Chapter 14

Climate
(Pg. 484-519)
Lesson 1: Climates of Earth (pg. 486-495)
What is climate?
Weather atmospheric conditions and short term changes of a certain place
at a certain time
Climate
-depends on average temperature and precipitation
What affects climate?
Factors are 1. Latitude of a location
2. large bodies of water
3. altitude of a location
4. buildings and concrete
Latitude (fig. 1)
-equator receives more solar energy per unit of surface area, suns rays hit
head on
-poles receive less solar energy per unit of surface area, suns rays hit at an
angle
-Earths curved surface cause this to happen
Altitude (fig. 2)
-temperature decrease as altitude increases in the troposphere
Rain shadow (fig. 3)-windward side is wet
-leeward side is dry
Therefore different types of vegetation grow
Large bodies of water
-specific heat means how fast a substance heats and cools down
-waters is 6x higher than land
-along coasts this moderates the climate, less temperature
extremes more
constant temps
Classifying Climates (fig. 4) [movie]
-Wladimir Koppen 1918 German scientist
- classified a regions climate by its temperature, precipitation, & native
vegetation
-5 climates
-tropical, mild, dry, continental, polar
Microclimate (fig. 5)-roads, buildings, cities heat islands
-forests cooler and less windy
-hilltops windy

How climates affects living organisms (fig. 6)

-adaptations-polar bears, arctic hare
-camels small bodies, long extremities
- plants cactus, deciduous trees
-Florida oranges ; Wisconsin cranberries
-buildings houses on stilts in polar regions permafrost
- houses along coastlines stilts waves
Lesson 2: Climate Cycles (pg. 495-502)
Long-term Cycles (fig. 7)
-Knowledge of past climates comes from ice cores from glaciers and ice
sheets
-other sources of info are ocean sediments and tree ring growth
Ice ages and interglacials
-Ice Ages-InterglacialsMajor Ice Ages and warm periods
-most recent ice age began 2 m.y.a.
-1/2 of northern hemisphere covered in ice
-ended 10,000 y.a., we are now in an interglacial period called Holocene
Epoch
Causes of Long Term Climate Cycles (fig. 8)
-orbit varies from elliptical to circular every 100,000 years
-more circular creates a greater average distance = below average
temperatures
-tilt has 41,000 year cycle, varies from 22 to 24
-also influenced continent movement and ocean circulation
Short term cycles (fig. 9) [movie]
-seasons reasons are tilt and revolution
Solstices and equinoxes (fig. 10)
-equinox equal periods of day and night, 12 hours each
-Sept. 23rd and March 21st
-mark the start of Fall and Spring
-solstice-days with the least amount of daylight and darkness
-June 21st and Dec. 22nd
-marks the start of summer and winter
El Nino and the Southern Oscillation (fig. 11)
-trade winds weaken and reverse the normal pattern of H & L pressure across
the Pacific ocean
-El Nino / Southern Oscillation ENSO-happens every 3-8 yrs.
-upwelling of S.A. stops, warm water flows east from Australia
Climate change droughts & violent storms

Monsoons (fig. 12)-India, Arizona

-temperature differences between ocean and land cause winds related to
specific heat and
density differences
Droughts, Heat Waves and Cold Waves
-drought
- air masses CP and CT can cause heat waves and cold waves
Frozen in Time (pg. 502) read
Lesson 3: Recent Climate Change (pg.504-511)
Regional and global climate change (fig. 13)
-temps have been going up last 100 years but it has not been constant
Human impact on climate change
-global warming- most due to humans (IPCC conclusions) debateable natural
climate cycle?
-due to burning fossil fuels and large scale cutting and burning of
forests
Greenhouse Gases (fig. 14)
-CO, CH, and HO vapor are main greenhouse gases
-all are on the increase
-CO enters the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels (C, O, NG)
-Deforestation (fig. 15)-adds CO 2 ways; 1) living trees remove CO cut trees dont 2) burning adds
CO - makes up
25% of CO released from human activities
-natural sources of CO; 1) volcanic eruptions 2) forest fires 3) cellular
respiration
Aerosols (fig. 16)
-tiny liquid or solid particles that reflect sunlight back into space
-cools the climate
-clouds that form in areas of large amount of aerosols have smaller droplets
which reflect more
light also
Climate and Society
-society effects from climate change; 1) food and water shortage 2) flooding
3) mudslides 4) longer grower season
Environmental impacts of climate change
1. warmer temps = more evaporation = more water vapor= heavy rain &
frequent storms
2. melting glaciers and polar ice sheets= sea level to rise = coastal flooding
3. extreme weather events are more common

4. Arctic permafrost melting (fig. 17)

Predicting climate change
-global climate model (GCM) -make long term, global predictions
-use math & physics to predict temp, amount of precipitation,
windspeed, etc.
-drawback cant be evaluated for accuracy because it makes long
term predictions
-most predict - 1-4C temps rise and sea level rise in the future
Human Population (fig. 18)
-2000 6 billion people, 2050 9 billion. 2 out of 3 people will live in urban
areas
-atmosphere effects ?
Ways to reduce greenhouse gases
1. Develop alternate energy sources solar, wind
2. Hybrid vehicles less emissions by 35%
3. Green buildings energy efficient (fig. 19)
4. Plant trees reduce CO increase
5. Conserve turn off lights, electricity
6. 3 Rs metal, paper, plastic,