Climate Factors : Coastal vs' Continental Cities

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Climate Factors Coastal vs. Continental Cities

• What effect does a large body of water have on a
  nearby cities annual climate?

This PowerPoint correlates with the Coastal vs.
Inland Climatology and Graphing Activity
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To Begin Understand Specific Heat(Click to
watch)
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What does this have to do with Climate?

• Water has a high specific heat
• Takes more energy to warm up water
• Warms up slowly, and cools slowly
• Land has a low specific heat
• Takes less energy to warm up land
• Warms up quickly and cools quickly

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Living Inland
Land heats up very quickly and cools very quickly

• Summer
• Very hot as land cools quickly
• Winter
• Very cold as land cools quickly

SOUTH DAKTOA
SOUTH DAKTOA
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Question

• How does the ocean affect the cities that are on
  the coast?
• The breezes (winds) help moderate the annual
  temperatures of the city

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Watch this short video clip (click to play)
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Ocean Breezes

• There is almost always a breeze on the coast
  which moderates climate
• Either blows in from the ocean (sea- breeze)
• OR out from the land (land breeze)

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What generates the breeze (wind)?
Click to watch short video
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Recap

• Winds are created when there are differences in
  air pressure from one area to another.
  (University of Illinois, 2004)
• Warmer areas have LOW pressure
• Cooler areas have HIGH pressure
• Winds Move from High to Low Pressure

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Daytime Sea Breeze
(Swinhoe, 2005)
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Nighttime Land Breeze
(Swinhoe, 2005)
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Watch the animation.
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Coastal Climate

• Due to the ocean water heating slowly and cooling
  slowly
• AND the constant breeze
• Annual Temperatures are moderated
• Cooler summers, but warmer winters

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Reference

• Swinhoe, P. (2005). Small Scale Air Movements.
  Retrieved December 11, 2005 from
  http//www.coolweather.co.uk/htdocs/small.htm.
• University of Illinois. (2004). Weather One.
  Retrieved December 11, 2005 from
  http//www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/weather/4.html.