Draft:Outline of climatology

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to climatology:

Climatology (from Greek κλίμα, klima, "slope"; and -λογία, -logia) or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospheric condition during an extended to indefinite period of time; weather is the condition of the atmosphere during a relative brief period of time. The main topics of research are the study of climate variability, mechanisms of climate changes and modern climate change. This topic of study is regarded as part of the atmospheric sciences and a subdivision of physical geography, which is one of the Earth sciences. Climatology includes some aspects of oceanography and biogeochemistry.

The main methods employed by climatologists are the analysis of observations and modelling of the physical processes that determine climate. Short term weather forecasting can be interpreted in terms of knowledge of longer-term phenomena of climate, for instance climatic cycles such as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO), the North Atlantic oscillation (NAO), the Arctic oscillation (AO), the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO), and the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO). Climate models are used for a variety of purposes from studying the dynamics of the weather and climate system to predictions of future climate.

What type of thing is climatology?

Climatology can be described as all of the following:

Academic discipline
Branch of science
- Branch of Earth science – field of science related to the planet Earth. Earth science is the branch of science dealing with the physical constitution of the earth and its atmosphere.
  - Atmospheric science
  - Subfield of physical geography

Branches of climatology

Applied climatology – uses climatic principles and analysis to solve human problems related to water resources, agriculture, health, and forestry.
Bioclimatology
Dynamic climatology – studies the atmospheric motion of the atmosphere such as disturbance and wind circulation. It was introduced by Bergeron 1930.
Earth rainfall climatology –
- United States rainfall climatology –
Historical climatology –
Paleoclimatology –
Paleotempestology –
Physical climatology – studies the atmospheric energy in the climate. It was introduced by Milenkovitch in 1820 and Simpson in 1824.
Synoptic climatology – studies the regional and local climate of an area with the aid of climatic weather. It was initiated by Koppen in 1870.
Tornado climatology –
Tropical cyclone climatology
Urban climatology –

History of climatology

Climates

Climate

Climate classification

Köppen climate classification scheme symbols description table^[1]
1st	2nd	3rd
A (Tropical)	f (Rainforest) m (Monsoon) w (Savanna, dry winter) s (Savanna, dry summer)
B (Dry)	W (Arid desert) S (Semi-arid steppe)	h (Hot) k (Cold)
C (Temperate)	w (Dry winter) f (No dry season) s (Dry summer)	a (Hot summer) b (Warm summer) c (Cold summer)
D (Continental)	w (Dry winter) f (No dry season) s (Dry summer)	a (Hot summer) b (Warm summer) c (Cold summer) d (Very cold winter)
E (Polar)	T (Tundra) F (Ice cap)