Students,
Today we talked about factors that affect climate. We built off of yesterdays lesson of latitude zones (High / Mid / low) and added in other physical features that can affect climate.
To recap:
Latitude zones - or where a location is on earths latitude lines (the flat lines that run E and W but measure up and down) impacts primarily a locations temperature. With higher latitudes being cooler as they are farther from the suns rays, and lower latitudes being warmer as they are closer to the suns rays. Remember we only have seasons because the earth spins on an axis (a slight angle) which is why latitude zones even exist.
We also discussed Orographic Rainfall which is what happens when wet rainy air hits a mountain and just stops, dropping all of its contents on the "windward" side of the mountain, while the "leeward" side remains dry with very little moisture.
Thirdly, we discussed air currents. The fact that hot air (low pressure systems) rise up, and cool air (high pressure systems) flow into the vacant space, creating wind. In most of my classes I was able to discuss Haboobs a weather phenomenon caused by a combination of high wind and lots of dirt. They are primarily located in desert regions in South West Asia, but showed up at my Alma Mater (Texas Tech) in 2011.
Link to the lubbock haboob: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSBbxdQalOk
Link to wikipedia haboob article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haboob
To wrap up our day, we discussed ocean currents, and how they move in circular patterns. While they may be deep, they primarily move horizontally not vertically. Warm ocean currents are usually associated with more rainfall and warmer climates, while Cool ocean currents are generally associated with dry and cool climates.
Power point: http://imgur.com/a/j16BD
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