In sciences such as
physics,
geography,
astronomy,
meteorology and
statistics, the term
scale or
spatial scale is used for describing or classifying with large approximation the extent or size of a length, distance, or area studied or described. For instance, in physics an object or phenomenon can be called microscopic if too small to be visible. In
climatology, a
micro-climate is a
climate which might occur in a
mountain,
valley, or near a lake shore, whereas in
statistics a megatrend is a political, social, economical, environmental, or technological
trend which involves the whole
planet or is supposed to last a very large amount of time.