Classifying Earths Climates Flashcards
What is Climate?
Climate (10)
The consistent, long-term behaviour of weather over time, including its variability; in contrast to weather, which is the condition of the atmosphere at any given place and time.
is the collective pattern of weather over many years. As we have seen, Earth experiences an almost infinite variety of weather at any given time and place. But, if we consider a longer time scale, and the variability and extremes of weather over such a time scale, a pattern emerges that constitutes climate.
What is Climatology?
Climatology (10)
The scientific study of climate and climatic patterns and the consistent behaviour of weather, including its variability and extremes, over time in one place or region; includes the effects of climate change on human society and culture.
Climatology is the study of climate and its variability, including long-term weather patterns over time and space and the controls that produce Earth’s diverse climatic conditions.
What is a Climatic Regions?
Climatic region (10) An area of homogenous climate that features characteristic regional weather and air mass patterns.
No two places on Earth’s surface experience exactly the same climatic conditions; in fact, Earth is a vast collection of microclimates. However, broad similarities among local climates permit their grouping into climatic regions, which are areas with similarity in weather statistics.
What are the two principle climatic components?
Temperature and precipitation
What are Climate regimes?
general climate types, sometimes called climate regimes, such as tropical deserts (hot and dry), polar ice sheets (cold and dry), and equatorial rain forests (hot and wet).
What is Classification?
Classification (10)
The process of ordering or grouping data or phenomena in related classes; results in a regular distribution of information; a taxonomy.
Classification is the ordering or grouping of data or phenomena into categories of varying generality. Such generalizations are important organizational tools in science and are especially useful for the spatial analysis of climatic regions. Observed patterns confined to specific regions are at the core of climate classification.
What are transition zones?
When using classifications, we must remember that the boundaries of these regions are transition zones, or areas of gradual change.
What is the empirical approach to Climate Classifcation?
Climate classifications based on temperature and precipitation are examples of the empirical approach.
What is a Tropical Climate
Tropical climates: tropical latitudes, winterless
What are Mesothermal climates
Mesothermal climates: midlatitudes, mild winters
What are Microthermal climates?
Microthermal climates: mid- and high latitudes, cold winters
What are Polar climates?
Polar climates: high latitudes and polar regions
What are Highland climates?
Highland climates: high elevations at all latitudes
What are Dry climates?
Dry climates: permanent moisture deficits at all latitudes
What is a Climograph?
Climograph (10)
A graph that plots daily, monthly, or annual temperature and precipitation values for a selected station; may also include additional weather information.
What is a tropical rain forest climate?
tropical rain forest climates are constantly moist and warm. Convectional thunderstorms, triggered by local heating and trade-wind convergence, peak each day from midafternoon to late evening inland and earlier in the day where marine influence is strong along coastlines.
What’s a Tropical monsoon climate?
Tropical monsoon climates feature a dry season that lasts 1 or more months. Rainfall brought by the ITCZ falls in these areas from 6 to 12 months of the year. (Remember, the ITCZ affects the tropical rain forest climate region throughout the year.) The dry season occurs when the ITCZ has moved away so that the convergence effects are not present.
Tropical monsoon climates lie principally along coastal areas within the tropical rain forest climatic realm and experience seasonal variation of wind and precipitation.
What is a Tropical Savanna Climate?
Tropical savanna climates exist poleward of the tropical rain forest climates. The ITCZ reaches these climate regions for about 6 months or less of the year as it migrates with the summer Sun. Summers are wetter than winters because convectional rains accompany the shifting ITCZ when it is overhead. In contrast, when the ITCZ is farthest away and high pressure dominates, conditions are notably dry. Thus, PE (natural moisture demand) exceeds P (natural moisture supply) in winter, causing water-budget deficits.
Temperatures vary more in tropical savanna climates than in tropical rain forest regions. The tropical savanna regime can have two temperature maximums during the year because the Sun’s direct rays are overhead twice—before and after the summer solstice in each hemisphere as the subsolar point moves between the equator and the tropics.
What are Humid subtropical hot-summer climates?
Humid subtropical hot-summer climates either are moist all year or have a pronounced winter-dry period, as occurs in eastern and southern Asia. Maritime tropical air masses generated over warm waters off eastern coasts influence these climates during summer. This warm, moist, unstable air produces convectional showers over land. In fall, winter, and spring, maritime tropical and continental polar air masses interact, generating frontal activity and frequent midlatitude cyclonic storms. These two mechanisms produce year-round precipitation, which averages 100–200 cm a year.
What are Humid subtropical winter-dry climates?
Humid subtropical winter-dry climates are related to the winter-dry, seasonal pulse of the monsoons. They extend poleward from tropical savanna climates and have a summer month that receives 10 times more precipitation than their driest winter month.
What are Marine west coast climates?
Marine west coast climates, featuring mild winters and cool summers, are characteristic of Europe and other middle- to high-latitude west coasts
What is Mediterranian dry-summer climate?
The Mediterranean dry-summer climate designation specifies that at least 70% of annual precipitation occurs during the winter months. This is in contrast to climates in most of the rest of the world, which exhibit summer-maximum precipitation. Across narrow bands of the planet during summer months, shifting cells of subtropical high pressure block moisture-bearing winds from adjacent regions. This shifting of stable, warm to hot, dry air over an area in summer and away from that area in winter creates a pronounced dry-summer and wet-winter pattern.
The Mediterranean dry-summer climate brings summer water-balance deficits. Winter precipitation recharges soil moisture, but water use usually exhausts the soil moisture by late spring.
What is Humid continental hot-summer climates?
Humid continental hot-summer climates have the warmest summer temperatures of the microthermal category. In the summer, maritime tropical air masses influence precipitation, which may be consistent throughout the year or have a distinct winter-dry period. In North America, frequent weather activity is possible between conflicting air masses—maritime tropical and continental polar—especially in winter.
What are Humid continental mild summer climates
Located farther toward the poles, humid continental mild-summer climates are slightly cooler. Figure 10.14 presents a climograph for Moscow, Russia, which is at 55° N, or about the same latitude as the southern shore of Hudson Bay, in Canada. In Canada, a characteristic city having this mild-summer climate is Ottawa, Ontario.
Overall, precipitation is less than in the hot-summer regions to the south; however, snowfall is notably heavier, and its melting is important to soil-moisture recharge.
