Components of the Climate System

Figure 1 illustrates, in the broadest sense, the various components of the climate system. The physical components of the earth or climate system are given in capital letters: atmosphere, ocean, earth, land, ice-sheets and snow, biomass, and sea-ice, and space. The atmosphere, with its major gases, trace gases, clouds and aerosol, is influenced from space by radiation and from the underlying solid and liquid surface of the earth by a variety of processes.

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