El Ni

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El Niño

• El Niño is an abnormal warming of surface ocean
  waters in the eastern tropical Pacific

Causes increased rain in the Southern United
States and Peru as well as droughts in western
Pacific countries like Indonesia
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El Niño
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La Niña

• Abnormal Cooling of the Pacific
• During a La Niña year, winter temperatures are
  warmer than normal in the Southeast and cooler
  than normal in the Northwest United States
• Causes summer droughts in the southern United
  States

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La Niña
Normal
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Orographic

• Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced
  from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it
  moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains
  altitude it quickly cools down, which can raise
  the relative humidity to 100 and create clouds
  and, under the right conditions, precipitation.

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Orographic Cloud
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Biome

• Biomes are defined as the world's major
  communities, classified according to the
  predominant vegetation and characterized by
  adaptations of organisms to that particular
  environment

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Taiga

• Characterized by coniferous forests and the
  average temperature is below freezing for six
  months out of the year.
• Found in Canada, Alaska, Russia (most of
  Siberia), Northern Europe

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Coniferous
Deciduous

• Evergreen trees that stay green all year

• Trees that lose their leaves every year

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Permafrost

• Soil that is permanently frozen
• Most of the worlds permafrost has been frozen
  for millennia and can be up to 5,000 feet thick.

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Greeenhouse gases include Carbon Dioxide and
CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbon)
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Convection

• Rising heated water vapor condenses to form a
  cloud
• The heat released through this condensation can
  help to sustain the convection by warming the air
  further and making it rise still higher

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Convection

• Convection (both dry and moist) help to make the
  Earth liveable by removing excess heat from the
  surface, which is where most of the solar energy
  is absorbed by the Earth, and transporting it
  high into the atmosphere. It has been calculated
  that, without convection, the average surface air
  temperature on the earth would be about 125 deg.
  F, rather than the current 59 deg. F.

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RAIN SHADOW

• A rain shadow is a dry area on the leeward side
  of a mountainous area. The mountains block the
  passage of rain-producing weather systems,
  casting a "shadow" of dryness behind them.

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RAIN SHADOW