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CLIMATES OF EARTH
CHAPTER 14 LESSON 1
WHAT IS CLIMATE?
• Weather describes the atmospheric conditions and short term changes of a certain
place at a certain time.
• Climate is the long-term average weather conditions that occur in a particular region.
WHAT AFFECTS CLIMATE?
Several factors determines a region’s climate• Latitude
• Large bodies of water
• Altitude
• Mountainous areas
• Buildings and concrete
LATITUDE
• The farther you get away from the equator, the less direct sunlight you receive.
ALTITUDE
• Temperature decreases as altitude increases in the troposphere.
RAIN SHADOWS
• Mountains influence climate because they are barriers to prevailing winds.
• This leads to rain shadows. Rain shadows is an area of low rainfall on the downwind
slope of a mountain.
LARGE BODIES OF WATER
• Water has a high specific heat. Specific heat is the amount of thermal energy needed to
raise the temperature of 1 kg of a material by 1’ C.
• The specific heat of water is about six times higher than the specific heat of sand.
• This means ocean water would have to absorb six times as much thermal energy to be
the same temperature as the sand.
LARGE BODIES OF WATER
• Ocean currents also modify climate. The Gulf stream is a warm current flowing
northward along the coast of eastern North America.
CLASSIFYING CLIMATES
• A scientist named Koppen developed a system for classifying the world’s many climates.
• He studied a regions climate by studying its temperature, precipitation, and native
vegetation.
MICROCLIMATES
• Roads and buildings in cities have more concrete than surrounding rural areas. The
concrete absorbs solar radiation, causing warmer temperatures than in surrounding
countryside.
• The result is a common microclimate called a urban heat island.
• A microclimate is a localized climate that is different from the climate of the larger area
surrounding it.