Articles | Volume 17, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-17-1529-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-17-1529-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Perspective
| 
09 Oct 2026
Perspective |
| 09 Oct 2026
| 09 Oct 2026
Can we define climate by means of an ensemble? A tale of time scales of convergence
MTA-ELTE Theoretical Physics Research Group, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/A, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
Instituto de Física Interdisciplinar y Sistemas Complejos (CSIC-UIB), Campus UIB, Carretera de Valldemossa, km 7,5, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
HUN-REN Institute for Nuclear Research, Bem tér 18/C, 4026 Debrecen, Hungary
Tamás Bódai
Pusan National University, Busandaehak-ro 63beon-gil 2 (Jangjeon-dong), Geumjeong-gu, 46241 Busan, Republic of Korea
Center for Climate Physics, Institute for Basic Science, Busandaehak-ro 63beon-gil 2 (Jangjeon-dong), Geumjeong-gu, 46241 Busan, Republic of Korea
Department of Applied Statistics, Institute for Mathematics and Basic Sciences, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
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Short summary
Climate and its change is of central importance to science and human society in general. However, it appears to us that a satisfactory definition of climate has not yet appeared in the literature. We attempt to introduce one which is based on an ensemble of realizations and satisfies uniqueness. Within this framework, it also attends to different time scales of relevance, a well-established treatment of which is the main novelty of our work.
Climate and its change is of central importance to science and human society in general....
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