CLIMATE

WHERE IS THIS?

CLIMATE V. WEATHER

• Weather is day-to-day events• Climate is patterns of weather that can be

expected in a given area

CLIMATE

• Interaction of atmosphere, lithosphere,• Two properties of the globe influence climate: Angle of the Ecliptic Coriolis Effect

ANGLE OF THE ECLIPTIC

CORIOLIS EFFECT

• Because the earth rotates at a tilted angle (the ecliptic), a force develops that causes wind and water to move in a clockwise direction north of the equator• Counterclockwise south of the equator• At the equator itself is “doldrums” • Thus, the equator is a phenomenon with real

physical effects on the globe (as opposed to the arbitrary Greenwich or Prime Meridian)• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IIVfoDuVIw• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX9nqpjRZgE

FIVE FACTORS CREATE CLIMATE

• Solar radiation• Precipitation• Winds• Ocean Currents

• Elevation

SOLAR RADIATION

PRECIPITATION – THINGS TO REMEMBER

• Warm air rises• Cool air sinks• Warm air can hold more moisture than cool air• When warm air rises and cools, moisture is

released• Where this occurs in nature, this situation causes

precipitation

PRECIPITATION: CONVECTIONAL

PRECIPITATION: OROGRAPHIC

PRECIPITATION: FRONTAL

FORMS OF PRECIPITATION

• Rain• Freezing rain• Sleet• Hail• Snow• Frogs

GLOBAL WIND PATTERNS

JET STREAM – A HIGH-ALTITUDE STREAM OF AIR THAT CONTROLS WEATHER

MONSOONS

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCRkLcLT1cE• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_tiA0MlNpU• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNl7URLPMK

U•

OCEAN CURRENTS

• Circulate warm water from equator • Cold water from poles• Circular pattern or “gyres”• Where cold and warm currents meet, “upwelling”

occurs, oxygenating the water and making great fishing conditions• Current patterns are still not fully understood

OCEAN CURRENTS

Circulation of warm and cold waters Current names

EFFECT OF ELEVATION

TYPES OF CLIMATES

• NAMING SYSTEMS

TROPICAL RAINY

TROPICAL SAVANNA

Irregular rainy and dry seasons

Savannas flank rainforests

DESERTS –FOUR SCENARIOS (SOMETIMES OVERLAP)

• Interior of continents• Cold currents off

coast• Between 18 and 31

degrees latitude• Rain shadows

INTERIOR DESERTS

COASTAL DESERTS

RAIN SHADOW DESERTS

Painted Hills

MEDITERRANEAN

MARINE OR MARINE WEST COAST

RAINY! But mild Bright green on map

HUMID CONTINENTAL

HUMID SUBTROPICAL

STEPPE

Grasslands, mollisols Low precipitation

SUBARCTIC

POLAR