The term sometimes is used to refer specifically to climate change caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earth's natural processes.
Fizični, splošni modeli cirkulacije se pogosto uporabljajo v teoriji za primerjavo preteklih podatkov o podnebju, da bi lahko naredili prihodnje napovedi ter povezali vzroke in učinke na podnebne spremembe.