AOSC 200 Lesson 22 Past and present climates weather short time fluctuations climate long term behavior location time average and extremes climate controls latitude elevation topography proximity to large bodies of water atmospheric circulation THE CHANGING CLIMATE Climate involves more than just the atmosphere Climate may be broadly defined as the long term behavior of global environmental system To understand fully and to predict changes in the atmospheric component of the climate system one must first understand the sun oceans ice sheets solid earth and all forms of life Thus we talk about a climate system consisting of the atmosphere hydrosphere solid earth biosphere and cryosphere Climate system involves the exchange of energy and moisture among these components Locations close together can have different climates Cities at the same latitude can have different climates The three convective cells produce different climates These cells move with the seasons producing sud climates Fig 14 3 p 414 CLIMATE ZONES VLADIMAR KOPPEN ZONES TROPICAL MOIST A DRY B MOIST WITH MILD WINTERS C MOIST WITH SEVERE WINTERS D POLAR E HIGHLAND H World map of the Kopper climate classification scheme Fig 14 2 p 413 Tropical Humid Climates A High mean monthly temperature at leaest 18 3 C Rage of temperature is small less than 10 degrees Divided into three sub types Tropical wet climates Af Tropical wet and dry climates Aw Tropical monsoon climates Am Tropical Humid Climates Iquitos Peru Af Pirenopolis Brazil Aw Rochambeau French Guiana Am Fig 14 4 Tropical rain forest near Iquitos Peru Af Baobob and Acacia trees in grassland savanna Aw Dry Climates Evaporation plus transpiration exceeds precipitation Descending branch of the Hadley cell Mainly over land diurnal variation larger than annual variation Two subtypes Steppe or semi arid BS Arid or desert BW BSh and BWh are warm dry climates BSk and BWk are cold dry climates Dry Subtropical Climates Dakar Senegal BSh Cairo Egypt BWh Fig 14 5 Warm Dry Climates San Diego Calif BSk Santa Cruz Argentina BWk Fig 14 6 Rain streamers are common in warm dry climates Rain evaporates before it reaches the ground Creosote bushes and catcus in the arid southwestern deserts BWh Steppe grasslands of western North America BS Moist Subtropical and Midlatitude Climates Characterized by humid and mild winters Lie between the tropics and mid latitudes Three major subgroups Marine West Coast Cfb and Cfc Humid Subtropical Cfa and Cwa Mediterranean Csa or Csb Marine West Coast Cfb Cfc Bergen Norway Cfb Reykjavik Iceland Cfc Fig 14 7 Humid Subtropical Cfa Cwa New Orleans Louisiana Cfa Hong Kong China Cwa Fig 14 8 Mediterranean Csa Csb Lisbon Portugal Csa Santiago Chile Csb Fig 14 9 Mediterranean type climate of North America Chaparral foothill pine chamise and manzanita Severe Midlatitude Climates D Tend to be located in the eastern regions of continents Temperature range is generally greater than seen in the western climates C To be classified as D the average cold temperature must be less than 3 C and the average summer temperature must exceed 10 C Two basic types Humid Continental Dfa b and Dwa b Subarctic Dfc d and Dwc d a b c hot summers d severe winter and cold summer Humid Continental Vladosvostok Russia Dwb Fargo North Dakota Dfb Fig Adirondack Park humid continental climate Dfa Subarctic Fairbanks Alaska Dfc Verkhoyansk Siberia Dfd Fig Coniferous forests occur where winter temperatures are low and precipitation is abundant Dfc Polar Climates E Occur poleward of the Arctic and Antarctic circles Mean temperatures are less than 10 C for all months Annual precipitation is less than 10 inches Two polar climate types are identified Tundra ET and Ice Caps EF EF have essentially no vegetation Polar Climates E Barrow Alaska ET Eismitte Greenland EF Fig Tundra vegetation in Alaska sedges and dwarfed wildflowers ET Highland climate H
View Full Document
Unlocking...