From atmosphere, to climate, to Earth system science

AbstractIn the current context of climatic changes, climate science is becoming increasingly a focus of attention for large portions of society. At the same time, our basic understanding of climate processes is evolving very rapidly, following tremendous advances in Earth observation as well as in computing power. Still, the very notion of 'climate' appears not all that well defined, the physical contours of a 'climatic system' are often rather dependent on the given scientific question, and there is little obviously in common between – for example – researchers studying the climatic conditions experienced by the dinosaurs, those attempting to use satellite information to better quantify the present-day climate, and those who use the largest computers available to predict possible dire consequences of current global warming. But appearances are sometimes misleading. Indeed, climatology is in its essence highly interdisciplinary, and it has numerous firm connections with many other scientific disciplines i...