Climate

Climate

And Weather

Definitions: climate

• The general or average weather conditions of a certain region, including temperature, rainfall, and wind. On Earth, climate is most affected by latitude, the tilt of the Earth's axis, the movements of the Earth's wind belts, the difference in temperatures of land and sea, and topography.

http://www.countrywatch.com/imgs/global_thematic/Global_Climates.gif

Definitions: weather

• The state of the atmosphere at a given time and place, with respect to variables such as temperature, moisture, wind velocity, and barometric pressure.

http://www.filebuzz.com/software_screenshot/full/33905-weather_station_on_your_pc.jpg

Sun Drives Weather

• Solar energy strikes the Earth, heating unevenly

• Water moderates climate – takes a great deal of energy to increase water’s temperature

http://www.solstation.com/stars/sol1.jpg

Earth’s Tilt

• Earth currently tilted 23.5 degrees

• Summer and winter solstice, sun in direct line with the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn

• Autumn and Spring Equinox, crosses the Equator

http://www.divulgence.net/AxialTilt.jpg

Solar Radiation

http://www.geography.hunter.cuny.edu/~tbw/wc.notes/2.heating.earth.surface/images/sunangle.changes.3.angles.jpg

Solar Energy

• Coriolis Effect Pattern of Energy Distribution • Cosine Law More energy received at equator

than at poles

http://www.geo.arizona.edu/Antevs/ecol438/lect03a.html

Earth’s Orbit Around the Sun

http://www.geo.arizona.edu/Antevs/ecol438/lect03a.html

Temperature

http://www.climate-charts.com/World-Climate-Maps.html

Rainfall

http://www.climate-charts.com/World-Climate-Maps.html

Major Wind Currents

http://www.climate-charts.com/World-Climate-Maps.html

Air Patterns

• Warm air holds more water vapor than cold air

• Warm air rises; cold air sinks

• Warm air is low pressure; cold air is high pressure

http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/images/surfacecirculation.gif

30ºN – Tropics – 30ºS

• Moist air in tropics rises, cools in upper atmosphere, drops back down.

• Cool dry air descends around 30º, sweeps along desert regions, picking up any moisture, and returns to tropics.

http://oceanmotion.org/images/background/hadley-cloud.jpg

Tropical and Desert Regions

Equatorial Heat

http://www.geo.arizona.edu/Antevs/ecol438/lect03a.html

Arctic and Temperate Regions

http://pdf.comnap.aq/comnap/comnap.nsf/c_ops_met1.jpghttp://maps.grida.no/library/files/projected_changes_in_the_arctic_climate__091.jpg

Put It Together and What Do You Get?

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/secondary/students/forecasting/Weather_Forecasting.gif