Exploring Elevation and Precipitation
STORE Lesson 2
Name: ___________________
Period: ___________________
Date: ____________________
Driving Question: How does precipitation vary with elevation?
Introduction
This lesson will involve the same tools in Google Earth and many of the same methods to now explore
the relationship between precipitation and elevation. Again, the challenge is to see if you can identify
locations that demonstrate clearly this important relationship.
Problem Question:
Hypothesis:
What is the relationship between elevation and precipitation?
State what you believe is the correct relationship between elevation and precipitation.
Instructions
1) Open the Store NY 102012.kmz from your H:Drive. If you did not save this from activity 1 follow
this path X:Drive, High School, Earth Science. Right click on the file name and click copy. Find
your H:Drive and paste the file to your network drive.
2) Turn on the Annual Precipitation layer and turn off all other layers.
3) Using the first of the three paths from Activity 1 (in your path folder if you saved it) record on
Table 1 the precipitation found at the highest and lowest elevations along each of the paths. Fill
in the data table on the next page.
4) Right click on a path name and select “Show Elevation Profile.”
5) Move the curser along the Elevation Profile to the lowest and highest elevations and record
these in your data table.
6) Click on the map near the lowest elevation and a window will open. Find the total inches and
record this value in your data table. Repeat this for the highest elevation.
7) Now redo steps 3 – 6 for your other two paths.
Page 1
STORE NY Activity 2
TABLE A
Path Name
Lowest
Elevation(ft)
Highest
Elevation(ft)
Precipitation @
Lowest Elevation (In)
Precipitation @
Highest Elevation(In)
8) Turn off the Annual Precipitation layer and turn on the January Precipitation layer.
9) Locate one of the areas of NY State listed in the data table below. Use the NY State maps in
your Reference Table to locate the areas.
10) Observe the pattern of January Precipitation in the area. Now turn on the July Precipitation
layer.
11) In the data table below (TABLE B) describe how and where the precipitation pattern changes.
Important information to include would be when it is the greatest, where it is the greatest,
where it is the least, when it is the least and how does it change as you go into a different
landscape (plains, plateau, mountains).
TABLE B:
Area of NY State
Comparison of January Precipitation to July Precipitation
Western NY
Buffalo to Rochester
Central NY
Rochester to Utica
Eastern NY
Utica to New York City
Northern NY
Tug Hill Plateau and
Adirondack Mountains
12) Turn off all layers except the New York Border layer.
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STORE NY Activity 2
13) Make sure your Paths folder is highlighted when drawing your path. Do this by clicking on the
word PATH in the places menu.
14) Using the “Add Path” tool
, draw a path from the shore of Lake Ontario West of the Tug
Hill Plateau due East to the NY State border. Name this path Tug Hill Snowfall.
15) Right click on the path name in the places menu and select “Show Elevation Profile.” In the
space below draw the elevation graph as it appears on your computer. Draw the general shape
of the line; you do not have to get every change in elevation.
Elevation (ft)
3000
2000
1000
0
0
25
50
75
100
125
Distance (mi)
16) Move the cursor along the Elevation Profile to record the elevations for each of the distances in
the data table
17) Now turn on the Annual Snowfall NYS layer. Move the cursor along the Elevation Profile to find
each distance in the data table below.
18) Click on the color layer associated with that distance to get the amount. Fill in the data table
below with the snowfall amounts. Zooming in closer might make it easier to determine the
information you need.
Distance (mi)
Change in Elevation and Snowfall from Oswego to Adirondack Mountains
0
25
50
75
100
125
Snowfall (In)
Elevation (ft)
Continue on to the question section of this activity. Please make sure you use the layers in Google Earth
and the data that you have collected to develop better answers to the questions.
Questions – Answer the following in the space provided.
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STORE NY Activity 2
1. Based on the data that you collected, describe the relationship between elevation and
precipitation.
2.
Did your data support or reject your hypothesis? Explain with example from your data.
3. What areas in NY have the greatest amount of precipitation? …. Least amount of
precipitation?
Greatest -
Least -
4. What landscape regions (page 2 RT) in NY have the greatest amount of snowfall? …..Least
amount of snowfall?
Greatest -
Least -
5. What climate factors are responsible for the location of the greatest amounts of
precipitation and snowfall in NY? Describe how each climate factor has contributed to this
pattern.
6. How does the amount of precipitation and snowfall on the west side of the Adirondack
Mountains compare with east side? What would explain this pattern?
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STORE NY Activity 2
7. How does the January Precipitation compare with the July Precipitation in NY?
8. Is the relationship between elevation and precipitation a direct or inverse relationship?
Why is this the case?
9. Is the relationship between elevation and temperature a direct or inverse relationship?
Why is this the case?
Page 5