Lab 14: Climate Investigation
Introduction
There are a lot of factors that influence the climate, the one that this lab is focus on is
Elevation (Altitude). Elevation is the height of land above the sea level. And factors that affect
the weather in some elevation are; the earth’s surface and land form, the atmosphere,
temperature, precipitation. The higher the place is above sea level the colder the temperature will
be; this happens because as altitude increases air becomes thinner and is less able to absorb and
retain heat. The Earth’s surface reflects and absorbs heat from the sun. The earth’s core also
emits heat to its crust. This makes the earth’s surface warm. Land forms such as mountain ranges
have a constant sheet of snow at the highest point because of the cold temperatures, mountain
ranges also block precipitation. The atmosphere also affects the temperature in different
elevation because the troposphere is mostly warmed by the earth’s surface. This is because the
troposphere is closest to the surface of the earth. The temperature of the troposphere deceases
about 6.5⁰C for every 1km increase in altitude. As a result, highland areas everywhere have cool
climates, no matter what their latitude. Since the troposphere is warmed by the earth’s surface it
is warmer at lower altitudes and cooler at higher ones.
The question was; how does change in elevation affect the temperature? The hypothesis
was; if the elevation is high then the temperature will become colder because when altitude
increases, air becomes thinner and is less able to absorb and retain heat. In this lab to locations
were chosen: Seattle, WA (elevation = 55 meters/182 feet) and Spokane, WA (elevation = 571
meters/1873 feet) because they are in similar area with different elevation.
Method
The source of the data was by AMNH Weather and Climate Graphing tool (from NOA
NCDC). NWS or National Weather Service has over 11,000 volunteer who are cooperative
observers that report their daily dad to the nearest Warning and Forecast Office (WFO) at 7 am
local time. These reports include the maximum and minimum temperatures, the rainfall, new
snowfall, total snow depth and any other relevant weather that happened within the past 24
hours. The WFOs take all the data from their areas and distribute it to the rest of the NWS over
AWIPs, the Weather Service’s computer system. That goes to the website
http://www.amnh.org/explore/curriculum-collections/patterns-investigating-weather-and-climate
that was used in this lab. From the Climate Graph open Map under Select Location (right side of
the page). Pick two locations; Spokane, WA and Seattle, WA. Then close map to go to Pick
Parameter(s) and pick the variable; Average Monthly Min Temperature (⁰C) and adjust the time
scale; from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2002.
Results
Through 3 years’ time, between the dates of January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2002
Spokane, WA (has a higher elevation) was colder overall than Seattle, WA. Both locations have
the highest temperature of the years are between June and July. The highest temperatures were
recorded in July 2002, when Spokane, WA was 13.7⁰C and Seattle, WA was 14.3⁰C. In addition,
both locations have the lowest temperatures of the years between October and January. The
lowest temperatures were recorded in January 2001 when Spokane, WA was -7.0⁰C and Seattle,
WA was 0.7⁰C. In July 2002, Seattle and Spokane recorded almost identical temperatures of
around 14⁰C.
Scientific Discussion
The hypothesis was, if the elevation is high then the temperature will become colder
because when altitude increases, air becomes thinner and is less able to absorb and retain heat.
The hypothesis was supported by the results because the higher elevation, the colder the
temperature it gets because the atmosphere affects the temperature in different elevation because
the troposphere is mostly warmed by the earth’s surface. This is because the troposphere is
closest to the surface of the earth. The temperature of the troposphere deceases about 6.5⁰C for
every 1km increase in altitude. As a result, highland areas everywhere have cool climates, no
matter what their latitude. Since the troposphere is warmed by the earth’s surface it is warmer at
lower altitudes and cooler at higher ones. Basically, the same things works for elevation,
Spokane have a higher elevation than Seattle so climate will be affected with the cold
temperature it gets through its high elevation. Since Seattle has an elevation closer to the Earth’s
surface, so its surface is warmer than the climate in Spokane. Errors that could have happened
were if you pick the wrong parameter(s) then the data would be wrong and if the time difference
is too short for you to collect enough data. An extension to this activity is that next time you
could have person(s) go on top of a mountain and others on the bottom and record the
temperature at the same time.