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Weather Temperature Controls May 6, 2008 Temperature • Temperature is the measure of the average kinetic energy of the particles of an object. • Think of a thermometer as a speedometer! • A temperature control is any factor that causes temperature to vary from place to place and from time to time. • What do you think are some temperature controls? Temperature Controls • Factors that exert a strong influence on temperature include latitude, heating of land and water, altitude, geographic position, cloud cover, and ocean currents. Latitude • Because the axis remains pointed toward the North Star as Earth moves around the sun, the position of Earth’s axis to the suns rays is constantly changing. • Flashlight Demonstration Heating of Land and Water • Land heats more rapidly and to higher temperatures than water. Land also cools more rapidly and to lower temperatures than water. • How can this difference affect the temperature? (Remember the heat source for the troposphere!) Compare Using a Graph • What does the left axis indicate? • What does the right axis indicate? • What does the bottom axis indicate? • What do the curves indicate about the climates of each city? Geographic Position • The geographic position can greatly influence temperatures experienced at a specific location. • Windward vs. Leeward • Mountain barriers Altitude • These two cities have different altitudes. • Which one has a higher altitude? • What is the relationship between altitude and temperature? Cloud Cover and Albedo • Albedo is the fraction of total radiation that is reflected by any surface. • Many clouds have a high albedo, and therefore reflect a significant portion of the sunlight that strikes them back to space. • At night, clouds have the opposite effect, and reflect outgoing radiation emitted by Earth back to Earth. Cloud Cover and Albedo Illustrated Isotherms • Isotherms are lines that connect points that have the same temperature. Assignment • Read pg. 488-493 • Complete 17.3 ws