Weather and Climate ✅ Flashcards
What is weather?
Day to day changes in the atmosphere at a given time and place. It is measured by temperature, precipitation, wind speed and direction, cloud cover and air quality
What is climate?
The long term weather pattern of an area (total of average weather conditions recorded over 30 years.) It is measured by temperature, precipitation and wind
Why does weather happen?
- The sun heats the earth unevenly
- The earth warms the air which rises
- Rising air leads to wind because the colder air flow under to replace it
- The sun’s heat also causes water to evaporate making water vapour
- The air cools as it rises which makes the water cycle and then rain/snow/hail/etc
What are the layers of the atmosphere?
(From bottom to top)
Troposphere (0-10km), stratosphere (10-45km), mesosphere (45-80km),
thermosphere (80-700km),
exosphere (700-10,000km)
Where do the northern lights happen?
The thermosphere
Where does 99% of weather happen?
The troposphere cause that is where all the clouds are
What are the air masses?
Polar air mass
Tropical air mass
Maratime air mass
Continental air mass
What is the prevailing (most common)wind?
Warm ocean current
What do warming ocean currents do?
They transfer heat around the world which brings warm water from the Caribbean, which makes west coast areas warmer
How many days a year does it rain in Great Britain?
199 days a year
Where does most of our rain come from?
The Atlantic Ocean
Where is the rainiest city in the UK?
SwanSEA
Clues in the name 😜😂
Does the water cycle ever end?
NOOOOOOOO
the water cycle is never-ending, between sea, air and land.
It is also a closed system. That means no water is added or removed, so the amount of water in the cycle stays the same
What is a flow/ transfer?
Movement in the water cycle system
How do clouds form?
When the water evaporates, water vapour rises and condense around a nucleus, which the vapour sticks to. This forms a cloud, which gradually falls down and rains
What are the 3 main types of rain?
Frontal rainfall
Orographic/ Relief rainfall
Convection rainfall
What is Orographic rainfall?
When air forms clouds and rains.
Air is forced over the mountains which cools, condenses, makes clouds, and rains. Air descends then warms, which means there is less rainfall overall, so the clouds go and the rain stops. It’s called rain shadow
What is convection rainfall?
Unstable atmosphere, cauliflower clouds, smaller range.
Sun heats up the ground, so air rises fast through convection currents. As it rises, it cools quickly, so large clouds form, which are unable to hold all the water. This makes torrential rain and thunderstorms
What is frontal rainfall?
When 2 air masses meet.
Warm and cold air masses meet, so the warm air rises, making clouds, and is forced up so it rains
What is air pressure?
The weight of air pressing down on the earth’s surface.
What is the average air pressure?
1000mB
What are depressions and anticyclones?
The air molecules pack together, push down, and make higher air pressure so the weather gets warmer and makes and anticyclone. A depression is when it gets colder
What is an isobar?
Lines to join together points of the same pressure
What is low pressure a sign of?
Unsettled weather, stormy, cloudy, wet, windy
What is high-pressure a sign of?
Fire weather, calm clear skies, hot in summer, cold in winter
What is the definition of extreme weather?
An unusual weather event that is unpredictable and can cause widespread damage
What is the definition of dredging?
Clearing the bottom of an area of water to scoop out mud, rocks and rubbish which also in enlarges the channel so that it can hold more water
What is microclimate?
A microclimate is long-term weather condition that is found in a relatively small area
What could a microclimate be caused by?
Altitude, aspect, buildings or physical features or surface colour
How does aspect cause a microclimate?
Aspect is the direction which places face. places facing the Sun would be warmer
How does a surface colour affect a microclimate?
Lighter surfaces stay cooler because they reflect light and dark surfaces heat up faster because they absorb light
How to buildings and other physical features affect microclimates?
Wind gets broken up by buildings, the vegetation, hills and mountains water makes the air cooler and buildings give off heat which makes the air warmer
what rules should you follow when drawing a climate graph?
Pencil label in pen, relevant title, accurately plotted data, units on the X and Y axis, straight lines with a ruler, axes labelled clearly with a name, rain on blue bars with the same width and equals spread, temperature on the red line plotted halfway through the month squares, months of year on the bottom, rain and temperature on the side
What causes an urban microclimate?
Pollution makes fog more likely,
Vehicles increase temperature and pollution, tarmac and concrete increase temperature, high rise buildings cause wind, high temperature make less snow and frost as well as more thunderstorms
What is anUrban heat island?
A concentration of high temperature recorded in the city
What are some causes of an urban heat island?
When heat is absorbed, When he comes from homes and when he comes from vehicles
