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| q |
Climate Change
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Climate
change refers to a statistically significant variation in either the
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mean state of the climate or in its variability,
persisting for an extended
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period (typically decades or longer). Climate change may
be due to
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natural internal processes or external forcings, or to persistent
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anthropogenic changes in the composition of the
atmosphere or in land
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use.
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| q |
Climate Variability
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Climate
variability refers to variations in the mean state and other
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statistics (such as standard deviations, the occurrence
of extremes, etc.)
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of the climate on all temporal and spatial scales beyond that of
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individual weather events. Variability may be due to
natural internal
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processes within the climate system (internal variability), or to
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variations in natural or anthropogenic external forcing (external
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variability).
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