Climate
Our atmosphere is made of swirling gases that have been fluctuating in composition for millennia. It is affected by the rotation of the Earth, solar radiation, geothermal heat, volcanic eruptions, and life processes that exchange chemicals in one form for another. Weather is the short-term atmospheric conditions in a specific location, such as whether it is raining, or there is a hurricane. Climate is the long-term average of atmospheric conditions over 30 years or more in that same location, shaping ecosystems and influencing the activity of the organisms that live there.
