Transcript Climate
Today is Wednesday, December 26, 2012 • Homework: Chapter 8 Packet Assigned • Warm UP: Review the following in your table groups: – What is: • A convection current? • Maritime Polar Air? • Maritime Tropical Air? This week….. ……and next: - Today (Wed.) = Ch. 8, Lesson 5 - Thursday = In-class Review (work on H.W. Packet) - Friday = Mr. Gross’s Wonderful World of Trivia (Chapter 8) - Saturday = Chapter 8 Test - Sunday, Monday, Tuesday = New Year’s Weekend Next week…. • Wednesday = Lab • Thursday = Finalize Science Fair Groups, begin brainstorming and propositions • Friday = Science Fair Workday; letters home Goal for Today • SWBAT demonstrate the ability to differentiate between climate and weather by discussing factors that influence climate. • What is the difference between climate and weather? • Climate is the average weather condition over a long time, usually 30 years • Features that affect climate – Mountains – altitude; two sides of a mountain are different (rain shadow) – Oceans – slows the rise and fall of temperatures because bodies of water also cool and warm slowly • Warm and cold currents can affect temperature • Climates can change, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly – Get clues from past writings – Hills and lakes formed by glaciers – Fossils – compare with current day plants and animals • Causes of climate change – Meteorites and asteroids – puts large amounts of dust into the air lower temps – Volcanic eruptions – puts large amounts of dust into the air lower temps – Carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor – burning of fossil fuels (man made); decaying matter, forest fires, volcanoes, water cycle (natural) Climate Rain Shadow Effect Gobi Desert and Himalayas Colorado Front Range and the Rocky Mountains Great Basin and Sierra Nevada Mountain Range Atacama Desert and the Andes Mountains in Chile Ocean Currents Climate Changes Last Major Ice Age Present Day World Map Events that Change Climate •Mt. Pinatubo, Philippines erupted June 15, 1991 •2nd largest eruption of the 20th century •Original 1,745m peak reduced to 1,485m…250m was blasted off •Created a caldera that is 2.5 km in diameter Figure modified by K. McGee et. al., from R. Turco, in Volcanism and Climate Change, 1992 Image above: Satellite data from NASA’s SAGE sensor map the atmospheric aerosol cloud that developed around the globe following the climactic eruption on June 15. The four panels show the amount of aerosols (blue – low; red- highest concentration) in the period before the eruption (top left), 2 weeks after (top right), 2 months after (bottom left) and 6 months after (bottom right). Note that after 6 months the entire atmosphere is covered by an aerosol veil. The aerosols reduce incoming solar radiation and cause temperature changes on Earth. (Figure from McCormick, M.P. et al., Nature 272, p. 399-404, 1995).