Climate Factors

Picture courtesy of Creative Commons

Climate Factors

• Distance from the sea• Ocean currents• Prevailing winds• Relief (the lay of the land, including altitude)• Proximity to the equator (how near or far)• El Niño• Human activity

Distance from the sea

Areas that are landlocked (not near the sea) have greater seasonal temperature changes.Picture courtesy of Creative Commons

Areas near the sea

Temperatures in coastal areas are somewhat regulated by the temperatures of the ocean near there.

Big Waves on East Coast, Outer Banks Overwash -The WeatherMatrix Blog Weather Blog

www.accuweather.com1280 × 1024

Ocean CurrentsOcean currents balance the temperature of the ocean and the bringing forth of nutrients to the surface. When the colder currents from the north and the warmer currents from the south meet, they formulate the temperature for the area.

Coastal Studies Institute- North Carolina Coastal Ocean Observing ...

csi.northcarolina.edu

Prevailing Winds

They can push warm or cold winds into certain currents and can move storms to a different location.

Transport Climatology

capita.wustl.edu

Relief (landforms)The mountainous regions, which have higher altitudes, are naturally colder

while the lower regions, like beaches, aren’t

nearly as cold.

www.weather.gov

Proximity* to the Equator* (How close or far away)

The climate is affected by how close one is to the equator. The closer one is to the equator the warmer it will be.

en.wikipedia.org

What are El Niño and La Niña?

<div class="video-container" id="iframe"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://oceantoday.noaa.gov/elninolanina/embed.html" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

• http://oceantoday.noaa.gov/elninolanina/welcome.html

El Niño and La Niña are complex weather patterns resulting from variations in ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific.What are El Niño and La Niña?

Copy the link below and paste it into a url bar to seea video from NOAA /

http://oceantoday.noaa.gov/elninolanina/welcome.html

El Niño

El Niño affects mainly Australia and South America. In Australia, it results in draught and a dry season. In South America, it results in surplus rain.http://www.gma.org/surfing/weather/elnino.html

Human Activity

Urban heat islands are common is developed areas. Deforestation changes the climate of rainforests through desertification. Overuse/overgrazing of grasslands can also lead to desertification. Burning of fossil fuels and deforestation can increase CO2 in the atmosphere, causing global warming.

Are Humans Really Affecting the Climate?

http://theseamonster.net/2012/06/the-human-fingerprint-on-ocean-warming/

Mexico’s seven climate regions

• Climatologists have developed several scientific systems to classify climates. The system developed by Wladimir Köppen in the early 20th century is one of the earliest and best known..

• Given that Mexico has many mountains with rapid changes in elevation, temperature and rainfall, applying the Köppen system, even as modified by García, to Mexico can become extremely complicated. A relatively small area of Mexico may include several Köppen climate categories. Aggregating these areas provides a less complicated, more understandable, picture of Mexico’s climates (see map). In this scheme, Mexico has seven main climate regions, as shown on the map:

• Excerpts from Geo-Mexico Add comments

• Aug 15, 2013

Seven Climates of MexicoPhoto courtesy of https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantilla:Mapa_de_M%C3%A9xico_cliqueable

References

• http://www.ecn.ac.uk/Education/factors_affecting_climate.htm

• http://www.gma.org/surfing/weather/elnino.html

• en.wikipedia.org

• www.accuweather.com1280 × 1024

• csi.northcarolina.edu