Climate of the world © 2014 wheresjenny.com Climate of the world

© 2014 wheresjenny.com

Climate of the world © 2014 wheresjenny.com Climate Climate is a measure of the average pattern of variation in temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, precipitation, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological variables in a given region over long periods of time. Climate is different from weather, in that weather only describes the short-term conditions of these variables in a given region.

Climate of the world © 2014 wheresjenny.com Vocabulary Precipitation: Rain, snow, sleet, or hail that falls to or condenses on the ground. Humidity: A quantity representing the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere or in a gas. Evapotranspiration: The process by which water is transferred from the land to the atmosphere by evaporation from the soil and other surfaces and by transpiration from plants. Dominance: The phenomenon whereby, in an individual containing two allelic forms of a gene, one is expressed to the exclusion of the other.

Climate of the world © 2014 wheresjenny.com A region's climate is generated by the climate system, which has five components: atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, land surface, and biosphere. The climate of a location is affected by its latitude, terrain, and altitude, as well as nearby water bodies and their currents. Climates can be classified according to the average and the typical ranges of different variables, most commonly temperature and precipitation. The most commonly used classification scheme was originally developed by Wladimir Köppen. The Thornthwaite system, in use since 1948, incorporates evapotranspiration along with temperature and precipitation information and is used in studying animal species diversity and potential effects of climate changes. The Bergeron and Spatial Synoptic Classification systems focus on the origin of air masses that define the climate of a region.

Climate of the world © 2014 wheresjenny.com Climate classification There are several ways to classify climates into similar regimes. Originally, climes were defined in Ancient Greece to describe the weather depending upon a location's latitude. Modern climate classification methods can be broadly divided into genetic methods, which focus on the causes of climate, and empiric methods, which focus on the effects of climate. A common shortcoming of these classification schemes is that they produce distinct boundaries between the zones they define, rather than the gradual transition of climate properties more common in nature.

Climate of the world © 2014 wheresjenny.com Three basic climate groups. Three major climate groups show the dominance of special combinations of air-mass source regions. Group I Low-latitude Climates: These climates are controlled by equatorial a tropical air masses. Group II Mid-latitude Climates: Climates in this zone are affected by two different air-masses. The tropical air-masses are moving towards the poles and the polar air-masses are moving towards the equator. These two air masses are in constant conflict. Either air mass may dominate the area, but neither has exclusive control. Group III High-latitude climates: Polar and arctic air masses dominate these regions. Canada and Siberia are two air-mass sources which fall into this group. A southern hemisphere counterpart to these continental centers does not exist. Air masses of arctic origin meet polar continental air masses along the 60th and 70th parallels.

Climate of the world © 2014 wheresjenny.com Seasons The Earth rotates about its axis, which is tilted at 23.5 degrees. This tilt and the sun's radiation result in the Earth's seasons. The sun emits rays that hit the earth's surface at different angles. These rays transmit the highest level of energy when they strike the earth at a right angle (90 °). Temperatures in these areas tend to be the hottest places on earth. Other locations, where the sun's rays hit at lesser angles, tend to be cooler. As the Earth rotates on it's tilted axis around the sun, different parts of the Earth receive higher and lower levels of radiant energy. This creates the seasons.

Climate of the world © 2014 wheresjenny.com Writing(Make sentences) 2 sentences each Precipitation: Humidity: Evapotranspiration: Dominance: