Answer:
The climate system involves a number of different factors that are measured differently. For example, Wind and Temperature. Both of these factors will heavily affect the climate system, but both of these factors are so different, and they need different instruments to be measured
Climatic change happens over many years so it might be hard to notice dramatic changes over just one human lifetime. Scientists are using modern tools to read clues that were left long ago and building a picture of what’s happening to the Earth’s climate. There are thousands of scientists studying different aspects of climate science including chemists, biologists, physicists, oceanographers and geologists. They’re looking everywhere. Scientists are trained to be skeptical and to debate ideas until they all agree. Even then, there’s always room for new evidence that can help refine a theory and deepen our understanding.
Trees, corals and limestone deposits (speleotherms), such as stalactites and stalagmites in caves, hold clues about ancient climates. Corals and trees can live for thousands of years. Each year’s growth is recorded as a new layer or ‘growth ring’. The layers provide information about temperature, rainfall and other environmental conditions at the time they were created. The growth rings incorporate materials from the surroundings and thus create a record of the environment’s history.
Snow traps air bubbles when it falls and is compressed to form ice. Scientists have drilled 3200 metres into the ice to sample air from ancient times. They’ve tested the air in the bubbles to see how much of each gas (eg oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen) it contains. Carbon dioxide levels have gone up and down in cycles of about 100 000 years. The temperatures and carbon dioxide concentrations shown in the graph occurred at Vostok in Antarctica during the last 400 000 years. It seems that when carbon dioxide levels are high, the temperature goes up too.
The water in the ice around the bubbles reveals what temperatures were like at the time. The ice is made up of a mix of ordinary water and heavy water (deuterium). At least one of the hydrogen atoms in heavy water is a bit bulkier than normal so it’s harder to evaporate and deposit as snow. Only high temperatures can do the job. So if there’s a lot of heavy water in the ice it indicates that temperatures were high. Scientists use the ratio of heavy to normal water in ice layers to estimate average temperatures at the time the ice was made.
Scientists have regularly sampled the Earth’s atmosphere since the 1950s. They’re measuring the carbon dioxide and other gases that contain carbon in the air.
Plants preferentially take in carbon-dioxide that contains carbon-12 so they, and the fossil fuels they turn into, contain almost no carbon-13. Scientists have sampled the air continuously since the 1950s. They’ve found that the type of carbon increasing in the air is carbon-12 and is thus likely to be coming from the burning of fossil fuels.When carbon is burned, carbon dioxide gas is released into the air. It’s measured in parts per million (ppm) by volume, which means the number of units of carbon dioxide per million units of air.
More than 3500 Argo floats are drifting along in the world’s ocean currents. These small robots constantly gather information about temperature and salinity. Each float spends most of the time 2000 metres below the surface but it emerges every ten days to transmit data to satellites.
Australia’s CSIRO scientists released the first Argo floats in 1999. Today 26 countries are involved, gathering data and building a clear picture of warming oceans.
Weather is what’s happening outside the window right now. Daily temperature and rainfall has been measured in Australia for the past 200 years. These weather records have documented daily conditions throughout the year. When averaged over a number of years, the records create a picture of prevailing conditions, or climate, in each region. So, climate describes the long term pattern of weather conditions that occurs in a locality. Thermometers and rain gauges are used to collect weather data. These days temperatures are also taken by satellites to reduce the possibility of false high readings due to heat in cities.
Overall, rainfall has dropped in south eastern areas and temperatures have risen in inland regions. Since 2005, temperatures have reached record highs. CSIRO’s climate models suggest that, although we’ll experience more dry days in future, the rainfall will be heavier when it comes.
And there are even more instruments that are needed to measure change in the climate as there are so many ways as to which it is affected.