Geography of Canada Physical Geography & Climate

Physical Geography 1.Climate 2.Landforms 3.Soil and Vegetation 4.Ecozones

Climate Vs. Weather  Weather is the day to day readings of temperature and precipitation (and wind speed, barometric pressure, and several other factors)  Climate is the long term patterns of Weather

What FACTOR influence Climate (LOWE)  Latitude Closer the location to the EQUATOR the warmer the CLIMATE  Ocean Currents – Ocean Currents bring warm or cool air to our regions  Wind Different air pressure can either warm or cool the region. Air mass can gather or release moisture. (i.e. Convectional Precipitation)  Elevation- Different elevation will directly affect climate. Height can prevent the flow of air masses

Climate  We can illustrate climate and compare climates from different locations easily using a climograph TORONT O JFMAMJJASONDAnn Temp ( o C) Precip(m m)

Climate – A Climograph of Toronto Months JFMAMJJASOND Temp. ( o C) Precip (mm)

Landforms – Appalachian Mountains

Landforms – Canadian Shield

Landforms – St Lawrence Lowlands

Landforms – Great Lakes Lowlands

Landforms – Arctic Lowlands

Landforms – Interior Plains

Landforms – Western Cordillera

Landforms – Innuitian Mountains

Landforms – Arctic Lowlands

Landforms

Soil and Vegetation  Soil is a naturally occurring, unconsolidated or loose material on the surface of the earth, capable of supporting life  Soil is made up of four components (MOMA): –Minerals –Organic Material –Moisture –Air  More about qualities of soil (and their disappearance!) will be discussed in Unit 3

Soil and Vegetation  Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region (which very much depends on soil quality)  In Canada, we have everything from desert cactus to massive rainforest trees, and everything in between –Mosses –Plants –Shrubs –Coniferous trees –Deciduous trees

Ecozones  An ecozone is an area of the earth’s surface that has a unique combination of plants, wildlife, climate, landforms, and human activities.  If you were to overlay or combine the climate, landforms, soil (and vegetation) maps of Canada shown in this slideshow, you would see patterns emerge resulting in Canada’s 15 terrestrial (land) ecozones ++=