Chapter 21 Review
Place these notes into your
Meteorology Notebook
In general, as latitude increases, the average
yearly temperature decreases.
The two main characteristics of a region’s
climate are temperature and precipitation.
The average temperature of the warmest and
coldest months is necessary to determine the
annual temperature range for a location.
London, England, has warmer winters than
Cleveland, Ohio, partly because London is
more affected by ocean currents.
Bombay, India, and Mobile, Alabama,
have about the same rainfall per year
but have different climates because the
distribution of rainfall throughout the
year in the two cities is different.
Unlike latitude, longitude is not
considered a climate control.
Arctic regions are cold because snow and
ice reflect sunlight, sunlight hits the
ground at a low angle, and there is no
sunlight for part of the year.
A city on the leeward side of mountains,
compared to a city on the windward
side, is likely to have a climate that is
warmer and drier.
A city near the equator can be coolest if it
is at a high altitude.
Evaporation and precipitation are factors
most important in determining the
dryness of a climate.
A tundra climate zone is cold and dry with
short, cool summers.
A humid continental zone has warm
summers and cold, snowy winters.
The Great Plains of the United States
have a semiarid climate.
During the last ice age (70,000 – 10,000
yrs ago), temperatures were
approximately 5°C cooler than today’s
temperature.
An increased reflection of sunlight into
space would cause Earth to cool.
Variance in the tilt of the Earth’s axis has
been related to climate change. (Earth
wobble)
Tropical plant fossils found in Greenland
provide evidence that Greenland used
to be closer to the equator.
Volcanoes may have caused the relative
warmth of the Cretaceous Period by
adding carbon dioxide to the
atmosphere.
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Heat budget describes an accounting of
the flow of energy into, through, and out
of Earth.
Earthquake activity has not affected
Earth’s climate in the distant past,
however, changes in the number of
sunspots, plate tectonics, and volcanic
activity have.
This chart shows data suggesting an increase in
global temperatures since 1880.
Name two factors that might have caused this increase and
explain how they affected climate. Increased use of petroleum,
cutting down forests and rainforests, and burning of the
rainforests.
Burning of petroleum and trees releases carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere. Reducing forests decreases the number of trees
to absorb carbon dioxide.
Essay:
Describe two different methods that scientists
can use to study climate changes for which
no historical record exists.
Analysis of sediments and shells of
microorganisms on the sea floor. Shells that
lived at the surface can give a history of
changes in temperature of the sea surface.
Drilling into glaciers to study oxygen isotopes
create a climate history.
Study tree rings to identify climate history of
the trees’ lifetime.
Essay:
Describe how climate might vary in the regions on
two sides of a mountain range, and on two slopes
of a single mountain.
Climate on the windward side is wetter and colder.
Climate on the leeward side is drier and warmer.
The mountains form a barrier to air masses, and
rain falls on the windward side as air is forced to
rise over the range. Climate on two slopes of a
mountain can vary depending on directions the
slopes are facing. In the Northern Hemisphere, a
north facing slope might be colder and always snow
covered.