Factors that Affect Climate What is climate Climate
- Slides: 25
Factors that Affect Climate
What is climate? • Climate is the average weather conditions over a long period of time – Includes average temperatures and precipitation, wind patterns, humidity, air pressure • Weather is what it is NOW, climate is what it SHOULD BE.
How is this different from “weather”? • Weather changes day to day. • Weather can fall inside normal ranges or outside of what is expected from the climate- “above or below average” • Climate is the benchmark; what we expect
NJ Averages • • Average April Precip: 4. 60 in. 4/30/14 Precip: 3. 24 in. Average May High Temp: 71°F Today’s high: 67°F
Climate Factors Temperature Factors (LADBWOC!) • Latitude • Altitude • Distance to a Body of Water • Ocean Currents Precipitation Factors (TP) • Topography • Prevailing Winds
How does Latitude affect climate? (the angular distance N or S of the • Latitude is the most significant factor for determining climate • Warmer at the equator • Colder at the poles – in general • Seasons are REVERSED between N. and S. Hemisphere equator)
How does Altitude affect climate? • As you go up in altitude, you go down in temperature and sometimes precipitation
How does the Distance from large bodies of water affect climate? • Large bodies of water regulate temperature due to water’s properties. • The ocean thermostatkeeps it warmer in winter and cooler in the summer – less fluctuation • Inland climate have more extreme temperature fluctuations throughout the year
How do nearby Ocean Currents affect the climate? • Warm and cold ocean currents bring warm moist air near to coastal areas. • Great Britain is an example – latitude position puts it in the cold and dry climate zone • However it is moist and warmer due to the Gulf Stream, a warm current.
How do the Prevailing winds affect climate? Prevailing winds are winds that blow predominantly from a single general direction over a particular point on the Earth's • Global winds are surface. generated by the rotation of the earth and move air around the globe. • Prevailing winds (like the Trade Winds) regulate climate • Winds bring storms, air masses of different temps.
How does Topography affect the climate? • The lay of the ground plays an important role in regulating climate • Ex. The windward side of a coastal mountain range is wetter than the leeward side – rain shadow effect
www. olympicrainshadow. com/rainshadoweffect. html
Other Factors- Plate Tectonics • Tectonic plates have shifted across Earth’s surface for billions of years • Greenland Antarctica used to be tropical • S. Africa had glaciers • NJ had volcanoes • Most of the Western U. S. was underwater
Other Factors- Volcanic Eruptions • Volcanoes can warm AND cool the planet • Volcanoes emit CO 2 which is a greenhouse gas global warming • But volcanoes also emit SO 2 and aerosols (tiny solid particles) that REFLECT sunlight back into space – Less radiation reaches Earth COOLING
% Change in Solar Radiation www. esrl. noaa. gov/gmd/about/climate. html
Ice Ages • Earth naturally fluctuates between ice ages and interglacial periods • ICE AGE- an era of cooler than normal global temperatures • INTERGLACIAL PERIOD- era of warmer than normal temps. • Scientists claim the next ice age is 50, 000 years away
Other Factors- Astronomy • Milankovitch Cycles: Flux in Earth’s orbit and Earth’s axis over long time periods
What We Know- Facts • Earth’s climate HAS changed many times over time naturally • Our climate IS changing right NOW, but it’s different than ever documented before – WHY? ? • Humans adding GHGs has warmed the planet in the past 200 yrs This is FACT
Looking at Climatograms • Your group will get “pairs” of cities to compare climates • Write down a list of observations from each graph for each city: highest temp, highest precip. , trends, patterns, etc. • Determine which climate factor is affecting the climates of these cities and provide at least 1 piece of factual evidence to support your claim. • You can use Google maps to help locate
Practice- NYC vs. Sydney New York, NY 30 140 120 25 80 15 60 10 40 5 20 0 0 J F M A M J J Months A S O N D Precipitation (mm) Temperature (deg. C) 100 20 Precip Temp
NYC Climate Facts • • • Warmest months: June, July, August Consistently around 100 mm precip/month Coldest months: Dec, Jan, Feb. Coastal City (Atlantic Ocean) N. Hemisphere: 40. 7° N Elevation: sea level (0)
Practice- NYC vs. Sydney, Australia 25 140 120 20 15 80 60 10 40 5 20 0 0 J F M A M J J Months A S O N D Precipitation (mm) Temperature (deg. C) 100 Precip (mm) Temp (C)
Sydney Climate Facts: • • • Warmest months: Dec. , Jan, Feb Coldest months: May, June, July, Aug Precipitation averages to ~100 mm/month Coastal city Southern Hemisphere: 34° S Elevation: sea level
Which factor? • • • Latitude? Altitude? Distance to Body of Water? Ocean Currents? Topography? Prevailing Winds?
City Pairs • • Chico, CA vs. Reno, NV Norfolk, VA vs. San Francisco, CA Estes Park, CO vs. Lincoln, NE Boston, MA vs. Minneapolis, MN
- List five factors that affect climate
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