Global Climates Flashcards
1
Q
How does Isotope fractionation work with O16 and O18?
A
- O16 is lighter and evaporated easy, leaving ocean O18 rich
- moved towards poles (glaciers or land)
- precipitation has the O18 fall first from the clouds, then O16
- O16 becomes locked in the ice OR runs back to ocean
2
Q
Climate and Climatology is..
A
weather of over time, and the study of such
3
Q
Genetic Climate Classification
A
-based on causative factors
4
Q
Empirical Climate Classification
A
-based on statistical data (temperature and precipitation)
5
Q
Applied Climate Classification
A
-created for particular climate-related problems
6
Q
Six Basic Climate Categories
A
- Tropical
- Mesothermal
- Microthermal
- Polar
- Highland
- Dry
7
Q
Polar and Highland
A
- dry cold air
- extreme daylength range
- high albedo
- low precipitation
- ice cap and ice sheet climate , tundra climate, polar marine climate
8
Q
Dry Climates
A
- 15 and 30 N and S
- dry subsiding air in high pressure systems
- mountain rain shadows
- continental interiors
- above 30 (N) semiarid grasslands
9
Q
Microthermal Climates
A
- lowering sun angles and increase daylentgh variability causes temperature ranges
- cool to cold
- cP air mass in winter and convectional thunderstorms in summer
- 21% of land surface
10
Q
Mesothermal Climates
A
- summers hot to warm to cool
- shifting maritime and continental air massses
- P from low (summer) and high (winter) systems = changing weather
- humid subtropical: winter dry, hot summer, moist all year
11
Q
Tropical Climates
A
- 36% of land and ocean
- consistent daylength, insolation, warm , maritime air masses, shifting ITCZ
- tropical rain forest climate - constant ITCZ, warm and water surplus
12
Q
Climate Change: Tropical Zone width, Rossby waves, ice mass, ocean heat
A
- zone widened >2 degrees
- Rossby waves amplified
- ice sheets losing mass
- ocean heat increased
13
Q
Climate Models
A
- mathematical
- based on established science
- discretization, variable spatial and temporal resolutions
14
Q
Climate Model Data
A
- observations
- proxy methods (paleoclimatology)
15
Q
Climate Proxies
A
-observations providing info about past environmental coniditions
