CDG2024 Discussion C7

Earth is the only planet or moon in the solar system with water in all three phases (liquid, gas, and ice) and with a perfect atmosphere to sustain myriad life forms. To understand climate, it is necessary to understand weather. To understand weather, it is necessary to include all significant climate forces and systems, and how they vary over time. Single-simplistic averages of sunlight, infrared radiation, greenhouse gases, albedo, etc. remove all the features of the Earth's uniqueness that shape our weather and how it varies all over the planet, all of the time. Weather and climate are the total picture of all the parts, and not just the story of static averages. John Shanahan, Civil Engineer.