ABSTRACT
The term "weather" refers to the day-to-day changes in the state of the atmosphere at a specific location. It includes variables such as temperature, humidity, windiness, cloudiness, and precipitation. Climate can be defined in part as the average weather, but the climate of a given region is also defined by the expected year-to-year variation in the weather variables. That is, two regions that have the same mean annual or seasonal temperatures, but where one region experiences much greater variation from one year to the next, have different climates. The climate of a given region, however, depends on much more than just the atmosphere. Rather, it depends on all of the components that interact together to form part of the climate system. This chapter identifies the major components of the climate system and the linkages and interactions between the components. The major natural and anthropogenic causes of climatic change are then introduced and compared with one another.
