Transcript Weather 3-2 - Homepage of Jay Chase

Weather
Temperature Controls
May 6, 2008
Temperature
• Temperature is the measure of the
average kinetic energy of the particles of
an object.
• Think of a thermometer as a speedometer!
• A temperature control is any factor that
causes temperature to vary from place to
place and from time to time.
• What do you think are some temperature
controls?
Temperature Controls
• Factors that exert a strong influence on
temperature include latitude, heating of
land and water, altitude, geographic
position, cloud cover, and ocean currents.
Latitude
• Because the axis
remains pointed
toward the North
Star as Earth
moves around the
sun, the position of
Earth’s axis to the
suns rays is
constantly
changing.
• Flashlight
Demonstration
Heating of Land and Water
• Land heats more rapidly and to higher
temperatures than water. Land also cools
more rapidly and to lower temperatures
than water.
• How can this difference affect the
temperature? (Remember the heat source
for the troposphere!)
Compare Using a Graph
• What does the left
axis indicate?
• What does the right
axis indicate?
• What does the bottom
axis indicate?
• What do the curves
indicate about the
climates of each city?
Geographic Position
• The geographic position can greatly
influence temperatures experienced at a
specific location.
• Windward vs. Leeward
• Mountain barriers
Altitude
• These two cities have
different altitudes.
• Which one has a
higher altitude?
• What is the
relationship between
altitude and
temperature?
Cloud Cover and Albedo
• Albedo is the fraction of total radiation that
is reflected by any surface.
• Many clouds have a high albedo, and
therefore reflect a significant portion of the
sunlight that strikes them back to space.
• At night, clouds have the opposite effect,
and reflect outgoing radiation emitted by
Earth back to Earth.
Cloud Cover and Albedo Illustrated
Isotherms
• Isotherms are lines that connect points
that have the same temperature.
Assignment
• Read pg. 488-493
• Complete 17.3 ws