Climate: Factors that affect temperature and rainfall

What are ocean currents

Large masses of water that constantly move in the top 100m to 200m of the world’s oceans

How fast do certain ocean currents move?

10 km/hr

Give the three main causes of ocean currents

Wind

Difference in water temperature

The rotation of the Earth

Explain how wind affects ocean currents

The wind moves water on the surface of oceans.

This causes the water to move from another part of the ocean to take its place

Explain how the Earth’s Axis affects ocean currents

The spinning of the Earth on its axis causes water in ocean currents to move towards the right.

Explain how temperature affects ocean currents in terms of solar radiation (5 points)

• Water that flows near the equator is warmer than water that flows close to the poles

• The shape of the earth and its position in space defies that anywhere close to the equator receives the most solar radiation

• Solar radiation close to the poles is weaker, therefore making it cooler

• Currents close to equator: Warm Currents

• Currents close to the poles: Cool Currents

Explain how ocean currents affect the temperature and rainfall of places close to them (6 points)

• Air over the cold/warm ocean currents are either warmed or cooled

• The cooling causes the air to lose moisture as rain.

• The air absorbs moisture from the ocean

• When the warm air is cooled, it is released as rain

• There places close to cool currents—cool and dry.

• Places Close to warm currents—warm and wet

Climate

The general conditions of the atmosphere an area can expect over a long period of time

Weather

The day-to-day conditions within a atmosphere in a area

Climate Graph

A way of presenting the climatic conditions in a area regarding temperature and rainfall

Climate Region

A large span of are that has very similar weather conditions

What are the two most important parts that regard climate

Temperature

Climate

Temperature

How hot or cold a place is

What is rainfall

The pouring down of a type of precipitation in a area

Formula for calculating average rainfall in a area per month

Total number of periods / Number of periods

What is another name for distance from the equator?

Latitude

Why is latitude the most important factor that affects climate

It directly affects the amount of solar radiation an area receives, which in turn determines the overall temperature

Explain how latitude affects the temperature of various areas (3 points)

• Temperatures decrease with latitude—The further away from the equator, the lower the average temperature

• Places at the equator have much higher temperatures than place next to the poles—because the sun’s radiation and heat is concentrated over a small area rather than being spread out

• The Earth’s tilted, axis and shape causes places at the poles to have very few hours of sunlight.