Climate terminology by the National Geographic Society
Climate and climate change are probably one of the most important words worldwide today. Huge fears and expectations are linked to it. Immeasurably high sums of money are being invested and expected to equalize between North and South. The more important such words are in linguistic usage, the more necessary it is that the topic is described sufficiently well when they are used in order to avoid misunderstandings, misinterpretations or misjudgments as far as possible. Vague descriptions or ambiguous explanations, which allow for any interpretation, are the surest means of undermining any beneficial discussion. This is the case if you look at the numerous definition attempts from science. There are countless and invariably deserve the rating, naïve, empty, faint, and incomplete to meaningless. In summary, the way in which science presents and deals with the topic of climate change is possibly a greater danger than the related discussion of global warming caused by fossil fuels. There are many examples of this. Below we consider the explanations proposed by the National Geographic Society (NGS), according to the Vocabulary (all-about-climate) and Glossary.
The difference between the lay term: climate and the scientific term: climate.
This point cannot be highlighted enough. The lay sphere can use it as it pleases or regards it fit for the moment for oneself or by a conversation, while science has to give it in advance a fixed meaning in an academically sufficient way, as term or definition. Any other approach, in particularly using these words as common in the lay sphere, is scientifically inacceptable. Actually it is gross misleading and most likely to plenty of misunderstandings.
A. Climate & Weather & Weather Pattern
1. The NGS on CLIMATE:in section: All About Climate:
Climate is the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area. Weather can change from hour-to-hour, day-to-day, month-to-month or even year-to-year. A region’s weather patterns, usually tracked for at least 30 years, are considered its climate.
2. The NDS on Weather in: Glossary
· Weather is the state of the atmosphere, including temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind, humidity, precipitation, and cloudiness.
· Weather pattern means: repeating or predictable changes in the Earth’s atmosphere, such as winds, precipitation, and temperatures.
COMMENT:
a) The first sentence is close to the understanding in the lay-sphere: “Climate is the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area”, and requires including NGS meaning of: weather. Thus NGS offers merely few aspects of the atmosphere, which everybody can see and feel (any individual), but is far away from the “state of the atmosphere”, composed of presumably several hundred meteorological named manifestations , but also, for example, from gases ( principally carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone ) and water. If the definition of weather is insufficient, the NGS term of Climate cannot solve the problem.
b) Completely meaningless is the sentence: Weather can change from hour-to-hour, day-to-day, month-to-month or even year-to-year.
c) weather patterns
a. the given meaning “repeating or predictable changes in the Earth’s atmosphere,” is scientifically a helpless approach, and is left to guessing,
b. The reference “such as” indicates that further aspects than winds, precipitation, and temperatures can be taken in consideration, but lacks any details,
d) usually tracked for at least 30 years
This period was considered as helpful 100 years ago, in the 1920/30s, when meteorology still considered the atmosphere as a static body. Today the 30 years period is generally regarded as wrong. A comparable period has never existed in the lay-sphere.
The term climate was used in the lay-sphere for thousands of years in the ancient Greek geographical meaning. In meteorology the term climate was adopted far after 1800, changing the original Greek meaning, respectively its use in the lay-sphere by attributing a statistical character as the average weather.
The layman’s term climate is therefore very different from the world of statistics, the basis with which science wants to explain the changed weather world.
B. Climate Change
The NGS Glossary on: climate change (noun): radual changes in all the interconnected weather elements on our planet.
Comment: Kinda very helpless.
The NGS — ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY — on climate change:
Introduction:
The longer text below is not a definition but a lengthy description, with some very imprecise and confusing statements. Only a few of these are addressed by footnotes to the relevant paragraphs in order to be able to bring the whole text here for the sake of clarity.
QUOTE
Climate change is a long-term shift in global or regional climate patterns (a). Often (b) climate change refers specifically to the rise in global temperatures © from the mid-20th century to present.
(a) NGS Glossary is silent on “climate patter”, although “weather pattern” is mentioned (see above). Pattern is by far too superficial for any use in science, together with ‘climate’ as ‘average weather’
(b) The reference to ‘often’ demonstrates that explanation pursues a specific goal.
© According NGS Glossary is: global warming; increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s air and oceans. While air temperature rise, an be summarized as global warming, the NGS definition of climate (see above) does not make any reference regarding the oceans.
Climate (d) is sometimes mistaken for weather. But climate is different from weather because it is measured over a long period of time (e), whereas weather can change from day to day, or from year to year (f).
(d) The topic is climate change and something had to be said than it should have been done in the explanation to climate. .
(e) Weather is the physical state of the atmosphere at one moment of time and will never repeat, while
a. Scientific climate is completely based on statistics
b. Layman’s climate is a summarized impression of a various weather conditions near or far location according specific or general interests. These result from personal experience or from general descriptions and are limited to information of interest.
(f) Here is one of the mix-ups by science causing a fussy and misleading language.
a. Only for lay-persons the weather can change from day to day (or scientists which speak as a layman).
b. But once they have taken weather-data, it is statistic and remain statistic. .
The climate of an area includes seasonal temperature and rainfall averages, and wind patterns. Different places have different climates. A desert, for example, is referred to as an arid climate because little water falls, as rain or snow, during the year. Other types of climate include tropical climates, which are hot and humid, and temperate climates, which have warm summers and cooler winters.(see d, above))
Climate change is the long-term alteration of temperature (g) and typical weather patterns in a place (h). Climate change could refer to a particular location or the planet as a whole. Climate change may cause weather patterns to be less predictable. These unexpected weather patterns can make it difficult to maintain and grow crops in regions that rely on farming because expected temperature and rainfall levels can no longer be relied on. Climate change has also been connected with other damaging weather events such as more frequent and more intense hurricanes, floods, downpours, and winter storms.
(g) Alteration in temperature can be one aspect, but does not corresponds with the definition of climate change (see above).
(h) With reference to typical weather pattern the text remains confusing and indistinct.
In Polar Regions, the warming global temperatures associated with climate change have meant ice sheets and glaciers are melting at an accelerated rate from season to season. This contributes to sea levels rising in different regions of the planet. Together with expanding ocean waters due to rising temperatures, the resulting rise in sea level has begun to damage coastlines as a result of increased flooding and erosion. (i)
(i) If one recalls that this discussion is based on (see above): Climate is the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area, then these descriptions are in no way any help, but fuzzy and distraction from the thematic. .
The cause of current climate change is largely human activity, like burning fossil fuels, like natural gas, oil, and coal (j). Burning these materials releases what are called greenhouse gases into Earth’s atmosphere. There, these gases trap heat from the sun’s rays inside the atmosphere causing Earth’s average temperature to rise. This rise in the planet’s temperature is called global warming. The warming of the planet impacts local and regional climates. Throughout Earth’s history, climate has continually changed. When occurring naturally, this is a slow process that has taken place over hundreds and thousands of years. The human influenced climate change that is happening now is occurring at a much faster rate.
(j) Explaining climate change on the basis of “average weather” should not focus on a single issue, but all aspects which have definitely changed the “average weather” many times immemorial,
a. Which time period covers the current change?
b. There are presumably more than hundreds named weather conditions, of which data can be collected and compiled in statistic.
UNQUOTE
Summary
The material offers little if anything which one can regard as scientifically helpful and sufficient, as it is by and large so superficial that it would fit better in a lay-men’s sphere discussion. But even if it is regarded a Educational tool offered by the NGS according the reference: Use these resources in your classroom to help your students understand and take action on climate change.
It would be necessary to make a stricter distinction between what concerns the general picture and what is scientifically justifiable, advisable and necessary. The ultimate goal to preserve global common condition on which men lives, requires stringent scientific work, particular in education. Although only a small selection of topics has been commended, the contribution by the NGS does not meet fundament scientific necessities
