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LACEMOPS
Factors That Affect Climate
“The wind begins in a cave. Far to the north, a young god sleeps
in that cave. He dreams of a girl, and he sighs. And the night
wind stirs with his breath.”
…Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus
llhammon
Strategy
Give me a “L” (latitude)
Give me an “A” (air masses)
An air mass is a large (usually thousands of miles across) volume of air that has
horizontally uniform properties in terms of temperature, and to a lesser extent humidity
Give me a “C” (continentality)
A measure of how the climate of a place is affected by its remoteness from the oceans
and oceanic air. The difference between the average temperatures prevailing in
January and July is most often quoted as an indicator of this.
Give me an “E” (elevation)
At higher altitudes, temperatures grow colder by approximately 4 degrees Fahrenheit for
every 1,000 feet. This cooling effect stems from low atmospheric pressure -- with less air
to push down on the mountains, the air molecules spread out and lose energy.
Give me a “M” (mountain barriers)
The air that descends from the mountain warms up and vapor pressure increase which
results the relatively humid to lower and air becomes drier. thus, mountain barrier can
affect precipitation/winds and these factors affect the climate.
Give me an “O” (ocean currents)
An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of ocean water generated by the
forces acting upon this mean flow, such as breaking waves, wind, Coriolis effect,
cabbeling, temperature and salinity differences and tides caused by the gravitational
pull of the Moon and the Sun
Give me a “P” (pressure and wind belts)
A pressure belt is an area which has consistently high or low pressure. Winds move from
areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. The belts tend to move with the seasons,
toward the equator in winter and toward the poles in summer.
Give me a “S” (storms)
A storm is any disturbed state of an
astronomical body's atmosphere,
especially affecting its surface, and
strongly implying severe weather.
• L atitude
What’s
• A ir Masses
• C ontinentality
that Spell?
• E levation
• M ountain Barriers
• O cean Currents
• P ressure and Wind Belts
• S torms
Introduced by:
Dr. James Petersen – Texas State
University – San Marcos, TX, 1990.