1 Climate 2 Climate is ? 2 World Climate Zones Have you ever wondered why one area of the world is a desert, another a grassland, and another a rainforest? Why are there different types of life in each area? The answer is climate. Climate is the long-term weather of that area (at least 30 years). This includes the region's general pattern of weather conditions, seasons and weather extremes like hurricanes, droughts, or rainy periods. Two of the most important factors determining an area's climate are air temperature and precipitation. The climate of a region will determine what plants will grow there, and what animals will inhabit it. a biome All three components, climate, plants and animals are interwoven to create the fabric of a biome. 3 As we saw last week The closer to the equator you are, the more concentrated the suns rays are and so the warmer the air temperatures tend to be. The further away from the equator, the more spread out or dispersed the suns ray are the cooler the air temperature is. Another difference is that the further you are from the equator, the greater the difference between Summer and Winter, as the tilt of the earth has more effect, both is heat and day length. Rainfall is another variable if the wind is dry then you get little rain, but if the wind has brought air from over the ocean, it is likely to be carrying moist air in the form of clouds. As the clouds are forced up over the land, then these areas are going to receive precipitation in some form. What are the different types of precipitation? 4 Today we will look at some of the climate types found on Earth Look at the actual graphs for some of the places 5 The climate zones Temperate Maritime Tropical Desert Polar Mediterranean Equatorial 6 If you look in your atlases on pages 12 & 13 red red average temperature You will see some maps like this: The red line is measured using the red scale and this is the average temperature. blue blue scale monthly rainfall The blue bars are measured using the blue scale and show the monthly rainfall. What is the temperature in August? The rainfall in January? When is the temperature 15 0 C? The rainfall lowest? 7 Equatorial climate 8 In detail The temperature: does it change during the year? What would you say it was in words? What would you say about the rainfall? 9 Tropical What words would you use to describe the temperature? The precipitation? Senegal is north of the Equator- what can you say about the summer and winter? 10 Tropical When were these pictures taken do you think? It is sometimes called Tropical wet and dry. Why do you think that is? 11 Desert What words would you use to describe the temperature? The precipitation? Tindouf is north of the Equator- what can you say about the summer and winter? Death Valley 12 Mediterranean What words would you use to describe the temperature? The precipitation? Sacremento is north of the Equator- what can you say about the summer and winter? 13 Temperate maritime The precipitation? Manchester is north of the Equator- what can you say about the summer and winter? What words would you use to describe the temperature? 14 The Polar climate What words would you use to describe the temperature? The precipitation? London is north of the Equator- what can you say about the summer and winter? 15 So what have we seen? CLIMATES Equatorial climate Tropical climate Desert climate Mediterranean climate Temperate maritime climate Polar Precipitation Very dry Dry Moderate Wet Very wet More than very wet All year Summer only Winter only Not often Temperatures Very cold Cold Mild Warm Very warm 16 Monsoons These are very important to the countries where they occur but before that you need to understand how wind happens Just one more type of climate 17 What is wind? Wind is just moving air. On the diagram, the LHS is warmed by the sun, so warm air rises (low pressure as it is not so packed together). On the LHS the air is cooler so it sinks to the ground (high pressure as it is squashed together) 18 What is wind? So you have too much air on the LHS and not enough on the right, so the wind blows from the cool part to the warm part 19 What is wind? In general wind is air moving from high pressure to low pressure From where it is cooler to where it is warmer 20 This why you often get a breeze coming off the sea in the day time The land heats up more than the sea The air over the land rises giving low pressure This drags the cooler air in from the sea to take its place, giving on-shore breezes At a higher level the air from the land blows out to sea to take the place of the air it took 21 This is what happens at night The land cools down quicker than the sea The air over the sea is warmer and therefore has a lower pressure The air is pulled off the land in an off- shore breeze 22 This is roughly what happens in those places that have monsoons In the summer, the land hots up more than the sea so it has low pressure The wind is dragged off the Indian Ocean, carrying LOTS of rain. It is VERY wet 23 This is roughly what happens in those places that have monsoons In the winter, the sea is warmer than the Land so it has low pressure The wind is dragged off the land where there is little water lying. It is VERY dry. 24 This is what it looks like How would you describe that? 25 Work out the climate and the place it could be Singapore Tillabery, Niger Rome, Italy Barrow Alaska What do you see? What kind of climate is it? Which of these places do you think it is? 113mm a year 26 Work out the climate and the place it could be Singapore Tillabery, Niger Rome, Italy Barrow Alaska What do you see? What kind of climate is it? Which of these places do you think it is? 800mm a year 27 Work out the climate and the place it could be Singapore Tillabery, Niger Rome, Italy Barrow Alaska What do you see? What kind of climate is it? Which of these places do you think it is? 2272mm a year 28 Work out the climate and the place it could be Singapore Tillabery, Niger Rome, Italy Barrow Alaska What do you see? What kind of climate is it? Which of these places do you think it is? 400mm a year 29 Homework There will be a world map with 6 places shown one in each of the climate zones we have looked at. There are 4 graphs taken from 4 of these 6 places. It is your job to decided which graph goes with which place and explain why.