Questions tagged [climatology]

In contrast to the short-term variable weather, climate describes the mean conditions of atmosphere. Thus it is the statistic of weather (mean values, extrema, etc.). Often a 30-year period is considered. When asking questions about climate, use this tag and also include the [atmosphere] tag.

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What kind of temperature unit is "cK"?

An article about ocean temperature history/modeling has this plot: Where the units are given as cK. cK does not seem to be a ...
Brock Adams's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
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Why is not snow melting in Ladakh at a rapid pace

I am a novice and thus would like you not to mind too much if the answer to my question seems "obvious" to you. I heard that in the cold desert of Ladakh, if you keep your face in sunlight and legs ...
Harsh Sharma's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
370 views

Technical term for percentage of CO2 remaining in the atmosphere

I have a theoretical exercise where I calculated the amount of CO2 that is released to the atmosphere per year (4.6 ppm). We assume that the relative increase of CO2 is 2 ppm, hence the percentage of ...
andreas's user avatar
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0 answers
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How to calculate water vapor budget for a selected region in GRADS or MAT Lab

I need to calculate water vapor budget for a selected region. Can anyone suggest a specific link or code for the above mentioned tools please. I have seen a link for NCL but i am not familiar with ...
khan's user avatar
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7 votes
2 answers
756 views

What are good metrics to compare climates?

I'm interested in visualizing climate data across the conterminous U.S. to determine regions that I would be interested in living in. So far, I've pulled in NOAA data, and I've: averaged the maximum ...
RubeOnRails's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
559 views

Interdisciplinary sciences which combine earth sciences with computer science

Are there interdisciplinary sciences which combine earth sciences (like geophysics, climatology, meteorology etc.) and computer science? or something like biotechnology which combine biology with ...
Houman's user avatar
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0 answers
177 views

Plotting moist static energy fluxes

I'm trying to plot Moist static energy fluxes (vectors) and their divergence like the attached Figure. I have monthly means of u, v, temperature, specific humidity and geopotential from(1000-100 hPa) ...
Behrooz K's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
577 views

Is mediterranean climate a type of monsoon climate

Given that monsoon climate has the primary feature of seasonal reversal of wind systems and the same happens in case of Mediterranean climate too, does that mean Mediterranean climate is a special ...
Swarnim Raj's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
3k views

What percentage of Earth's surface is arid?

Is there available information on how much of Earth surface is arid climate?
Pablo's user avatar
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11 votes
2 answers
682 views

Is Atacama Desert cloudy or cloudless most of the year?

I saw many contradictions everywhere. For example, my geography textbook says that Atacama Desert is a desert where foggy weather is common, and it persists almost the whole year. Whereas every ...
KKZiomek's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
201 views

Why would geostrophic theory be invoked in the tropics with regards to the MJO?

In this paper reviewing the Madden-Julian Oscillation, frequently geostrophic theory (or approximately geostrophic) is often invoked. However, for geostrophic theory to be invoked, $$Ro=\frac{U}{f_0L}&...
BarocliniCplusplus's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
149 views

Subterranean Climate System?

Do subterranean habitat have climate system(s)? Could it be placed in any or all of the known ones: tropical, subtropical, temperate etc. ? Is it unique?
Chipboy123's user avatar
3 votes
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60 views

How to divide timeseries into normal periods in meteorology and climatology?

When analyzing hydrological and climatological timeseries/observations it is a common practice to compare statistics made on normal periods. As WMO calls them: "WMO Climatological Normals". These ...
Anna's user avatar
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0 answers
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Where can I find climate analogs? [closed]

It is an unusual year where I'm at, I'd like to go and see similar climatological years for the north america, more particularly for average pressure, maybe 500mb or 700mb. How would I do this Edit:...
Voltage Spike's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
931 views

Confusion with precipitation values in CORDEX MPI-ESM rcp data

I want to analyze climate projection data for the different RCPs for a region in north western India, which has an arid climate. I chose MPI-ESM data downscaled with CORDEX. An example filename looks ...
telegott's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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CMIP5 Historical experiments, what do they mean?

What are the main characteristics of CMIP5 Historical experiments? e.g. Initial conditions? Greenhouse gases forcing? How they differ from RCPs? And how they are similar to Observed reanalysis data?...
aaaaa's user avatar
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1 answer
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How averaging works in GFS model from NOAA?

We have downloaded grib2 files for GFS model from NOAA and extracted irradiance (Downwards shortwave radiation flux) data. Following is a sample output for cordinates at [52.0,4.0]: ...
Amrit Gill's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
387 views

Huge netcdf files handling

Can any one help me to handle huge netcdf files each of 1gb memory in loop and at least 2 files at a time in ncl or linux or python or matlab. for example era_interim daily pressure level datasets.
msarun's user avatar
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0 answers
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Is the Hadley cell a problem for the air mass?

I was lately studying how air masses are generally formed. I came to know that as the warm air rises up and then cools down as it moves above, after some time, a whole cold mass of air is accrued near ...
user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
454 views

What makes a nuclear winter so extreme and destructive?

This may be a sort of, pertinent to the times, and disturbing question, inspired by the difficulties surrounding North Korea and the situation with it and nuclear weapons. I've heard of this idea of "...
The_Sympathizer's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
62 views

Difference between NCEP's 20th Century daily Forecast and Analysis variables

NCEP's Twentieth Century Reanalysis (V2) provides daily variables from 1871/01/01 to 2012/12/31. Monolayer analysis variables are made available in a regular grid and forecast variables in a gaussian ...
ouranos's user avatar
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2 answers
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What are the differences between Climatology, Meteorology and Atmospheric Science?

Please explain the main differences between Climatology, Meteorology and Atmospheric Science. Thank you
2801001's user avatar
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7 votes
3 answers
698 views

Correlation and causation

Linear correlation (Pearson's) is vastly applied in meteorology/climatology to assess the relationship between two variables, say precipitation and SST, for example. However, we know that correlation ...
ouranos's user avatar
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18 votes
2 answers
22k views

Why are deserts mostly located on the western side of continents?

I read somewhere in a book that mostly desert found in the western part of a continent. So my question is that why is it so? I searched on the internet but I didn't get a reasonable answer for that.
bashir ali's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
321 views

Climatology Career

I am a high school Biology teacher with a crazy passion for climate and environmental changes. I wish I had known this before I started college. I have been out of college for a year and have been ...
rdvtrro's user avatar
  • 83
7 votes
4 answers
2k views

Easterly Jet Stream

If most of jet streams are westerly, that is to say, they blow from west to east, why does the tropical/equatorial jet stream blow from east to west?
James's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
222 views

How much area in the world is under SemiArid climate?

I am studying the L.C. King's "Normal Cycle of Erosion". Apparently, he suggests that Davis was incorrect to have assumed Temperate Humid conditions as "normal conditions" of the world when ...
EarthLearner's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
393 views

Sun Appearing to have Stopped Shining [closed]

What could have caused the Sun to appear to have stopped shining from noon 'till 3 in the afternoon? According to the Bible, at Jesus' crucifixion, darkness covered the land because the sun stopped ...
Christian Sirolli's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
896 views

Long-term Wind Speed Forecasting: reality or wishful thinking?

I have been studying/working with Wind Energy for a while and, one of my main responsabilities right now is to search for adequate long-term wind speed forecasting models. However, 2 things strike me ...
Jxson99's user avatar
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6 votes
0 answers
69 views

Near Future Precipitation and Temperature estimations?

I was wondering if anyone here is familiar with temperature and precipitation estimation? I need to estimate P and T from April to July 2016. I am planning to use excel to do the calculation because ...
Shereen's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
707 views

Why do winter temperatures account for most of the increase in global temperature?

If you examine the detailed temperature records that form the basis for our understanding of global warming, there are some strange anomalies (at least from a naive point of view where warming affects ...
matt_black's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
158 views

Does the regional localisation of global temperature trends suggest contamination by urban development?

Much of the raw data behind the various datasets reporting the average temperature of the world are now available. So it is possible to look for strange patterns in the daily or monthly temperature ...
matt_black's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
426 views

Paper result validation and the scientific method in earth science

The context of this question is computational earth science specifically meteorology/climatology but I am sure it applies to all the scientific disciplines where numerical methods are used. Recently ...
user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
104 views

Why isn't north Quebec a little warmer?

When I saw this map I was surprised to learn that part of Quebec is in the worst winter hardiness zone of North America (including Greenland). Zone 0a, which is defined as "average winters get colder ...
ItsMyPostAndIllWriteIfIWnt2Wri's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
887 views

Climatology of the Indian Summer Monsoon - A modern consensus

Edmund Halley viewed the monsoon as a glorified sea breeze circulation fueled by different heat capacities of land and ocean. The resulting meridional temperature gradient between warmer air of the ...
user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
371 views

The climatological variance of albedo, soil moisture in weather models

Looking at WRF currently but I am sure this applies to most weather models there is a file (specifically LANDUSE.TBL) that specifies USGS derived albedo, soil ...
user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
135 views

Should total ground heat flux be 0?

In the context of the land surface, the ground absorbs heat from radiation (also some times from precipitation and advection), and releases heat through evapotranspiration, advection and radiation, ...
naught101's user avatar
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13 votes
0 answers
180 views

Oceanic-atmospheric coupling between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean basins

The two great basins - Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean have their respective oscillations: Indian Ocean Dipole and El Nino Southern oscillation that affect the climate of the regions as well as the ...
user avatar
14 votes
2 answers
509 views

Color of ocean waters and Ekman pumping - what is the connection?

Is there a connection between the colors of oceanic waters near the coast and Ekman pumping? Along the coastal areas of the Bay of Bengal where I live, occasionally during the monsoon, the colors of ...
user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
2k views

Why is q used for specific humidity?

$q$ is the symbol used for specific humidity in many textbooks and papers (at least in meteorology and climatology, I'm not familiar with it in other disciplines). Where does this symbol come from, ...
naught101's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
2k views

Why do some places have rain frequently? [closed]

There are some places on Earth which holds the record of being "The wettest place on Earth". On what factors these places differ from other normal places? An example of wettest place on Earth is ...
Mr_Green's user avatar
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13 votes
1 answer
2k views

Who are the 3% in the often cited "97% of climate scientists"?

The media have variously reported that: Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities. Based on this ...
Nathaniel Bubis's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
284 views

How do climatologists define the "start" of a rainy season in a unimodal monsoonal climate?

For a number of gridcells, all between the 500mm and 800mm rainfall isohyets in sub-Saharan Africa, I've got dekadal rainfall (from FEWS). They are pretty spread out over the continent and there are ...
generic_user's user avatar
19 votes
1 answer
3k views

Why do more tornadoes happen late in the day?

According to the graph below, which appears to be sourced from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, more tornadoes happen late in the day - why is this?
blunders's user avatar
  • 4,601
18 votes
3 answers
2k views

How do I explain why the Tibetan plateau is colder than lowlands at similar latitudes?

A common layman explanation for why does it get colder to higher elevations (considering only the troposphere here) qualitatively boils down to The Sun heats the Earth's surface and the Earth's ...
gerrit's user avatar
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