2018 Chapters (Layout Features)

Climate basics

Mason, Simon J.

In this chapter, we focus on key concepts that health professionals need to understand in order to use climate data and information effectively. We explain the distinction between climate and weather and introduce some basic principles on the physics of the climate. We then go on to describe the character and behaviour of three key variables, namely temperature, precipitation and humidity. Descriptions of a range of other relevant important climate variables follow. Included is a section on storms that describes how temperature, wind and rainfall interact to create devastating extreme events. The final section discusses how data for different variables can be aggregated in time and space, and identifies challenges that emerge in the process.