Lesson 501: LIMATE A location's climate is determined by the long-term pattern of temperature and precipitation. limate affects many aspects of our lives and cultures. Fundamental Questions Attempting to give thorough and reasonable answers to the following questions will help you gauge your level of understanding this lesson. Students that can confidently answer these questions have mastered the concepts of this lesson. 1. If you could live in any climate, what would it be? 2. Which climate is best for survival? 3. Which climate is best for outdoor sports? 4. What causes climate? 5. What is "normal"? 6. What is climate change? 7. How does climate change? Lesson Objectives At the end of this lesson, students should have mastered the objectives listed below. 1. Describe different types of climate data. 2. Recognize limits assocciated with the use of "normals". 3. Explain why climates vary. 4. Describe the seven controls of climate and use them to predict a locations climate. 5. Explain the basic patterns and locations of the world's climates. 6. ompare and contrast different climates and subclimates. Important Terms The following terms are some of the vocabulary that students should be familiar with in order to fully master this lesson. 1. climate 2. climate controls 3. climatology 4. continental 5. drylands 6. heat islands 7. highland 8. humid continental 9. humid subtropical 10. icecap Assessment Questions 11. Köppen 12. latitude 13. marine west coast 14. mediterranean 15. monsson 16. normal 17. polar 18. precipitation 19. rainforest 20. savanna 21. steppe 22. subclimate 23. subpolar 24. subtropical 25. temperate zone 26. temperature 27. topography 28. tropical 29. tundra 30. weather The following are examples of questions that students should be able to answer. These or similar questions are likely to appear on the exam. 1. What kind of climate is hot and rainy all year long? 2. What kind of climate has hot, dry summers and mild rainy winters? 3. What kind of climate has warm summers and cold, snowy winters? 4. What are the 7 controls of climate? 5. Explain why Portland, Oregon has a different climate than Boston, Massachusetts. 6. What are the two main characteristics of climates? 7. What are the 6 main climates and what are their Koppen classfication letters? 8. What kind of climate is a D climate? 9. What can generally cause a location to experience more precipitation and a shift in climate? 10. What can generally cause a location to experience higher temperatures and a shift in climate? Related Web Sites The following are some web sites that are related to this lesson. You are encouraged to check out these sites to obtain additional information. 1. https://www.britannica.com/science/koppen-climate-classification 2. http://people.cas.sc.edu/carbone/modules/mods4car/ccontrol/index.html Printed on 1/29/2019 1
3. http://thesustainabilitycouncil.org/resources/the-koppen-climate-classification-system/ 4. http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/7v.html 5. https://classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/investigations/es2101/es2101page02.cfm?chapter_no=investigation Related Book Pages The following are the pages from your book that correspond to this lesson. Massachusetts Standards omprehensive E.S. Book Intensive/Honors E.S. Book Meteorology/GIS Book 358-383 The following are the Massachusetts Framework Standards that correspond to this lesson. Earth Science Learning Standard(s) What s Next? Notes 2
The Seven limate ontrols How the ontrol Affects Temperature How the ontrol Affects Precipitation 1 Temperatures are generally colder towards the poles and warmer towards the equator. Low-pressure areas of the ITZ and the mid-latitudes have precipitation. High pressure areas of the poles and horse latitudes have little precipitation. 2 Temperatures are generally colder at higher elevations and warmer at lower elevations. Air at higher elevations generally contains less moisture. 3 The temperature range around large bodies of water is small, so coastal areas often have warmer winters and cooler summers. Largebodiesofwateraddwatervaportotheair,so precipitation is more likely downwind of large bodies of water. 4 Warm ocean currents warm nearby coasts. old currents, including upwelling density currents, cool nearby coasts. Some ocean currents cause fog. 5 6 7 Theleewardsideofamountainrangemaybewarmerthan the windward side. Mountains act as barriers to air masses. Prevailing winds may determine whether air masses arrive from a hotregionorfromacoldregion. Theleewardsideofamountain rangemaybewarmerthanthewindwardside. Mountainsactas barriers to air masses. Vegetation affects how much insolation Earth's surface absorbs and how quickly the surface heats or cools. Vegetation generally heats and cools slower than rock and sediment. Thewindwardsideofamountainrangemaybewetterthan theleewardside. Mountainscanactasbarrierstoair masses. Prevailing winds may determine whether air masses arrive from a wetregionorfromadryregion. Thewindwardsideofamountain rangemaybewetterthantheleewardside. Mountainscanactas barriers to air masses. Vegetation releases water vapor into the air through transpiration so denser vegetation coverage is generally associated with more precipitation.
World limates 90 0'0" 150 0'0"W 120 0'0"W 90 0'0"W 60 0'0"W 30 0'0"W 0 0'0" 30 0'0"E 60 0'0"E 90 0'0"E 120 0'0"E 150 0'0"E 90 0'0" E 60 0'0"N D D 60 0'0"N B 30 0'0"N B B 30 0'0"N A 0 0'0" A A A A 0 0'0" 30 0'0"S B B 30 0'0"S 60 0'0"S 60 0'0"S E 90 0'0" 150 0'0"W 120 0'0"W 90 0'0"W 60 0'0"W 30 0'0"W 0 0'0" 30 0'0"E 60 0'0"E 90 0'0"E 120 0'0"E 150 0'0"E 90 0'0" A - Tropical B - Drylands - Subtropical D - ontinental E - Polar
limate Subclimate Koppen limate lassification Description limateontrolrank(h=high/hot,m=moderate/mild,l=low/cold,v =varies,y=yes,n=no,e=east,w=west) Latitude Elevation Nearby Water Bodies? Ocean urrents Topograp hy Prevailing Winds Vegetation Density Rainforest Af Hot and very rainy all year L L Y V V E H A. TROPIAL Monsoon Am Hot and very rainy most of the year Savanna Aw Hot all year with wet and dry seasons B. DRYLANDS Steppe BS semiarid;notasdryasadesert,but evaporation still exceeds precipitation. Desert BW Hot enough that evaporation exceeds precipitation Humid Subtropical fa Hot, humid summers and mild winters. SUBTROPIAL Marine West oast fb Mild and rainy all year Mediterranean s Hot, dry summers and mild rainy winters D. ONTINENTAL Humid ontinental Df warmormildsummersandcold,snowy winters Subpolar Dfc Short summers and long, cold, snowy winters E. POLAR Tundra ET Alwayscoldanddrywithshort,cool summers Icecap EF Freezing temperatures all year H. HIGHLAND none H Temperature and precipitation vary greatly with elevation and latitude