What is the formal name for climate studies?

The formal name for climate studies is climatology. It is the scientific study of Earth’s climate—long-term patterns of temperature, precipitation, winds, and other atmospheric conditions.

Climatology differs from meteorology, which focuses mainly on short-term weather and forecasting. Climatologists examine averages, variations, cycles, and trends across regions and over periods ranging from decades to thousands or millions of years. A commonly used climate normal summarizes weather over 30 years.

The word climate ultimately comes from the ancient Greek klima, meaning “slope” or “inclination,” a reference to the apparent influence of the Sun’s angle on different parts of Earth. Ancient Greek writers, including Hippocrates around 400 BCE, discussed how climate could affect health and human societies. Modern climatology combines atmospheric science with oceanography, geology, ecology, and computer modeling.

Common mix-ups include treating climate and weather as synonyms: weather might describe today’s rain, while climate describes the typical conditions and long-term changes of a place. Paleoclimatology is the specialized study of climates in Earth’s distant past, using evidence such as ice cores, tree rings, fossils, and sediments.