Weather and Climate

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Weather and Climate

• Why study weather and climate?

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Introduction to Weather and Climate

• Cultural Ecology
• Geographic study of human-environment
  relationships
• Focuses on the relationship between culture
  environment
• Main idea physical environment may limit some
  human actions, but people can adjust to their
  environment

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Cultural Ecology

• Why do human geographers need to focus on this?

Taos Pueblo Adobe structure in SW US
Terraced rice fields in Bali
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Video questions

• What is the difference between weather and
  climate?
• What are the 6 climate zones/regions?
• Identify and explain the 5 factors that affect
  climate.
• How does climate affect living patterns?

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Weather --

• Day to day changes in atmospheric conditions
• Atmospheric pressure (barometer)
• Low pressure air rises unstable storms
• High pressure air sinks stable clear weather
• Winds generally move from high pressure to low
  pressure
• Due to the coriolis effect the winds are deflected

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Climate --

• Yearly average of weather
• Koppen scale German scientist who first
  developed a system to classify climate zones
• 6 climate regions
• Tropical Continental
• Dry Polar
• Moderate Highlands

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Use Textbook pages 70-72
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Factors that influence weather climate

• (1)Wind and currents
• Convection
• Wind moves from high to low pressure
• Water currents that help to distribute the
  earths heat
• Warm wet Pacific Northwest (Japan current)
• Cold Dry Coast off of S. America (Humbolt
  current)

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• (2) Precipitation
• Warm air absorbs more moisture than cold air
  when warm air cools it cannot retain all of its
  water vapor, so it condenses into a liquid
• 3 types
• Convectional --
• Orographic --
• Frontal --

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• (3) Nearby bodies of water
• Land and water absorb heat at different rates
  temp. on land may change over time but water temp
  remains more constant
• (4)Elevation
• Air temperature decreases 3.5 degrees for every
  1000 feet in elevation
• Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa

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• (5) Nearby landforms
• Inland mountains, large desert areas, lakes and
  forests can influence climate.
• Major cities also can influence the weather and
  climate of a region.

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Ecosystems --

• The interaction of plant life, animal life, and
  the physical environment in which they live
• Biome
• Term used to describe the major types of
  ecosystems that can be found in various regions
  throughout the year

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World Ecosystems

• (1) Forest regions
• Tropical rainforest
• Mid-latitude forest (deciduous)
• Coniferous forest
• Chaparral (small evergreen trees and low bushes
  mostly found in med. Climates
• (2) Grasslands
• Tropical grasslands (savannas)
• Temperate grasslands (prairies)

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World Ecosystems

• (3) Desert

• (4) Tundras
• Temperatures are always cool or cold
• permafrost