What constitutes Climate Change? When does a weather pattern become a change in climate?
Climate change is a term that includes any significant change in measures of climate, such as temperature, precipitation, even winds that lasts for several decades or longer. Climate change may result from natural factors, such as changes in the suns intensity and slow changes in the earths axis rotation and orbit around the sun. Other natural processes within the climate system include changes in ocean circulation. Human activities are now known to change atmospheric composition, principally the build-up of carbon dioxide and other gases. The burning of fossil fuels and changes to the land surface, such as deforestation and urbanization are major causes of the growth of these so-called greenhouse gases. These high levels of greenhouse gases correlate to measurable rises in global temperatures.
