What Factors Influence Climate?

The Earth Has Many Different Climates

• Weather: Local area’s short-term temperature, precipitation, humidity, windspeed cloud cover, and other conditions.

• Climate: Area’s general pattern of the atmosphere over a long period of time.

• Ocean Currents: Prevailing winds and earth rotation.

• Tropical: Equator, intense sunlight

• Polar: Poles, little sunlight

• Temperate: In-between tropical and polar

El Nino- Southern Oscillation

• El Niño-Southern Oscillation: It happens every few years. Prevailing winds in the tropical Pacific Ocean change direction. It affects much of earth’s weather for 1-2 years

Greenhouse Gases Warm the Lower Atmosphere

• Greenhouse gases: H20, CO2, CH4, N2O

• Greenhouse effect: Gases keep the earth warm and habitable

• Moist air rises cool and releases moisture as rain

Earth’s Surface Features Affect Local Climates

• Rain Shadow Effect: Most precipitation falls on the windward side of mountain ranges.

How Does Climate Affect the Nature and Locations of Biomes?

Climate Helps Determine Where Organisms Can Live

• Major biomes: Large land regions with certain types of climate and dominant plant life

• Abiotic factors

  • Latitude

  • Elevation

  • Precipitation

  • Temperature

There Are Three Major Types of Deserts

1. Tropical deserts: Hot and dry most of the year. They have few plants and are often deserts that are seen in movies.

2. Temperate deserts: Temperatures are high in the summer and low in winter and they have more precipitation.

3. Cold deserts: Winters are cold and summers are hot. Precipitation is also low.

• They have fragile ecosystems

  • Slow plant growth

  • Not a lot of species diversity

  • Lack of water

There Are Three Major Types of Grasslands

• Grasslands: This happens in areas that are too moist for deserts and too dry for forests.

• Tropical

  • Savanna: Brazing and browsing animals

• Temperate: Cold winters and hot and dry summers, with tall and short grass prairies

  • Chaparral:

• Artic tundra: Fragile biome with plants close to the ground. They also have short summers and the animals there have thick fur

  • Permafrost: Underground soil that stays frozen

• Alpine Tundra: Above the tree line in the mountains

How Have We Affected the World’s Terrestrial Ecosystem?

Major Human Impacts on Terrestrial Ecosystem

• Deserts

  • Large desert cities

  • Soil destruction by off-road vehicles

  • Soil salinization from irrigation

  • Depletion of groundwater

  • Land disturbance and pollution from mineral extraction

• Grasslands

  • Conversion to cropland

  • Release of CO2 to the atmosphere from burning grassland

  • Overgrazing by livestock

  • Oil production and off-road vehicles in the arctic tundra

• Forest

  • Clearing for agriculture, livestock grazing, timber, and urban development

  • Conversion of diverse forests to tree plantations

  • Damage from off-road vehicles

  • Pollution of forest streams

• Mountains

  • Agriculture

  • Timber extraction

  • Mineral extraction

  • Hydroelectric dams and reservoirs

  • Increasing tourism

  • Urban air pollution

  • Increased ultraviolet radiation from ozone depletion

  • Soil damage from off-road vehicles