Factors that Affect Climate - schs

Factors that Affect Climate
1. What are the 7 factors that Affect Climate according to you text book(Chp .11)?
a. _Latitutde______________________ e. __Convectional Precipitation_____
b. _Relief and Elevation_____________ f. ___ Cyclonic Precipitation ______
c. _Wind and Pressure Systems ______ g. __ Water, Ocean Currents and Air Masses
d. _Relief Precipitation_______________
2. Latitude refers to the distance a place is from the equator
3. Average temperature is cooler closer to the poles
4. Energy from the sun is concentrated near the equator thus the land receives more heat.
5. Because of the curvature of the earth, the sun’s rays are spread over a larger area at
the poles, thus the heat is weaker and the temperature cooler.
6. See figure 11-3 As latitude increases, the angle at which the sun’s rays hit the ground
decreases thus spreading the sun’s energy over a larger area.
7. Relief refers to the differences in elevation of the earth’s surface
8. As air rises up a mountain the temperature drops. This is because the air gets thinner,
or expands as it rises and thus loses heat.
9. Areas far from oceans and larger lakes in the interior land masses have a
continental climate.
10. Coastal locations have a Maritime climate.
11. Continental climate is less than 1000 mm of precipitation and large range in temperature
of more than 25 degrees.
12. Maritime climate is greater than 1000 mm of precipitation and small range in temperature
of less than 25 degrees.
13. Oceans make the temperature ranges of maritime areas smaller.
14. Oceans keep land cool in summer and warm in winter .
15. No large bodies of water in continental areas results in large temperature range.
16. Climate is affected by ocean currents.
17. Ocean currents are large rivers of water that flow through the ocean.
18. Warm North Pacific Current keeps BC warm.
19. Cold Labrador Current cools air of north Newfoundland.
20. Warm Gulf Stream warms Nova Scotia and south Newfoundland.

Factors that Affect Climate
21. When warm and south currents meet at Grand Banks, it is damp and foggy .
22. See Figure 11-7. Draw and Label the 5 ocean currents, include whether it is cold or
hot. Draw and Label the air masses, include moisture content and temperature.
23. An air mass is a large, stable volume of air. It has the same climate conditions
of the area over which it was formed.
24. When the air mass moves it brings that climate with it.
25. As the air passes over land, the moisture is released in some form of precipitation.
26. Air, like everything on Earth, has weight, which is called air pressure.
27. When air moves from high pressure areas to low pressure areas this is called wind.
28. There are high and low pressure belts that have created a well established
pattern of prevailing winds.
29. In North America, cold, dry arctic moves southward and warm moist gulf air moves northward.
30. When two air masses meet it is called a front.
31. High in the atmosphere above the polar front is a current of fast-moving air called
the polar front jet stream.
32. Precipitation occurs when air cools as it rises and as air cools, water vapour
condenses more than it evaporates.
33. Mountain barriers create relief precipitation.
34. As moist air rises up the windward slope it expands and cools.

Factors that Affect Climate
35. Rising air cools and expands, thus condensing the water droplets causing clouds.
36. When the clouds get to heavy they release the droplets as rain.
37. Precipitation can take form of rain, snow, sleet, frost or dew.
38. Precipitation happens on the windward side of the mountain.
39. As cool air descends on the more protected leeward slope of the mountain range,
it contracts and becomes warmer.
40. Leeward sides of mountains are dryer.
41. Convectional precipitation is very common in summer in continental locations,
such as Prairie provinces.
42. The rising air expands and cools, and the water vapour within it condenses to
form puffy white clouds.
43. The clouds develop vertically throughout the day as more and more moisture
condenses and the water droplets get _larger and larger.
44. As the water droplets fall to the ground, the raindrops cools the air and
drag some of it downward, creating downdrafts_.
45. Air masses that are different in moisture content and temperature do not mix easily.
46. Cyclonic storms are a large, low-pressure systems that forms when warm air mass
and cold air masses collide; a front develops.
47. As the warm air mass moves inward toward the centre of low pressure, it rises
and cools creating precipitation.
48. In North America, these low pressure storm systems move from west to east
throughout the year.
49. Most of the precipitation in the Prairies, especially in winter, is cyclonic.