GC: n

S: http://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/drought-and-humanitarian-crisis-central-and-southwest-asia-climate-perspective (last access: 17 July 2016 ); http://drought.unl.edu/DroughtBasics/WhatisClimatology.aspx (last access: 17 July 2016).

N: 1. “scientific study of climates,” 1803, from climate (late 14c., “horizontal zone of the earth,” Scottish, from Old French climat “region, part of the earth,” from Latin clima (genitive climatis) “region; slope of the Earth,” from Greek klima “region, zone,” literally “an inclination, slope,” thus “slope of the Earth from equator to pole,” from root of klinein “to slope, to lean”) + -ology (word-forming element indicating “branch of knowledge, science,” now the usual form of -logy).
2. Study of the mean physical state of the atmosphere together with its statistical variations in both space and time as reflected in the weather behaviour over a period of many years.
3. Climatology, branch of the atmospheric sciences concerned with both the description of climate and the analysis of the causes of climatic differences and changes and their practical consequences. Climatology treats the same atmospheric processes as meteorology, but it seeks as well to identify the slower-acting influences and longer-term changes of import, including the circulation of the oceans and the small yet measurable variations in the intensity of solar radiation.
From its origins in 6th-century-bc Greek science, climatology has developed along two main lines: regional climatology and physical climatology.
4. Climatology is the study of climates. You may have also heard about meteorology. Is there a difference? Yes. Meteorologists focus on forecasting weather. They look at a few basic atmospheric interactions and hope to predict the weather in the next few days. Climatologists take a much larger view of the whole climate/weather idea. They look at how climates are created and what they do to the environment. It is a long-term study of the geographic world.

S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=climatology (last access: 17 July 2016). 2. METEOTERM – International Meteorological Vocabulary, WMO – No. 182 (last access: 17 July 2016). 3. EncBrit – https://global.britannica.com/science/climatology (last access: 17 July 2016). 4. http://www.geography4kids.com/files/climate_climatology.html (last access: 17 July 2016).

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CR: climatotherapy, meteorology, weather.