Tuesday, September 10, 2013 The Plan : 1. Warm Up : In your notebooks, write down the definition for climagraph (alt. climograph):a graph that shows the average temperature and precipitation in a place over a year. The bars equal precipitation, and the line represents temperature. After writing the definition, look at this climagraph and try to guess the location of this world city based on the climate data. 2. Review Factors of Climate

Weather vs Climate Weather: the daily (short term) condition of the atmosphere. Includes temperature and precipitation

Climate Climate: Average weather condition measured over an extended period of time (30 years)

World Climate Regions

Factors Affecting Climate Four Major Factors influence Climate (Remember Yesterday?) –Latitude –Wind and Ocean Currents –Elevation –Continentally and topography (landforms, distance from water)

Latitude °N or °S of equator Equator = direct rays = hot Poles = very indirect rays = cold Biggest effect on climate!!

Latitude: Earth Sun Relations

Wind Currents Wind distributes the sun’s heat through convection, or the transfer of heat. Air moving from high to low pressure zones impacts climate by circulating Hot and Cold air!

Air Pressure 1. Caused by unequal heating of earth’s surface 2. Low pressure = warm, moist air → rises & forms clouds →storms 3. High pressure = cold, dry air → sinks → stable and clear weather

Ocean Currents 70% of earth is water! Flow in circular paths like wind currents: Warm currents carry water from low to high latitudes, Cool currents return cooled water from high to low latitudes.

La Niña and El Niño El niño a warm ocean current that flows off the west coast of South America every few years. An El Niño event changes weather patterns around the world. La niña a cool ocean current that flows off the west coast of South America every few years. Changes weather patterns around the world.

Elevation Increase in elevation causes a drop in temperature! 3.5 degrees F per 1000 feet!

Landforms/Mountain Barriers Air pushes against a mountain (blue) This (blue) air rises and cools down, forming clouds. Clouds = Rain The side facing the wind gets all love.

Real Life Example Bishop, CA has an arid climate with an average of 5.02 inches of precipitation falling per year Sequoia National park receives between inches per year, depending on elevation.

Real Life Example

Hydrosphere & Atmosphere

Spheres LITHOsphere- upper mantle and crust. This is the part we live on! HYDROsphere- all water elements (oceans, seas, rivers) ATMOsphere- all air elements BIOsphere- all spheres combined

Plate Tectonic Theory Internal Forces: o Plate Tectonic Theory states that Earth’s crust is a group of big pieces that move in four ways: o Spread o Subduction o Collision o Sliding

Plates Sliding=Earthquakes Violent Movement of the earth Intensity measured by the Richter Scale Measured from 1-10 Highest Recorded:1960 in Chile (9.5) Focus- actual location of earthquake Epicenter- place on the crust it is felt

Plates Colliding=Folds Neither plate gives causing the plate to buckle and fold. Mountains form!

Plates Spreading-Ocean Floor Spreading Magma forces plates apart Ocean water cools the melted rock, forming a new floor s/dynamicearth/slip3.htmlhttp:// s/dynamicearth/slip3.html

Plate subduction= Volcanoes As plates crash, one plate is forced under the other. When oceanic and continental plates collide, a volcanic zone is created Ring of Fire- A rim around the Pacific Ocean where the majority of active volcanoes are located Can cause a Tsunami.

Ring of Fire

Basics before the activity Inner Core- solid iron Outer Core- liquid iron and nickel Mantle- home to liquid rock called magma Crust- outer shell of the earth

Collision Spread Sliding Subduction

Plate Activity Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 It should look something like this, but better