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2.1.1 Introduction – some definitions
Weather is how we experience the atmosphere around us at a given time and place
(eg the wind speed, the amount of cloud, the air temperature and humidity etc).
Climate is what we expect the weather to be like at that particular time and
place. To define the climate of a region requires many years of weather observations
to determine average statistics (30 years is typically taken as a standard by
the World Meteorological Organisation; http://www.wmo.ch/).
Climate also encompasses the range of variability (or observed extremes) about
average conditions. Climate varies naturally from year to year and often departures
from average (anomalies) are experienced. El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
is the major source of inter-annual tropical climate variability that causes
climate anomalies in many parts of the tropics (including Queensland and adjacent
waters) and extra-tropical latitudes (http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/toga-tao/el-nino/nino-home.html).
A climate change occurs when there is a significant change in the average climate
and/or its variability so that our expectation of weather also changes.
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