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  2. Essential Climate Variables
  3. Essential Climate Variables Table

 Essential Climate Variables

FFor graphical version click here
FWhat are Essential Climate Variables (ECVs)?

Atmosphere

Surface

  • Precipitation
  • Pressure 
  • Radiation budget
  • Temperature 
  • Water vapour 
  • Wind speed and direction 

Upper-air

  • Earth radiation budget 
  • Lightning 
  • Temperature 
  • Water vapor 
  • Wind speed and direction 

Atmospheric Composition

  • Aerosols 
  • Carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases 
  • Clouds 
  • Ozone 
  • Precursors for aerosols and ozone 
 

Land

Hydrosphere

  • Groundwater 
  • Lakes 
  • River discharge

Cryosphere

  • Glaciers
  • Ice sheets and ice shelves
  • Permafrost
  • Snow

Biosphere

  • Above-ground biomass
  • Albedo
  • Evaporation from land
  • Fire
  • Fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FAPAR)
  • Land cover
  • Land surface temperature
  • Leaf area index
  • Soil carbon
  • Soil moisture

Anthroposphere

  • Anthropogenic Greenhouse gas fluxes
  • Anthropogenic water use
 

Ocean

Physical

  • Ocean surface heat flux 
  • Sea ice
  • Sea level
  • Sea state
  • Sea surface currents
  • Sea surface salinity
  • Sea surface stress 
  • Sea surface temperature
  • Subsurface currents 
  • Subsurface salinity 
  • Subsurface temperature

Biogeochemical

  • Inorganic carbon
  • Nitrous oxide
  • Nutrients
  • Ocean colour
  • Oxygen
  • Transient tracers

Biological/ecosystems

  • Marine habitats
  • Plankton

EU Copernicus

 

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