Climatology

Climatology (from Greek κλίμα, klima, "place, zone"; and -λογία, -logia) or climate science is the study of climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time. This modern field of study is regarded as a branch of the atmospheric sciences and a subfield of physical geography, which is one of the Earth sciences. Climatology now includes aspects of oceanography and biogeochemistry. Basic knowledge of climate can be used within shorter term weather forecasting using analog techniques such as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO), the North Atlantic oscillation (NAO), the Northern Annular Mode (NAM) which is also known as the Arctic oscillation (AO), the Northern Pacific (NP) Index, the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO), and the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO). Climate models are used for a variety of purposes from study of the dynamics of the weather and climate system to projections of future climate.

Climate Research (journal)

Climate Research is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Inter-Research Science Center that was established in 1990. Its founder and long time publisher was Otto Kinne. Three volumes, each typically containing half a dozen articles, are published each year. Each of its 12 editors therefore handles an average of less than 2 articles a year. Climate Research covers all aspects of the interactions of climate with organisms, ecosystems, and human societies. The journal is also known for its publication in 2003 of a controversial and now discredited climate change article.

In 2006, a special issue of the journal, titled "Advances in Applying Climate Prediction to Agriculture", was published under open access.

Soon and Baliunas controversy

In 2003, a controversial paper written by Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas was published in the journal after being accepted by editor Chris de Freitas. The article reviewed 240 previous papers and concluded that "Across the world, many records reveal that the 20th century is probably not the warmest or a uniquely extreme climatic period of the last millennium". Several of the scientists cited in the paper have since denied this conclusion and have claimed that their data and results had been misrepresented. In response to the handling by the journal publisher of the controversy over the paper's publication, several scientists, including newly appointed editor-in-chief Hans von Storch, resigned from the journal's editorial board.