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Which Earth science fields study weather, oceans, glaciers, and climate?
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physical science
The Compact Muon Solenoid magnet arriving in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, 2007.
Within the Earth sciences, several specialized fields are dedicated to studying weather, oceans, glaciers, and climate:
- Weather: Meteorology is the scientific study of atmospheric phenomena, focusing on the causes of weather and the processes involved in weather forecasting.12
- Oceans: Oceanography is the field concerned with the study of the world's oceans, including the physical and chemical properties of ocean water and the topography of the ocean floor.34
- Glaciers: Glaciology is the discipline focused on all aspects of ice on landmasses, including the structure, formation, and dynamics of glaciers.54
- Climate: Climatology examines long-term atmospheric patterns, the causes of climatic changes, and the interactions between the atmosphere and other components of the Earth system, such as oceans and glaciers.62
These disciplines are often grouped under the hydrologic and atmospheric sciences, which investigate the water and air at or above the Earth's surface.4