Meteorology and climate policy
Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere, focusing on weather, climate, and the interactions of various atmospheric phenomena. It draws upon multiple scientific disciplines, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computer science, to analyze both short-term weather patterns and long-term climate trends. Central to understanding climate change, meteorologists assess how changes in the atmosphere's physical and chemical properties affect global weather systems, informing climate policy and decision-making.
Dynamic meteorology explores atmospheric motion and the underlying physical principles, forming a foundation for modern weather prediction. Physical meteorology examines the atmosphere's various properties, including humidity and thermal content, which are critical to understanding global warming's effects. As the field evolves, specialized branches such as satellite meteorology and climatology have emerged, enhancing the study of climate through interdisciplinary approaches.
Moreover, atmospheric chemistry plays a crucial role in climate research by examining the impact of greenhouse gases and pollutants on climate systems. Given the complexity of Earth's climate, which involves interactions between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, cryosphere, and biosphere, meteorology must integrate insights from various scientific domains to effectively address the challenges posed by climate change.
Meteorology and climate policy
Arguably the most important aspect of climate change is its effects on the physical and chemical properties of Earth’s atmosphere. Meteorologists can assess those effects and their consequences, informing climate policy decisions.
Background
Meteorology is the scientific study of the atmosphere, weather, and climate. It combines most of the basic scientific disciplines, such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, statistics, and computer science, and applies them to Earth’s atmosphere and its phenomena. Thus, meteorology is a branch of Earth science and of physical science.
Meteorology provides the core knowledge about climate change and global warming. It can be used to analyze planetary climate patterns as well as continental, regional, and local patterns. Meteorologists measure weather and other specific atmospheric phenomena and abstract from those measurements to determine the climate, the long-term average conditions in a given location.
Dynamic Meteorology
Dynamic meteorology is the core discipline of the atmospheric sciences. It employs dynamics, fluid mechanics, and classical mechanics, coupled with rigorous mathematics, to study atmospheric motion and evolution. Dynamic meteorology treats the atmosphere as a fluid continuum, applying Newtonian principles to atmospheric systems. Modern numerical weather prediction is a result of this approach. Many methods in dynamic meteorology are also extended to study climate systems in the closely related discipline of climate dynamics. Climate dynamics may provide a good tool for studying climate change. Various global circulation models (GCMs) are examples of this application.
Physical Meteorology
In addition to its kinetic properties and dynamic evolution, the atmosphere possesses many other physical properties, such as its thermal content, its humidity, its electrical and optical properties, and so forth. To study these physical properties of the atmosphere, meteorologists incorporate the principles and approaches of physics. A wide range of subjects is helpful in studying such atmospheric phenomena, including cloud physics, thermodynamics, precipitation physics, boundary-layer meteorology, thermal convection, atmospheric electricity, and atmospheric optics.
Many atmospheric physical properties are directly related to global climate change. For example, clouds are an important factor in global warming. Clouds play a dual role in the global climate system. On one hand, they contribute significantly to Earth’s albedo, reflecting a large amount of solar energy back into space and producing a effect. On the other hand, they absorb long-wave radiation from the Earth’s surface and re-emit it, thereby heating the atmosphere and surface. Increased atmospheric humidity due to global warming will increase cloud cover and influence severe weather patterns as well. Physical meteorology can provide a detailed understanding of these aspects of climate change.
Applied Meteorology
As meteorologists’ understanding of the complexity of Earth’s climate system has increased, new applied meteorological specializations have emerged. Thus, the field now includes satellite meteorology, radar meteorology, statistical meteorology, agricultural micrometeorology, and climatology. These new subdisciplines are fundamentally interdisciplinary. They not only help translate meteorological concepts and research methods to other scientific disciplines but also strengthen meteorology by incorporating the technologies and methods of its sister sciences. For example, modern technologies, such as radar and satellites, add fresh content to meteorology and provide new observational tools for studying the atmosphere. These new areas are also important for global climate studies. For example, satellites can provide a global view of the global warming effect.
Atmospheric Chemistry
Traditional meteorology is mostly concerned with the physical aspects of the atmosphere. Climate researchers, however, have found that atmospheric chemistry is just as important for understanding climate change. Greenhouse gases are central to global climate change, and other aspects of atmospheric composition may play similarly important roles. Ozone depletion in the is both an atmospheric dynamics and problem that concerns climate change. In addition, Earth’s is an important area for climate study.
With an increasing level of global industrialization and urbanization, environmental and protection become more concerned issues. Air pollution and air quality are central to these environmental problems. Acid rain and environmental acidification are also concerns for environment protection and conservation. For all these problems, atmospheric chemistry can provide fundamental understanding.
Context
Meteorology is one of the primary sciences employed in the study of Earth’s climate system. Earth’s climate is a complex system, however, that includes five components: atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, cryosphere, and biosphere. It is the interaction of all five of these components that determines Earth’s climatic environment. Therefore, meteorology, although providing a core understanding of global climate and climate change, must be combined with knowledge from other scientific disciplines, such as oceanography, geology, hydrology, chemistry, biology, ecology, astronomy, and glaciology, to address global climate change.
Key Concepts
- climate: long-term average weather conditions
- mesoscale: the atmospheric scale between microscale and synoptic scale, ranging from a few kilometers to hundreds of kilometers
- microscale: the smallest scale of atmospheric motion, ranging from meters to kilometers
- planetary scale: the largest scale of atmospheric motion, covering the entire globe
- synoptic scale: the typical scale of weather maps, showing such features as high- and low-pressure systems, fronts, and jet streams over an area spanning a continent
- weather: a particular atmospheric state at a given time and place
Bibliography
Ahrens, C. Donald. Essentials of Meteorology: An Invitation to the Atmosphere. 5th ed. Belmont, Calif.: Thomson Brooks/Cole, 2008.
Buster, Grant, et al. "High-Resolution Meteorology with Climate Change Impacts from Global Climate Model Data Using Generative Machine Learning." Nature Energy, vol. 9, 9 Apr. 2024, pp. 894-906, doi.org/10.1038/s41560-024-01507-9. Accessed 17 Dec. 2024.
Geer, Ira W., ed. Glossary of Weather and Climate. Boston: American Meteorological Society, 1996.
Glickman, Todd S., ed. Glossary of Meteorology. 2d ed. Boston: American Meteorological Society, 2000.
Lutgens, Frederick K., and Edward J. Tarbuck. The Atmosphere. 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007.
Rowan, Sam. "Extreme Weather and Climate Policy." Environmental Politics, vol. 32, no. 4, 4 Oct. 2022, pp. 684-707, doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2022.2127478. Accessed 17 Dec. 2024.