LITTLE KNOWN FACTS It is impossible to lick your elbow. The percentage of Africa that is wilderness - 28% The percentage of North America that is wilderness - 38% The cost of raising a medium size dog to the age of eleven - $16,400

CLIMATE Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them. ~Bill Vaughn

The climate of a place may be defined as a "composite" of the long-term prevailing weather that occurs at that location. It is the normal weather pattern for that place and we know that it will recur, with some small variations perhaps, from year to year. - Environment Canada - Weather is the sum of a number of factors around you at a given time, including temperature, wind, precipitation, sunshine, visibility, and clouds.

KEEP IN MIND DURING OUR DISCUSSIONS THAT WE ARE VERY LUCKY. EARTH IS LOCATED IN THE “GOLDILOCKS ZONE” IN ITS PLANETARY DISTANCE FROM THE SUN.

OUR ENERGY COMES FROM THE SUN. ONLY ABOUT 1 BILLIONTH OF THE SUN’S ENERGY STRIKES EARTH.

THIS ENERGY IS NOT EQUALLY DISTRIBUTED OVER THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH. THE EARTH’S AXIS IS TILTED AT 23.5 o RELATIVE TO OUR ORBIT ABOUT THE SUN.

THIS GIVES US OUR SEASONS.

VERNAL (SPRING) EQUINOX - MARCH 20 SUMMER SOLSTICE - JUNE 20 AUTMNAL EQUINOX - SEPTEMBER 20 WINTER SOLSTICE - DECEMBER 22

DIFFERENTIAL HEATING ALSO LEADS TO WINDS AND WIND PATTERNS ON BOTH A LOCAL AND A GLOBAL LEVEL.

WINDS SERVE TO MOVE HEAT FROM WARMER REGIONS TO COOLER REGIONS. IF THIS WERE NOT THE CASE, AREAS ALONG THE EQUATOR WOULD BE EXTREMELY HOT, AND, AS YOU MOVE AWAY FROM THE EQUATOR, AREAS WOULD BE MUCH COLDER. OCEAN CURRENTS ALSO DISTRIBUTE HEAT. WATER HAS A HEAT CAPACITY OF APPROXIMATELY 500 TIMES THAT OF AIR, SO IT CAN MOVE A GREAT DEAL OF HEAT.

OCEAN CONVEYOR

WATER ALSO AFFECTS LOCAL CLIMATES. LAND HAS A LOWER HEAT CAPACITY THAN WATER. (Heat capacity is that amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 g of a material 1 o C.) LAND WILL HEAT UP AND COOL DOWN FASTER THAN WATER. THIS IS WHY AREAS CLOSE TO LARGE BODIES OF WATER HAVE A MORE MODERATE CLIMATE THAN FURTHER INLAND.

HEAT CAN BE TRANSFERRED THREE WAYS: 1.RADIATION - BY ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION 2.CONDUCTION - THROUGH A MATERIAL 3.CONVECTION - MOVEMENT OF A FLUID

SOME ENERGY IS REFLECTED FROM THE EARTH’S SURFACE BACK INTO SPACE. HOW MUCH IS DETERMINED BY THE REFLECTIVITY OR ALBEDO OF THE EARTH. ICE WOULD BE VERY REFLECTIVE. DARK GROUND OR OPEN OCEAN WATER WOULD BE LESS REFLECTIVE AND WOULD ABSORB MORE RADIATION.

MOST SUN LIGHT PASSES THROUGH THE ATMOSPHERE WITH LITTLE ABSORPTION. A CERTAIN AMOUNT HITS THE SURFACE AND IS ABSORBED. PART OF THAT IS RE-RADIATED AS HEAT OR INFRARED RADIATION. INFRARED RADIATION IS MORE EASILY ABSORBED BY THE ATMOSPHERE. HOW MUCH IS ABSORBED DEPENDES ON THE COMPOSITION OF THE ATMOSPHERE. SOME GASES ARE MORE ABSORPTIVE THAN OTHERES – GREENHOUSE GASES.

The Earth's average surface temperature of 15 °C (59 °F) is about 33 °C (59 °F) warmer than it would be without the greenhouse effect.Earth's WE HAVE ALWAYS HAD THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT IN SOME FASHION. IT IS JUST A QUESTION OF HOW MUCH GREENHOUSE EFFECT DO WE REALLY WANT.

FACTORS THAT DETERMINE CLIMATE: 1.LATITUDE 2.ELEVATION 3.NEARBY WATER 4.OCEAN CURRENTS 5.TOPOGRAPHY 6.VEGETATION 7.PREVAILING WINDS

- NASA-