Weather and Climate gateway 1 Flashcards
How to find…
- mean daily temp
- diurnal temp range
- mean monthly temp
- mean annual temp
- annual temp range
- sum of hourly temp/24
- max diurnal temp-min diurnal temp
- sum of daily temp/no. of days in a month
- sum of mean monthly temp for 12 months/12
- max mean monthly temp-min mean monthly temp
factors that affect temperature
- latitude
- distance from earth’s surface
- distance from sea
- cloud cover
Latitude elaboration
what happens at lower latitudes and higher latitudes
- at lower latitudes, the sun’s rays strike the earth’s surface with a higher solar angle. The solar energy is concentrated over a smaller area resulting in a higher temperature.
- at higher latitudes, the sun’s rays strike the earth’s surface with a smaller solar angle. the solar energy and shortwave radiation is spread out over a larger area resulting in lower temperatures at higher latitudes
Distance from Earth’s surface elab
clue:
how the dist from earth affects heating, density and amount of greenhouse gases
- nearer to the earth’s surface, the overlying air gets heated and as the altitude increases and the distance from the earth’s surface increases, the heat transmitted gets less intense with increasing altitudes resulting in lower temperatures further away from the earth’s surface
- nearer the earth’s surface, the air is denser due to gravity and more able to absorb longwave radiation emitted from the ground. at higher altitudes, the air is less dense and less able to absorb longwave radiation resulting in lower temperature
- there are more greenhouse gases near the earth’s surface which absorbs longwave radiation from the ground and thus temperature is higher at lower altitudes
distance from sea elab
how dist from sea affects temp
- differential rate of heating: land hets up faster than the sea. Coastal areas experience cooler summers and warmer winters. Areas further inland experience warmer summers and cooler winters
- maritime effect. During the summer, the sea heats up slower and the cooler air from the sea moderates the temperature of the coastal areas. During winter, the warmer air from the sea heats up the coastal areas. This results in cooler summers and warmer winters
- continental effect. In summer, areas further inland heat up quickly resulting in higher temperatures. In winter, the land cools down quickly resulting in lower temperatures. This results in warmer summers and cooler winters
cloud cover elab
what happens with no cloud cover and with cloud cover??
NO CLOUD COVER:
-larger diurnal temp range
during the day, solar energy from the sun in the form of shortwave radiation is absorbed by the ground, resulting in higher temperatures.
At night, the longwave radiation from the ground escapes into space, resulting in lower temperatures
HAVE CLOUD COVER:
during the day, some shortwave radiation from the sun is reflected by the sun back into space. less shortwave radiation enters earth’s surface, resulting in lower temperatures
at night, some longwave radiation from the ground is absorbed and re-reflected back to earth’s surface which results in higher temperatures
convectional rain (location, how it forms)
location:topics eg singapore
how it forms:
- shortwave radiation from the sun heats up the air
- air expands and rises
- forced to cool as it rises until it reaches saturation at 100% relative humidity at dew point temp
- condensation occurs in the presence of condensation nuclei
- as water droplets gets bigger and heavier, it falls to the ground as rain
relief rain (location, how it forms)
location: usually where there are mountains and hills
how it forms:
- water from a water body heats up
- air expands and rises
- forced to cool as it rises at the westward side until it reaches staturation at dew point temp
- condensation occurs in the presence on condensation nuclei
- as water droplets becomes bigger and heavier, it falls to the ground as rain
- on the leeward side, all the water has fallen as rain so there is no water vapour in the air and the air is dry
What months are summer and winter in northern hemisphere(NH) ?
summer: june to sept
winter: oct to feb
What months are summer and winter in southern hemisphere (SH) ?
summer: oct to feb
winter: june to sept
how does coriolis effect affect winds in NH and SH
NH: deflect to right
SH: deflect to left
when are northeast monsoon and southwest monsoon
SW monsoon: june to sept
NE mondoon: oct to feb
how does air travel?
high pressure to low pressure
How does SW monsoon occur?
- time
- june to sept - diff in air pressure
- NH experience summer, SH experience winter
- places in central asia and indian subcontinent experience lower pressure while australia experiences higher pressure - wind direction
- wind travels from australia, the region with higher pressure to indian subcontinent, the area with lower pressure - coriolis effect
- SH, coriolis effect causes winds to be deflected to the left but in NH coriolis effect causes winds to be deflected to the right - rain
- as winds blow past the indian ocean, it picks up moisture, bringing heavy rain to central asia and indian subcontinent
types of climate
- equitorial climate
- monsoon climate
- cool temperate climate
