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LS2.1 V3 Climate

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12 views19 pages

LS2.1 V3 Climate

Uploaded by

xeyoron233
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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BITS Pilani

Pilani | Dubai | Goa | Hyderabad

Climate
We a th e r
• Weather is an area’s short-term atmospheric conditions
Over hours or days.
Example: temperature, pressure, moisture content, precipitation,
sunshine, cloud cover, and wind direction and speed.

• Weather balloons, aircraft, ships and satellites, radar and stationary sensors, to
obtain data on weather variables.

• Draw weather maps. Predict weather over next several days by calculating air
masses, winds and other factors will move and change in certain ways.
Cl i m a t e
• An areas long term weather pattern at different times of the year.

• Goa experiences hot and humid summers, cool winters and heavy monsoons

• Depends on
1) Temperature
2) Precipitation
Cl i m a t e
• Climate is a regions long-term atmospheric conditions: usually over decades

• Average temperature and Average precipitation are the two main factors
determining a regions climate.
• The temperature and precipitation patterns that lead to different climates are caused
by:
– amount of incoming solar energy per unit area of land

air circulation over the earths surface


water circulation

• Solar energy: heats the atmosphere, evaporates water, creates seasons and air
circulation
Cl i m a t e c o n t / -
• Four major factors determine global air circulation patterns:

(1) Uneven heating of the surface. Air is heated much more at the equator
than at the poles
(2) Seasonal changes in temperature and precipitation
(3) Rotation of the earth
(4) Properties of air, water and land
Kö p p e n c l i m a t e c l a s s i f i c a t i o n
• Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification
systems.

• It was first published by Russian German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884


with several later modifications.

• Categorizes climate into five main types

• These are :
– Tropical
– Dry
– Moderate
– Continental
– Polar
Oc e a n Cu rr e n t s a n d Wi n d s
• Winds affect regional climates and distribution of some forms of aquatic life.
Example: winds blowing along steep western coasts push surface water away
from the land.

• This outgoing surface water is replaced by an upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich


bottom water.

• nutrients support large populations of phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish and fish-


eating seabirds.
F ro n t s
• Warm front: Boundary between advancing warm air mass and the cooler one .
As the warm front rises, its moisture begins condensing into droplets to form
layers of clouds at different altitudes. Gradually the clouds thicken, descend to a
lower altitude and release their moisture as rainfall.

• Cold front is the leading edge of an advancing mass of cold air. Cold air is
denser than warm air, cold front stays close to the ground and wedges
underneath less dense warmer air. An approaching cold front produce rapidly
moving clouds called thunder heads.

• In the troposphere hurricane-force winds encircle the earth, These powerful winds
are known as jet streams, have a strong influence on weather patterns.

• Storms typically develop at fronts


W h a t a re h i g h s a n d L o ws ? P r e s s u r e Ch a n g e s
• Air pressure results from the movement of zillions of tiny molecules of gases
(mostly nitrogen and oxygen) in the atmosphere
• Atmospheric pressure is greater near the earths surface because the molecules
in the atmosphere are squeezed together under the weight of the air above.
• Air mass with high pressure, called high, contains cool, dense air that descends
towards the earths surface and becomes warmer.
• Low-pressure air mass, called low, produces cloudy and sometimes stormy
weather.
• When the temperature drops below certain level where condensation takes place
called the dew point, moisture in the air condenses and forms clouds.
• If the droplets in the clouds coalesce into large and heavy drops, precipitation
occurs.
Co n v e ct i o n Ce l l s
• Hadley cells exist on either side of the equator.
• Each cell encircles the globe latitudinally and acts to transport energy from the
equator to about the 30th latitude.
• Warm, moist air converging near the equator causes heavy precipitation. This
releases latent heat, driving strong rising motions.
• This air rises to the tropopause, about 10-15 kilometers above sea level, where
the air is no longer buoyant.
• Unable to continue rising, this sub-stratospheric air is instead forced poleward
by the continual rise of air below.
• As air moves poleward, it both cools and gains a strong eastward component
due to the Coriolis effect and the conservation of angular momentum. The
resulting winds form the subtropical jet streams.
Ha d l e y Ce l l
To rn a d o e s a n d Tr o p i c a l Cy c l o n e s ?
• Weather extremes.
• Violent storms called tornadoes (which form over land) and tropical cyclones
(which form over warm ocean waters , sometimes pass over coastal land).
• Tornadoes are swirling funnel shaped clouds that form over land. They can
destroy houses and cause serious damages. United States is the worlds most
tornado-prone country followed by Australia.
• As the large warm-air mass move rapidly over the more dense mass of cold air it
rises rapidly and forms strong vertical convection currents that suck air upward.
Tro p i ca l Cy c l o n e s c o n t …
• Hurricanes are tropical cyclones that form in the Atlantic Ocean.
• In the Pacific Ocean usually are called Typhoons.
• Tropical cyclones take a long time to from and gain strength.
• Hurricanes and typhoons can kill and injure people and damage property and
agricultural production.
• Long-term ecological and economic benefits of a tropical cyclone can exceed its
short-term harmful effects.
• Hurricane Brett (August 1999)
• Flushes excess nutrients from land runoff and dead rotting vegetation from the
coastal bays and marshes. Carves channels for flow of fresh seawater to flood
the bays and marshes.
Hu rri c a n e Br e t t c o n t …
• Flushing out of bays and marshes reduced brown tides consisting of growths of
algae feeding on excess nutrients.
• It also increased growth of sea grasses, which serve as nurseries for shrimps,
crabs and fish
• Production of commercially important species of shellfish and fish also increased.
EI Ni n o
• In the Pacific Ocean, normal shore upwellings are affected by changes in climate
patterns called the El Nino Southern Oscillation or ENSO.

• Tropical trade winds blowing westward weaken or reverse direction.

• Warms up the surface water along the South and North American coasts

• This suppresses the normal upweilling of cold, nutrient-rich water

• Decrease in nutrients reduces primary productivity

• Sharp decline in the populations of some fish species.


L a Ni n a

• La Nina is the reverse of El Nino

• Cools some coastal surface waters, and brings back upwellings.

• La Nina causes Atlantic Ocean hurricanes.

• Colder winters in Canada and the northwestern United States, and warmer and
drier winters in the southeastern and southwestern United States. It also usually
leads to wetter winters in the Pacific Northwest, torrential rains in Southeast Asia,
lower wheat yields in Argentina and more wildfires in Florida.
Ga s e s a n d Cl i m a t e ? Na t u ra l Gr e e n h o u se
Ef fe c t
• Small amounts of certain gases play a key role in determining the earths average
temperatures and thus its climates.

• These gases includes water vapor (H2O), Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4)
and nitrous oxide (N2O).

• Together these gases known as the greenhouse gases, allow mostly visible light
and some infrared radiation and ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun to pass
through the troposphere.

• IR radiation escapes into space and some is absorbed by molecules of


greenhouse gases and emitted into the troposphere.
Gre e n Ho u s e E f f e c t Co n t …
• Human activities such as burning fossil fuels, clearing of forests, and growing
crops release carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide into the troposphere

• Leads to natural greenhouse effect and global warming.

• This alters precipitation patterns, shift areas where we can grow crops, raise
average sea levels, and shifts areas where some types of plants and animals can
live.
Su m m a ry
• Understand the difference between Weather and Climate

• Köppen climate classification

• Factors affecting the Earth’s weather

• Factors affecting the Earth’s climate

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