what effects temperature

• Latitude


  How far north or south of the equator a place is
• The equator has a latitude of 0%, and the North Pole is at latitude 90°
• The sun is high in the sky at the equator
• The sun shines directly overhead at the equator
• The rays are therefore concentrated in a small area which gets heated up
• Near the poles, the sun is lower in the sky and the same amount of solar radiation is spread out over a larger area meaning it does not heat up as much
• The lower the angle of the sun, the greater the amount of atmosphere through which the rays have to pass
• This means that more heat will be lost to gases, dust and cloud in the atmosphere
• Prevailing Winds


  The most common direction the wind blows from
• Prevailing winds will bring different amounts of moisture and heat depending on where they have come from
• If the wind blows from a warm place it will bring warm air e.g. from the Sahara Desert
• If the wind blows from a cold place, it will bring cold air e.g. from Siberia
• If the wind comes over the sea, it will pick up water and bring rain, e.g. from the Atlantic Ocean
• If the wind comes over land, it will be dry e.g. Southern Europe
• The prevailing wind direction of the UK is south-westerly, this brings warm, wet air from the mid-Atlantic Ocean, so we have a mild but damp climate
• By contrast, north-east winds from Siberia, bring bitterly cold conditions in winter
• Continentality


  Distance from the sea
• Continentality (distance from the sea) influences temperature range. Areas close to the sea tend to have a smaller annual temperature range, than inland areas
• The sea (a liquid) is less dense than the land (a solid) and can be heated to a greater depth
• This means that the sea takes much longer to heat up in summer than does the land
• Once warmed, however, the sea retains its heat for much longer, and cools down more slowly than the land in winter
• This is why places that are inland are warmer in summer but colder in winter than places on the coast
• As Britain is surrounded by the sea, it tends to get cool summers and mild winters
• The largest reservoir of heat in winter is the Atlantic Ocean
• This explains why western parts of Britain are warmer than places to the east in winter
• Altitude


  How high land is above sea level
• As you climb a mountain it gets colder 1°C every 100 m
• The Sun heats the ground and the ground heats the air above it
• As more heat is absorbed closer to the ground, temperature here is higher
• As you go higher there is less ground to heat the air, this causes temperatures to decrease with altitude
• Air pressure also decreases with an increase in altitude. Here, air is less dense so it spreads out and loses heat. Therefore, temperature decreases with increased altitude