Download Name - Humble ISD

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Class
Date given
Date due
Unit 5: Geographical Ecology and Climate
Student Expectations/Self assessment
ENVIRO 4. Know the relationships of biotic and abiotic factors within habitats, ecosystems,
and biomes.
ENVIRO 6. Know the sources and flow of energy through an environmental system.
ENVIRO 8 Know that environments change naturally
I can:
Identify and describe the components of the geosphere, atmosphere, and cryosphere
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o
Ex. Use the word current to relate the geosphere, the atmosphere and the cryosphere.
Initial understanding
Final understanding
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Describe the primary causes of seasons on Earth.
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o
Ex. What feature of the Earth determines seasons?
Initial understanding
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Final understanding
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Summarize the importance of wind as the planet’s circulatory system, and give examples.
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o
Ex. How could a forest fire in China affect California?
Initial understanding
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Final understanding
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Explain the causes of global air circulation patterns and how they affect the climate of a region.
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o
Ex. Why is the weather on the West coast milder than on the East coast?
Initial understanding
Final understanding
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Summarize how ocean currents and wind affect the temperatures of oceans across the globe
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o
Ex. What is the ocean conveyer belt?
Initial understanding
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Final understanding
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Compare and contrast weather and climate, including factors that determine them, or cause changes.
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o
Ex. what distinguishes weather from climate?
Initial understanding
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Final understanding
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Describe examples of weather extremes, as well as specific examples of major events.
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o
Ex. What conditions lead to a hurricane?
Initial understanding
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Final understanding
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Identify the causes and effects of El Nino and La Nina on weather patterns
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o
Ex. What has to happen to cause an El Nino?
Initial understanding
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Final understanding
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Describe how the rain shadow effect affects the climate of an area, and give examples
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o
Ex. What is the rain shadow effect?
Initial understanding
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Final understanding
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Summarize and give examples of how species have a specific range of tolerance in which they can survive.
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o
Ex. Why do humans need tools and technology to live all over the world?
Initial understanding
Final understanding
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Explain the effect of tectonic movements and volcanoes on the planet.
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o
Ex. How does tectonic movement affect climate?
Initial understanding
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Final understanding
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Describe a temperature inversion
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o
Ex. What is a temperature inversion?
Initial understanding
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Final understanding
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Analyze the impact of temperature inversions on global warming, ice cap and glacial melting, and changes in
ocean currents and surface temperatures.
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o
Ex. What can a temperature inversion do to the pace of melting glaciers?
Initial understanding
Final understanding
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Unit 5: Geographical Ecology and Climate
Unit 4: Water and Nutrient Cycles assignments
Layers of the Atmosphere
NOAA Interactives
Cornell weather notes
Please check teacher website for due dates
Weatherperson for a day
Geosphere/Cryosphere
Test
Using your notes from http://wings.avkids.com/Book/Atmosphere/advanced/layers-01.html and
prior knowledge and notes, be prepared to answer the following questions:
Atmospheric Layers:
Which layer of the atmosphere contains 75% of the total Earth atmosphere?
Why is part of the upper atmosphere called the ionosphere?
Radio waves bounce off them and they react with the magnetosphere to create the aurora
borealis. What are they?
Heat:
What are the three main methods of heat transfer?
Which one transfers the sun’s energy to earth?
Which one involves particles moving in circular patterns?
What does the tilt of the earth have to do with the seasons?
Wind:
What causes wind?
Which way does air move: high pressure to low or low pressure to high?
What is the Coriolis effect?
Warm air rises near the equator and flows to the North and South poles where it cools off and
sinks down. It then flows across the lower atmosphere back towards the equator. What kind of
winds is this movement called?
What is a jet stream, how fast can it go and which direction does it go?
Clouds:
When does precipitation happen?
What is the difference between clouds and fog?
What are the three main types of clouds and generally describe each type.
Which one usually means rain?
Weather and climate:
What is the difference between weather and climate?
Global warming due to an increase in greenhouse gasses is one possible method responsible for
climate change. What are four other possibilities?
Deforestation and pollution:
What is deforestation?
What is smog?
What is acid rain and what are some of its causes?
Draw the globe and the ball/fan demos and use them to answer the following questions:
globe
ball/fan on
ball/fan off
Why is one thermometer warmer than the other?
Which hemisphere is experiencing winter?
Which hemisphere is experiencing summer?
What does the tilt of the Earth have to do with seasons?
What season is it in Australia right now?
Sum it up: what causes the seasons?
If the ball represents an accumulation of water in a cloud, what does the ball falling represent?
NOAA interactives
What is the Geosphere made of?
Watch the Inside the Earth power point to answer the following questions:
What are the four layers of the Earth? (four because one is divided into two sections)
What percent of the Earth is crust?
What percent of the Earth is core?
Which is heavier, basalt or granite?
Where do convection currents happen in the Earth?
As you go closer to the core, does temperature go up or down?
What is the core made of?
What causes the Earth’s magnetic field?
Which part of the core is solid?
How many tectonic plates are there?
What’ so special about the lithosphere?
What is the Cryosphere made of?
Where do you find frozen water?
How do ice and snow affect Earth systems?
What kind of feedback mechanism is melting ice and snow?
What is the greatest cause of cryosphere melting?
Where is the Artic?
Where is the Antartic?
What part of the world is warming the fastest?
What are some negative impacts of melting snow and ice?
What are some positive impacts of melting snow and ice?
What percent of the world’s fresh water is located in Greenland and Antartica?
Besides contributing to sea level rise, how could this be a problem for humanity?
Consider how big 80cm is. How would this affect island nations and coastal cities like, uh
Houston?
What is subsidence?
What are some negative impacts from melting permafrost?
Weather Cornell notes
Questions, drawings, practice,
examples, definitions
Weather - is a measure of hot/cold, wet/dry, calm/stormy, clear/cloudy. Most occurs
in the troposphere. It’s due to air density determined by temperature and moisture.
Because the Earth's axis is tilted relative to its orbital plane, sunlight is at different
angles at different times of the year causing season. Weather forecasting is the
using science and technology to predict the weather in the future for a given
location. Meteorology is the study of weather. (Watch a weather forecast video)
Air mass - a large volume of air defined by its temperature and water vapor content.
Colder air masses are called polar or arctic, while warmer air masses are called
tropical.
Front (cold and warm) - Weather fronts separate air masses with different
densities due to temperature and/or moisture. Cold fronts generally move from west
to east, while warm fronts move poleward. Fronts are indicated by different colored
and shaped lines. (see pictures at end)
High and low pressure – air pressure is a measure of the force of the atmosphere
directly above. It is measured with a barometer. (it’s about 14.7 psi). A low pressure
area pulls surrounding air in. High pressure pushes it out.
El Nino – warm phase: nutrient-poor tropical water replaces the cold, nutrient-rich
surface water across the tropical Pacific Ocean on average every 3-7 yrs. Causes a
change in air pressure, Trade Winds decrease or move, rain in the northern
Peruvian deserts, drought in the western Pacific.
La Nina - cold phase: opposite extremes from El Nino
Temperature Inversion – usually cold sinks and heat rises. Temp inversion is the
opposite. Unusual. Can trap bodies of air, pollution and smog. (examine oil and
water in bottle)
Microclimate - a local atmospheric zone where the climate differs from the
surrounding area. Often involve bodies of water and urban heat island. Can be a
few square feet to many square miles.
Rain shadow effect - a dry area on the mountainside facing away from the direction
of incoming wind. The mountains block the passage of rain-producing weather
systems, casting a "shadow" of dryness behind them. Usually the non-ocean side of
a mountain.
Drought – below average precipitation for months to years.
Monsoon - the rainy phase of a seasonally-changing pattern. Mostly in West Africa
and Asia.
Tornadoes - rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the
earth and clouds. Usually in a funnel shape. Can pick up water and be called a
waterspout. F0 rating is the mildest. F5 is the rarest and most deadly. (Watch
tornado videos)
Range of tolerance – the condition extremes, such as temperature or oxygen, an
organism can endure
Summarize the previous section
1 = cold, 2 = warm, 3 =
stationary, 4 = occluded (cold out runs and over takes a warm front), 5 = surface trough, 6 = squall/shear line, 7
= dry line, 8 = tropical wave