Weather and Climate Questions

What is the difference between weather and climate?

Weather refers to day-to-day atmospheric conditions, while climate is the average weather conditions over long periods in a specific region.

What is the Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Drift?

An Atlantic ocean current moving from the Gulf of Mexico to the British Isles, characterized by warm water rising and cold water sinking in a cycle.

How does temperature change within the troposphere?

Temperature decreases by 6.4°C every 1000 meters.

What characterizes the tropopause?

It is the upper limit to Earth's atmosphere and climate, featuring an isothermal layer of constant temperature.

What is the significance of the stratosphere?

It contains a steady increase in temperature due to ozone concentration, has dry air, and serves as a shield against meteorites.

What is the Coriolis effect?

The phenomenon caused by Earth's rotation, deflecting air movement to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.

What is the jet stream?

A narrow band of strong wind in the upper levels of the atmosphere.

Briefly describe the global heat budget.

It's the balance between incoming and outgoing solar radiation, differing across the globe and throughout the years, leading to heat distribution.

What is thermohaline circulation?

Movement of deep ocean currents due to density and salinity differences.

What is DANA?

A high-altitude isolated depression, forming independently of polar/subtropical jet streams, occurring in Spain every 20 years in autumn.

Name the major climate types.

Tropical, Dry, Mediterranean, Continental, Temperate, and Polar.

What is the heat equator?

A continuous area on the globe that experiences the highest surface temperatures, both moving north and south.

What is the ITCZ?

The Intertropical Convergence Zone, an area of low pressure and ascending air formed where trade winds converge, resulting in convection from thermal heating.

What characterizes monsoons?

Seasonal prevailing winds, bringing rain between May and September in South/Southeast Asia, or dryness between October and April.

Describe the monsoon seasons

1. Rainy season, June–September, rains from the southwest, lateness affects rural dwellers, intense rain on high ground (western ghats on arabian sea, uplands of bay of bengal)

2. Cold dry season, October– January, lower temperatures, north-east monsoon

3. Hot dry season, February–May, summer, interior and north temperatures are extremely high, convectional thunderstorms and tropical cyclones

What are jet streams?

narrow bands of strong wind in the upper levels of the atmosphere, moving above (hot and dry air) or below (cold and wet air) or on (mixed temperature and precipitation)

How do Jet Streams Affect the UK Climate?

Jet streams create mixed temperatures when in line, bringing hot dry air when above, and cold wet air when below.

What factors affect the UK’s climate?

Ocean currents: movement of surface water, receiving 67% of the sun’s energy, transfers ~25% of the global heat budget

Altitude: distance in height forms ea level eg. Grampian Mountains in Scotland, Himalayas in Nepal

Aspect: compass direction a slope faces, southern slopes in the northern hemisphere receive the most light

Latitude: how north/south a place is, temperature decreases the further away from the equator

Air masses: maritime and continental, polar and continental, bring hot/cold, wet/dry

Define anthropogenic climate change.

Climate change caused by human activity since the industrial era.

What do Milankovitch Cycles affect?

Shape of Earth's orbit, Earth's tilted axis, and direction of spin.

How has CO2 concentration changed since the industrial era?

It has increased by 50%.

What was the Jurassic Warming Event?

A period caused by the release of volcanic CO2, leading to a greenhouse effect and temperature rise.

What is AMOC?

Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation

What are the consequences of AMOC weakening?

Could cause Western Europe to become much warmer and Canada, the US, and Europe much colder.

What is wrong with the 1951 Refugee Convention?

The refugee treaty does not cover climate refugees.

What were the major effects of Cyclone Nargis?

Massive impact on Myanmar, with a death toll of 138,373, storm surge of 5m, and rainfall of up to 600mm

What were the effects of Typhoon Haiyan?

Winds up to 313km/h, 282mm rainfall in 12 hours and storm surges of 7m

What were the key impacts from Hurricane Harvey?

Storm with 2 feet of rainfall on Texas in 24 hours, storm surges of 13 feet

Describe the Australia Tinderbox Drought.

Dry land amplified heat waves 2.oC while rainfall deficit was 50%

Describe the effects of the California Wildfires of 2025.

Led to 507 wildfires, 57,768 acres burned, 104,174 emergency responses, and 16,251 structures destroyed

What are urban microclimates?

Climatic domes with their own temperature and humidity systems, precipitation, wind speed and turbulence and visibility

What are Urban Heat Islands (UHI)?

An urban area that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas

Define albedo.

Reflectivity on a scale of 0 to 1 (nothing to everything reflected)

Describe the Urban Canyon effect.

Narrow streets bordered by high rise buildings funnelling and concentrating winds

Describe the Venturi Effect.

Violent forms of gusting caused in narrow gaps by air rushing to replace low pressure vortices beyond structures

How can urban areas reduce UHI?

Employing Cool surfaces by painting them light, using Green roofs which increase/maintain biodiversity and plant vegetation on the south/west of buildings to reduce air conditioning costs by 30%

What occurred in the Europe Heatwave of 2003?

An Excess mortality rate of 40, 000 deaths

Describe the Great Smog of 1952.

Occurred from smoke from coal burning mixing with fog. It had a death toll of 12, 000 due to respiratory diseases and traffic accidents

How does Chicago attempt to combat climate change?

Tree coverage has increased by 8,800 acres in 10 years, aiming to increase coverage by 25% by 2030, and has a green/cool roof space of 5 million sq ft