Schematic view of the components of the global climate system (bold), their processes and interactions (thin arrows) and some aspects that may change (bold arrows).
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Schematic view of the components of the global climate system, their processes and interactions and some aspects that may change. This information is presented in a series of lists
Components of the Global Climate System
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Atmosphere (N2, O2, Ar, H2O, CO2, CH4, N2O, O3, aerosols, etc.)
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Biosphere
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Land Surface
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Cryosphere: Sea Ice, Ice Sheets, Glaciers
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Hydrosphere: Rivers and lakes
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Hydrosphere: Ocean
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Aspects that may change in the Ocean
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Circulation
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Sea Level
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Biogeochemistry
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Human Influences
From Baede, A.P.M., E. Ahlonsou, Y. Ding, and D. Schimel, 2001: The Climate System: An Overview. In: Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Houghton, J.T., Y. Ding, D.J. Griggs, M. Noguer, P.J. van der Linden, X. Dai, K. Maskell, and C.A. Johnson, eds.). Cambridge University Press, p. 88.
Several external forces influence the five climate system components, with radiation from the sun being most important. Climate scientists consider the impact of human activities on the climate system another example of external forcing.