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Definition: Climate from The SAGE Glossary of the Social and Behavioral Sciences

Average weather conditions over an extended period of time. The climate, determined mostly by quantitative analyses of temperature and precipitation, helps predict patterns and variations in weather conditions, usually over at least a 30-year period. Climate can be used to understand what types of agriculture and livestock will flourish in different parts of the world. The three major climate groups are the low-latitude climates, which are characterized by tropical conditions; the midlatitude climates, which are best understood as climates affected by both tropical and polar air masses; and the high-latitude climates, which are those climates affected mostly by polar air masses.


climate

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Combination of weather conditions at a particular place over a period of time – usually a minimum of 30 years. A climate classification encompasses the averages, extremes, and frequencies of all meteorological elements such as temperature, atmospheric pressure, precipitation, wind, humidity, and sunshine, together with the factors that influence them. The primary factors that influence differences of climate between different areas of the globe are: latitude (as a result of the Earth's rotation and orbit); ocean currents; large-scale movements of wind belts and air masses over the Earth's surface; temperature differences between land and sea surfaces; topography; continent positions; and vegetation. The factors that determine the overall climate of the planet in the long term include the composition of the atmosphere, changes in the Earth's orbit, and changes in the angle of inclination of its axis. Climatologists have become especially concerned with the influences of human activity…
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Full text Article climate

From Philip's Encyclopedia
This map of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres...
Weather conditions of a place or region prevailing over a long time. The major factors influencing climate are temperatures, air movements, incoming and outgoing radiation and moisture movements. Climates are defined on different scales, ranging from macroclimates, which cover the broad climatic…
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Full text Article climate

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
average condition of the atmosphere near the earth's surface over a long period of time, taking into account temperature, precipitation (see rain ), humidity , wind , barometric pressure, and other phenomena. The major influence governing the climate of a region is its latitude. A broad latitudinal…
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Full text Article climate

From Science Encyclopedia: Encyclopedia of Marine Science
The average weather conditions that prevail at a location over a long period, typically many years constitutes climate. The climate of a location is generally determined by its latitude, its elevation, and its distance from the ocean. Descriptive studies of climate are concerned with the…
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Full text Article Climate

From Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient Times to the Present Full text Article A-Z Entries
Atmospheric conditions characteristic of a specific location or region. The basic ways in which climate affects trade are in (1) the production of foodstuffs and other products and resources for trade and (2) the circulation, or transportation, of trade goods. Climate's effect on circulation was…
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Full text Article climate

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Combination of weather conditions at a particular place over a period of time – usually a minimum of 30 years. A climate classification encompasses the averages, extremes, and frequencies of all meteorological elements such as temperature, atmospheric pressure, precipitation, wind, humidity, and…
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Full text Article CLIMATE

From National Geographic Answer Book: 10,001 Fast Facts About Our World Full text Article CLIMATES & HABITATS
EARTH'S EXTREMES HOTTEST PLACE Dalol, Denakil Depression Ethiopia Annual average temperature: 93.2°F COLDEST PLACE Plateau Station Antarctica Annual average temperature: -70°F WETTEST PLACE Mawsynram, Assam India Annual average rainfall: 467 in/yr DRIEST PLACE Atacama Desert Chile Rainfall barely…
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From The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization
The ancient climate was very similar to the modern climate. The Mediterranean climate is characterized by cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers. There is a very high degree of interannual climatic variability, which makes farming ( see agriculture ) risky and sometimes causes *famines . The…
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Full text Article Climate and Climate Change

From The SAGE Handbook of Historical Geography
A vision of global climate: Alexander...
Whether in fond memories of the spaces of a childhood or in depictions of exotic, faraway places, climate is a key element of our imaginative geographies. Climate is a way of making sense of places. It offers a vector of comparison between points on a map, a means of imagining or remembering what…
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From The Oxford Companion to Food
a factor which varies considerably (from Greenland's icy mountains to India's coral strands, as the hymn puts it), and which largely determines what foods can be grown where. A change in climate may have consequences so severe as to destroy entire communities. A classic example is the Viking colony…
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Full text Article CLIMATE

From The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales
Wales is one of the wettest countries in Europe, a fact reflected in the Welsh language ’s numerous words for various types of rain. Yet, despite the well-known adage in Swansea - Wales’s (and Britain ’s) wettest city - that when England is visible across the Severn Sea it is about to rain and when…
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