Climate Basics

Weather refers to the short-term conditions of the lower atmosphere, such as precipitation, temperature, humidity, wind direction, wind speed, and atmospheric pressure. It could be sunny, cloudy, rainy, foggy, cold, hot, windy, stormy, snowing … the list goes on. 

Climate refers to atmospheric changes over longer periods of time, usually defined as 30 years or more. 

READ MORE AT: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/weather-or-climate-whats-difference/ 

 The carbon cycle is the process by which carbon continually moves from the atmosphere to the earth and then back to the atmosphere. On the earth, carbon is stored in rocks, sediments, the ocean, and in living organisms. Carbon is released back into the atmosphere when plants and animals die, as well as when fires burn, volcanoes erupt, and fossil fuels (such as coal, natural gas, and oil) are combusted. The carbon cycle ensures there is a balanced concentration of carbon in the different reservoirs on the planet. But a change in the amount of carbon in one reservoir affects all the others. Today, people are disturbing the carbon cycle by burning fossil fuels, which release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and through land use changes that remove plants, which absorb carbon from the atmosphere. 

READ MORE AT: https://www.epa.gov/climatechange-science/basics-climate-change 

 Cryosphere (snow and ice): Cools Earth by reflecting incoming sunlight, limiting how much heat is absorbed by the surface.
Atmosphere (air): Insulates Earth by trapping heat and transporting heat and water vapor.
Lithosphere (solid earth): Absorbs solar energy, radiates heat and stores carbon; continents and landforms help direct ocean and wind currents.
Biosphere (living things): Organisms take up carbon and exchange it with the atmosphere and ocean.
Hydrosphere (water): The ocean absorbs heat and carbon, transports them around the planet and naturally controls atmospheric CO 2. 

The green house effect is a natural process.  

• Certain gases (green house gasses - CO₂, CH₄, N₂O) trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. 
• Without it, Earth would be too cold — and too much of these gasses in the atmosphere causes global warming.

Natural causes: Volcanic eruptions, changes in solar radiation.
 

Human causes (Anthropogenic):
 

• Burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) → CO₂
   
• Deforestation
   
• Industrial processes and agriculture → methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O)