Climate

 Climate: Long term weather patterns of an area  Patterns used to describe climate  Annual variation of temperature  Precipitation  Wind  Other weather variables Climate

Causes of Climate  1. Latitude: Areas of different latitude receive different amounts of solar radiation  Example: tropics vs the poles  2. Topographic effects:  water heats up and cools down more slowly than land  As altitude increase temperature decreases  Mountains have different climates from one side to another

Causes of Climate  3. Air Masses:  two of the main causes of weather are the movement and interaction of Air masses  The location of where the air mass forms impacts the areas climate

Rain Shadow  The incoming warm and moist air is drawn towards the top of the mountain, where it condenses and precipitates before it crosses the top.  The air, without much moisture left, advances behind the mountains creating a drier side called the "rain shadow".

Mr. Fetch’s Earth Science Classroom Source Regions Over warm area: the warm area makes the air above warm. Over water: water evaporates into the air above and makes it moist.

Mr. Fetch’s Earth Science Classroom mP Maritime Polar Moist, cold air to west coast of the US. mT Maritime Tropical Moist, warm air to west coast of the Mexico. mT Maritime Tropical Moist, warm air to south east coast of the US. cT Continental Tropical Dry, warm to Desert SW mP Maritime Polar Moist, cold air to east areas of the Canada cP Continental Polar Dry, cold air to central and eastern US. Types of Air Masses

Mr. Fetch’s Earth Science Classroom Types of Air Masses 1. Maritime: (m) moist (marina/water) 2. Continental: (c) dry (continents/land) 3. Tropical: (T) warm (tropics) 4. Polar: (P) cold (poles) DESCRIPTION CONDITION LOCATION FORMED

Air masses move by prevailing winds. The winds cause the air masses to move over land and water. As the air masses move, they change. This is called air mass modification. The air masses becomes more like the area it is moving over and at the same time, the area the air mass is moving over becomes more like the mass.

Seasons

 Seasons:  Short term periods with specific weather conditions caused by regular variations in daylight, temperature, and weather patterns  Seasons occur due to the amount of solar radiation an area receives Seasons

Earth’s Orbit  Sun centered: Heliocentric  Earth’s Orbit is elliptical shaped  Takes the Earth 365 days to make a complete revolution

Tilt of the Earth’s Axis  Seasons are caused by the angle of tilt of the Earth’s Axis  A change in the tilt could affect the climate