Weather and Climate

• Weather 


  condition of the atmosphere at a specific place and time
• Climate


  the general pattern of weather in a particular area over a long period.
• Factors that affect climate

  • latitude
  • elevation (altitude)
  • relief (topography)
  • ocean currents
  • winds and air masses
  • distance from the sea
• Important elements of climate

  • temperature
  • humidity
  • rainfall/precipitation
• Latitude


  • the specific North to South grid positions on earth ranging from 0 degrees to 90 degrees at the poles
  • as latitude increases, temperature decreases
• Altitude

  • also known as elevation
  • the height of an area above sea level
  • the higher the area, the lower the temperature
  • usually the temperature decreases by 1 degree celsius for every 100m in altitude
  • the altitude affects the air temperature
• Topography

  • also known as "relief"
  • the natural features or arrangements of an area like land
• Topography

  • orographic lifting - happens when air goes up over mountains, gets cooler and makes clouds and rain on one side (windward), while the other side (leeward) is drier because the air goes down and stops clouds from forming.
• Topography

  Windward side

  • wind blows
  • low temperature
  • cloud formation
  • precipitation
• Topography

  Leeward Side

  • less to no cloud formation
  • high temperature
  • less precipitation
  • rain shadow(dry region)
  • vegetation: desert, grassland
• Distance from the sea

  • coastal locations tend to be cooler in summer and warmer in winter than places inland at the same latitude and altitude.
• Ocean currents

  • Currents are caused by the wind, earthquakes and gravity.
• Ocean currents

  • some currents are warm; some are cold
• Ocean currents

  • Northern Hemisphere: current flow in a clockwise direction
  • southern Hemisphere: current flows in a counterclockwise direction
  • caused by the Coriolis efffect
• Ocean currents

  • flow away from the equator carry warm water
  • flow away from the poles carry cold water
• water have high heat capacity
• Climate change

  • long-term shifts in temperature and weather patterns
  • brought upon by industrialization and emission of green house gases
• Global warming

  • one of the symptoms of climate change
  • increase in the average temperature of Earth's surface
  • also caused by greenhouse gases
• Greenhouse gases

  • are very essential
• Greenhouse gases

  • substances that absorb infrared radiation (harmful heat from the sun that can cause cancer) from the sun and trap the heat in the atmosphere (greenhouse effect)
  • Ex: water vapor, nitrous oxide, methane, carbon dioxide
• Greenhouse gases

  • water vapor: the abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere
  • the higher amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the higher the temperature will be as these gases absorb more heat
• Artic region

  • where the strongest and earliest impacts of global warming occurred.
• What will happen if there is too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

  This will always result in an increase in global temperature.
• What is the primary cause of the overall rising trend of CO2 in the atmosphere?

  burning of fossil fuels