Download Geography 12

Chapter 8 Objectives:
Geography 12
Worksheet 8.6
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Key
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8.6 Climatic Controls: Water Bodies and Continents
Read pages 149 – 151 of Planet Earth: A Physical Geography. Answer
the following questions:
Vocabulary (1 mark each)
Short Answer (2 marks each)
1. Water bodies provide sources of moisture for the land masses of
the world. This is true in most cases but there are three exceptions.
List the three exceptions and give a brief explanation: (6 marks)
2.
3.
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Monsoon:
A wind system that develops as a result of the existence of high pressure
systems over large land masses in the winter and low pressure systems
over large land masses in the summer. Monsoon winds usually result in
distinctive wet and dry seasons.
1.
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Understand the relationship
between weather and
climate
Understand important terms
that are associated with the
study of climate
Appreciate the importance
of classifying climatic
conditions in various ways
Recognize that the climatic
patterns on earth are
complex and that they
result from a wide variety
of interacting forces which
include the earth’s basic
motions, the earth’s
surface features, and the
arrangement of the earth’s
land masses and water
bodies
Identify the importance of
the sun in powering climatic
systems
Appreciate that our
understanding of climate
and weather is still
developing and that many
theories have yet to be
proven to be true
Appreciate the extreme
variability and complexity
of the earth’s climates
Examine ways that humans
both influence and are
influenced by climate an
weather
High latitudes where air temperatures are very cold. The cold air is unable to evaporate and
hold very much water vapor, therefore, cold weather deserts occur.
areas that experience offshore winds for much of the year that blow from the land to the
water. These winds are dry and so even coastlines can be a desert….ie Lima Peru.
cool air from a cool ocean current which does not evaporate much water vapor to dump on
the land.
2. Water bodies influence the temperatures of landmasses adjacent to them. Explain
how that is accomplished.
1.
2.
Water holds the heat longer than land and in the winters, the water tends to warm the air over
the land next to the large body of water.
Water evaporates some of the heat of the summer sun and some of the warmth is directed
downwards in the water. The water doesn’t heat up as quickly as the land and therefore acts
like an air conditioner in the summer time.
3. Explain how monsoons in Asia are created using the model of low and high
pressure systems.
Differences in heating land and water create different pressure systems and wind
systems. In summertime, hot air over a land mass rises and causes higher pressured,
cooler air to replace it. That is a wind from the ocean. In winter, the water is warmer
and so the low pressure rises over the ocean can cause high pressure over the land to
create a wind to blow out to the water to replace the hot air that has risen. Since Asia is
the largest land mass in the world, the effect is most noticeable there, resulting in
seasonal wind reversals associated with the monsoons.
4. Why does the water temperature in a swimming pool not get as hot as that of the
concrete patio surrounding it? (1 mark)
It takes longer to warm the water while the concrete warms up very quickly. The heat in the water is also
distributed downward, which tends to moderate the temperature of the water.
5. Why is a midnight “dip in the pool” such a pleasant and usually warm experience
on a summer evening? (1 mark)
When the land mass cools down in the evening, the air also cools but the water holds the heat longer.
That is why it may be cool outside but the water in the pool seems warmer.