Final answer:
Climate zones are defined by temperature and precipitation, influenced by environmental factors such as elevation and latitude. Global climate change is characterized by long-term weather pattern changes, with human activities contributing significantly to these changes. Mitigating the effects of climate change involves understanding its natural and anthropogenic causes and taking actions at both individual and policy levels.
Step-by-step explanation:
The factors that affect climate types and their distribution include an array of environmental and geological influences. The Köppen-Geiger classification system distinguishes six basic climate zones labeled A, B, C, D, E, and H. These climate types are determined primarily by two variables: temperature and precipitation. Additionally, various elements such as elevation, latitude, wind systems, ocean currents, position on a continent, and mountain barriers can influence these factors and thereby the distribution of climate regions.
Global climate change has brought about noticeable alterations in weather patterns, with significant impacts on temperature and precipitation worldwide, largely due to rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The three areas of study to understand climate change include: current and past global climate change, causes of past and present-day global climate change, and results of climate change. It is essential to distinguish between climate and weather, where climate represents the average long-term weather patterns, and weather describes short-term conditions.
Human activities, like deforestation and the use of fossil fuels, have contributed to climate change, which affects every biome. The causes of natural climate changes include factors like Earth's orbital patterns, tectonic plates, changes in solar output, and greenhouse gases, which operate over various time scales.
Tectonic plate movement plays a role not only in shaping the physical landscapes but also in affecting climate by changing ocean and atmospheric currents, as well as the position of the continents. Addressing the impact of climate change and mitigating its effects is a responsibility that falls on everyone from individual actions to governmental policies.