Weather & climate Flashcards
What is the weather
Daily atmospheric conditions outside
What is climate
General or average weather conditions of a region over a longer period
What is climate very important in
Determining vegetation, soils, animals (fauna) of a region
What are some different climate weather conditions
Drought, hurricanes, tornadoes, ice storms, blizzards, wildfires, windstorms etc
What is latitude
Measurement of distance north or south from the equator in degrees and minutes
How much kilometres wide is each degree of latitude
110 km wide
What does latitude determine
Amount of sunlight a place receives
What is altitude
Elevation of earth surface.
The higher the elevation the cooler the temp
What is solar energy
Amount of sunlight reaching the earths surface. Lower latitudes receive higher months of solar energy
What are global air masses an air pressure systems
In BC we get air masses from the last which is from the wind coming from the ocean. In the winter we can get air coming from the Arctic.
Air masses?
Large bodies of air w/ similar temp and humidity
Marine air masses?
Develop over large water bodies - moist weighed eg. Pacific Ocean (water evaporates if it’s warm enough)
Continental air mass
Develops over large land areas (dry warm or dry cold) eg. Interior regions of North America.
What heats up more rapidly than water
Land
Bc has 3 main types of climate regions
- Pacific (west coast)
- Cordilleran (mountainous and interior areas away from the coast)
- Boreal (north east)
Pacific climate
Warm cool summers, mild wet winters. High precipitation levels.
Cordilleran (west coast)
Cooler temp as you rise elevation - more continental air masses
Boreal
Cool summers, cold winters. Low annual precipitation
Orographic percipitation
Effect that effects precipitation.
West win move over Pacific Ocean coming towards us, absorbing moisture and ocean evaporates.
Moisture air approaches mountains in west coast. (Insular mountains on VANCOUVER ISLAND)
Once it’s approaches mountains it rises to get over mountains.
As it rises it cools and contracts causing condensation in form of rainfall
Rainfall occurs most where
West slip of mountains
What areas get less rainfall
Victoria, gulf islands, white rock, Lytton, lillooet, Kamloops
Soils
Breaking down of rock and minerals. Formed with some organic materials.
Soil horizon
Different layers in soil
O horizon - undecayed organic material (leaves, branches, grass etc)haven’t decomposed yet - top layer
A horizon - 2nd layer - decayed organic matter- a lot of nutrients. Ppl use this on top of their soil
B horizon - mineral layer - a lot of plants get minerals from this layer
C horizon - parent material - solid rock - soil came from this material
Vegetation patterns are closely tired to
Soils and climate
