Climate
Terms
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- Koeppen's climate classification
- 5 categories: tropical, dry, temperate, cold (microthermal), polar
- Difference between weather and climate
- Weather is day to day. Climate is long term.
- Mechanism of pressure
- Warm air rises. Cool air descends. Rising air creates low pressure zones.
- Mechanism of surface winds
- Move toward low pressure centers. Surface winds very important to world climate.
- What does the air mass at the equator do?
- It rises.
- What are Hadley cells?
- Convection cells. They circulate heat from the equator outward.
- What is the Coriolis Effect?
- Moving objects bend to the right in the Northern hemisphere. Moving objects bend to the left in the Southern hemisphere.
- How are winds named?
- For the direction FROM which they blow. EX: Blow FROM west are westerly winds.
- Explain differential heating.
- Continental: land surfaces heat and cool rapidly. Marine: Water heats and cools slowly.
- Explain adiabatic cooling.
- Rising air masses cool at a rate of 3-5 degrees Fahrenheit per 1,000 feet. Descending air warms up. The more moisture that's in the air, the slower it cools.
- Explain dew point.
- Warm air masses can hold more moisture than cool air masses. "The temperature to which a given parcel of air must be cooled, at constant barometric pressure, for water vapor to condense into water."
- Explain orographic effect.
- Warm air ascends up the windward side of a mountain and cools. It then condenses and chinook winds prevail on the leeward side of the mountain (aka the rain shadow). Air descends and warms.
- Explain temperature variance in continental versus coastal areas.
- Larger temperature variation in continental area (Kansas) as opposed to a coastal area, which has little variance (England)
- What is the pressure pattern in the summer?
- High pressure over water, low pressure over land
- What is the pressure pattern in the winter?
- High pressure over land, low pressure over water