Climate: Factors that affect temperature and rainfall

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.

Give a contrasting statement about areas inland and coastal areas.

Places inland have far warmer winters and cooler summers than coastal areas

Explain why is that the case ( 4 points).

• The sea helps cools coastal places during the summer and warms them during the winter

• The Ocean is a liquid, and the land is a solid—Solids and liquids heat up very differently

• Solar radiation heats up the surface to higher temperature

• This is since the sun only heats up the surface in the land but penetrates its radiant heat throughout the deep levels of ocean water—→ which is quite large

How is the atmosphere affected by the temperature of the land or ocean?

The air above it is either warmed or cooled by the ocean or land beneath it

What is altitude

Height above sea level

How much is a drop in degrees for every increase of 1000m in altitude

6,5 °C

True or False?

Solar Radiation Heats the Air molecules

Explain your reasoning

False.

Incoming solar radiation passes through the atmosphere without heating it. Radiation only begins when the sun’s rays strike the land or ocean(Earth’s Surface). Only when the land or ocean is heated up is when the air molecules can absorb and transfer heat.

Explain how the atmosphere is heated up.

The heat transfer among air molecules is uneven. This is due to the fewer amount of air molecules in each unit of the atmosphere. The air molecules close to the surface are more in quantity. dense and concentrated due to the air pressure below… The air molecules at this level absorb and transfer heat easily. However as you explore upon teh molecules at a higher depth the air becomes thinner , causing less pressure to concentrate the air molecules and make them dense. As more molecules spread out . heat transfer is less efficient leading to the statement on why it is cooler the higher you go up.

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

What does relief refer to?

The shape of the mountain

How does relief affect temperature?

Areas may receive more solar radiation than others. Some places directly face the sun, while the relief of a mountain might shelter places from getting any sunlight for long periods of time.

How does relief affect rainfall?

The shape of the mountain forces the moist air to rise up against the mountain slope to condense and rain. However the shape of the relief might deny the other side to get any rain (Rain shallow areas)

Define Windward and Leeward

Windward—areas that face the wind

Leeward—Areas that are sheltered from the wind