather Forecasts Sometimes Wrong?
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The incredible complexity of the interplay between the atmosphere, climate and weather conditions is beyond even our most advanced equipment at times. No weather prediction system has been found to be completely perfect. Humankind is not yet able to factor in the vast number of variables to be able to issue flawless predictions.
With the advent of computers, predictions have greatly increased in accuracy. However, computers alone do not account for this improvement. Techniques for gathering weather data have also greatly improved in accuracy and scope. Another improvement involves an increasing understanding of exactly which variables affect the weather and should be monitored.
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- Photo Credit earth from space image by hugy from Fotolia.com
