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APPENDIX B: DEFINITIONS According to the U.S. Conmittee for the Global Atmospheric Research Program (1975), climate and climate change may be defined as follows: Climate state. This is defined as the average (together with the variability and other statistics) of the complete set of atmospheric, hydrospheric, and cryospheric variables over a specified period of time in a specified domain of the earth-atmosphere system. The time interval is understood to be considerably longer than the life span of individual synoptic weather systems (of the order of several days) and longer than the theoretical time limit over which the behavior of the atmosphere can be locally predicted (of the order of several weeks). We may thus speak, for example, of monthly, seasonal, yearly, or decadal climate states. Climate variation. This is defined as the difference between climate states of the same kind, as between two Januaries or between two decades. We may thus speak, for example, of monthly, seasonal, yearly, or decadal climate variations in a precise way. The phrase "climate change" is used in a more general fashion but is generally synonymous with this definition. Climate anomaly. This we define as the deviation of a particular climate state from the average of a (relatively) large number of climate states of the same kind. We may thus speak, for example, of the climate anomaly represented by a particular January or by a particular year. Climate variability. This we define as the variance among a number of climate states of the same kind. We may thus speak, for example, of monthly, seasonal, yearly, or decadal climate variability. Although it may be confusing, this definition of climate variability includes the variance of the variability of the individual climate states. 66
