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What is climate?
1
Climate
• Climate is the pattern of weather that occurs
in an area over many years. It determines the
types of plants or animals that can survive,
and it influences how people live.
• Elements of Climate: Temperature,
precipitation, air pressure, humidity, days of
sunshine, vicinity to large bodies of water
and mountains.
What is climate?
1
Latitude and Climate
• Latitude:
• Equator = 0
• Poles = 90
• Regions:
• Tropics, Temperate,
Polar
What is climate?
1
Latitude and Climate
• Polar Regions:
• Low angle of
sunlight = less
energy received
• Polar regions are never warm.
What is climate?
1
Latitude and Climate
• Between the tropics
and the polar zones
are the temperate
zones (4 seasons)
• The equator receives
the most sunlight
energy throughout
the year (always
warm,12 hours of
daylight).
What is climate?
1
Other Factors Affecting Climate
1.Large Bodies of Water
2. Ocean Currents
3. Mountains/Rain Shadow
4. Cities
-
Climate Types
2
Classifying Climates
Climate Types
2
Adaptations
Structures or behaviors
that help an organism
survive
Stuctural-fur
Behavioral-hibernation
Climatic Changes
3
Earth’s Seasons
• Seasons are short
periods of climatic
change caused by
changes in the
amount of solar
radiation an area
receives.
• Because Earth is tilted, different areas of Earth
receive changing amounts of solar radiation
throughout the year.
Climatic Changes
3
High Latitudes
• During summer at the north pole, the Sun
doesn’t set for nearly six months.
• During that same time, the sun never rises
at the south pole.
Climatic Changes
3
What causes climatic change?
• Changes in solar radiation
-
• Continental Drift
• Volcanic Activity
• Changes in Atmospheric Gases
-
Climatic Changes
3
Climatic Changes Today
• The greenhouse effect is a natural heating
process that occurs when certain gases such
as carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor
in Earth’s atmosphere trap heat.
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Climatic Changes
3
Climatic Changes Today
• Some gases in the atmosphere, known
as greenhouse gases, absorb a portion
of this heat and
then radiate heat
back towards
Earth.
• This keeps Earth
warmer than it
would be
otherwise.
Climatic Changes
3
Global Warming
• Over the past 100 years, the average global
surface temperature on Earth has increased
by 0.6°C. This increase in temperature is
known as global warming.
• Researchers hypothesize that the increase
in global temperatures may be related to
the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Climatic Changes
3
Human Activities—
Burning Fossil Fuels
• When natural gas, oil, and
coal are burned for energy,
the carbon in these fossil
fuels combines with
atmospheric oxygen to form
carbon dioxide.
• This increases the amount
of carbon dioxide in Earth’s
atmosphere.
Climatic Changes
3
Deforestation
• Destroying and cutting down trees, called
deforestation, also affects the amount of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
• As trees grow they take in carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere.
• When trees are cut down, the carbon
dioxide they could have removed from the
atmosphere remains in the atmosphere.
Climatic Changes
3
The Carbon Cycle
• Carbon, primarily as carbon dioxide, is
constantly recycled in nature among the
atmosphere, Earth’s oceans, and organisms
that inhabit the land.