"Climate" is a very general term that has a variety of closely related meanings. Usually, "climate" refers to
the average, or typical, weather conditions observed over a long period of time for a given area.
For instance, the climate of Wisconsin in the winter is cold, with occasional snow...but warm in the summer with
occasional showers and thunderstorms. The climate of the tropical oceans is warm and humid, with occasional showers or thunderstorms,
conditions which do not vary much throughout the year.
The above image shows the Koeppen-Geiger world climate zone classifications. which
are mainly determined by temperature, precipitation, and how these two primary weather
elements vary throughout the year.
There can be variations in climate from year to year, or one decade to another, one century to another, or any longer time scale.
There is much uncertainty -- and controversy -- about what causes climate variations on the longer time scales. Some of the
commonly proposed explanations include variations in the total energy output of the sun, variations in sunspot activity, changes in ocean circulation, changes in land characteristics caused by humans, the production of greenhouse gases
by mankind's burning of fossil fuels, and the effect of man-made aerosols on how much sunlight is absorbed.
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