Task: Class Definition Understanding (ontology: Earth_Environment/EnvironmentOntology)

Which of the following definitions best describes 'climate change'?

A. An environmental process during which a system does not thermally interact with its surroundings by virtue of a temperature difference between them.
B. An environmental process either driven by or primarily impacting the parts or emergent properties of an ecosystem.
C. The long-term fluctuations in temperature, precipitation, wind, and all other aspects of the Earth's climate. External processes, such as solar-irradiance variations, variations of the Earth's orbital parameters (eccentricity, precession, and inclination), lithosphere motions, and volcanic activity, are factors in climatic variation. Internal variations of the climate system, e.g., changes in the abundance of greenhouse gases, also may produce fluctuations of sufficient magnitude and variability to explain observed the concept through the feedback processes interrelating the components of the climate system.
D. A process which results in the formation of an island.

Answer: The long-term fluctuations in temperature, precipitation, wind, and all other aspects of the Earth's climate. External processes, such as solar-irradiance variations, variations of the Earth's orbital parameters (eccentricity, precession, and inclination), lithosphere motions, and volcanic activity, are factors in climatic variation. Internal variations of the climate system, e.g., changes in the abundance of greenhouse gases, also may produce fluctuations of sufficient magnitude and variability to explain observed the concept through the feedback processes interrelating the components of the climate system.