Chapter 21 Review

1. Chapter 21 Review Place these notes into your Meteorology Notebook

2. In general, as latitude increases, the average yearly temperature decreases. The two main characteristics of a region’s climate are temperature and precipitation. The average temperature of the warmest and coldest months is necessary to determine the annual temperature range for a location. London, England, has warmer winters than Cleveland, Ohio, partly because London is more affected by ocean currents.

3. Bombay, India, and Mobile, Alabama, have about the same rainfall per year but have different climates because the distribution of rainfall throughout the year in the two cities is different. Unlike latitude, longitude is not considered a climate control. Arctic regions are cold because snow and ice reflect sunlight, sunlight hits the ground at a low angle, and there is no sunlight for part of the year.

4. A city on the leeward side of mountains, compared to a city on the windward side, is likely to have a climate that is warmer and drier. A city near the equator can be coolest if it is at a high altitude. Evaporation and precipitation are factors most important in determining the dryness of a climate. A tundra climate zone is cold and dry with short, cool summers.

5. A humid continental zone has warm summers and cold, snowy winters. The Great Plains of the United States have a semiarid climate. During the last ice age (70,000 – 10,000 yrs ago), temperatures were approximately 5°C cooler than today’s temperature. An increased reflection of sunlight into space would cause Earth to cool.

6. Variance in the tilt of the Earth’s axis has been related to climate change. (Earth wobble) Tropical plant fossils found in Greenland provide evidence that Greenland used to be closer to the equator. Volcanoes may have caused the relative warmth of the Cretaceous Period by adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

7. http://www.michaelmandeville.com/earthmonitor/polarmotion/plots/wobbletrac_Jan17_06.gifhttp://www.michaelmandeville.com/earthmonitor/polarmotion/plots/wobbletrac_Jan17_06.gif

8. Heat budget describes an accounting of the flow of energy into, through, and out of Earth. Earthquake activity has not affected Earth’s climate in the distant past, however, changes in the number of sunspots, plate tectonics, and volcanic activity have.

9. This chart shows data suggesting an increase in global temperatures since 1880.

10. Name two factors that might have caused this increase and explain how they affected climate. Increased use of petroleum, cutting down forests and rainforests, and burning of the rainforests. Burning of petroleum and trees releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Reducing forests decreases the number of trees to absorb carbon dioxide.

11. Essay: Describe two different methods that scientists can use to study climate changes for which no historical record exists. Analysis of sediments and shells of microorganisms on the sea floor. Shells that lived at the surface can give a history of changes in temperature of the sea surface. Drilling into glaciers to study oxygen isotopes create a climate history. Study tree rings to identify climate history of the trees’ lifetime.

12. Essay: Describe how climate might vary in the regions on two sides of a mountain range, and on two slopes of a single mountain. Climate on the windward side is wetter and colder. Climate on the leeward side is drier and warmer. The mountains form a barrier to air masses, and rain falls on the windward side as air is forced to rise over the range. Climate on two slopes of a mountain can vary depending on directions the slopes are facing. In the Northern Hemisphere, a north facing slope might be colder and always snow covered.