Unit 2, Lesson 11 - Climate

​Climate

​Objectives/Goals

​Vocabulary

• Explain how climate affects learner's lives

• Use a climate zone map to identify the climate zones of different locations

• Explain the connection between climate and agriculture

• Identify the impact of climate change on physical geography

• Arid Climate

• Climate

• Continental Climate

• Elevation

• Ocean Current

• Polar Climate

​Essential Question: How does climate influence people, and what factors affect climate?

• Prevailing Winds

• Rain Shadow

• Temperate Climate

• Tropical Climate

• Tropics

Choose one of the locations to travel to and get ready to plan your trip.
​

Let's Take a Trip

• What clothes are you taking?

• What activites are you going to plan to do?

• What food will you plan to eat?

• What will the terrain (land) be like?

• What do you hope the weather will be like while on this trip?

1. Climate is the weather pattern over time, impacting how people interact with the environment, such as clothing, food, jobs, and housing. 

2. The weather is short-term and can change several times in a short period of time. 

3. Climate varies from place to place

   1. Arizona is drier than PA, but Arizona still has rainy days, and PA still has dry days

Climate

​Climate impacts the way people dress.
1. (Inuit) Indigenous People in the Artic wear fur-lined clothes
2. (Bedouin)Indigenous people in the Sahara wear loose fighting cloths

Clothing

Climate impacts the crops that are grown in different places or the animals people use for food and labor.
1. Yaks are used for food and labor in the Himalayan mountains where farming is difficult
2. Cocoa trees grow in abundance in the rich rainforest climate of Mexico

Farming and Herding

Climate impacts the homes that people live in. Access to building resources can be limited in some areas.
1. Adobe (a type of mud) is a common building material in Africa where wood scarce
2. Wood is a more common building material in Russia

Homes

​How Does the Climate Impact Humans?

Open Ended

• What clothes are you taking?

• What activites are you going to plan to do?

• What food will you plan to eat?

• What will the terrain (land) be like?

• What do you hope the weather will be like while on this trip?

1. Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn: The lines of latitude where the sun is directly positioned overhead, twice a year and receives the most amount of sunlight and the warmest climate

The sun affects different latitudes differently. Places near the Equator experience sunlight more directly. Near the poles, the same amount of sunlight is spread over a larger surface. Therefore, the sunlight is less intense. The graphic to the right illustrates this effect.

As a result, places near the Equator tend to be warmer than places near the poles.

Latitude: measures how far north or south a location is from the equator

Latitude Impacts on Climate

​The Tropics

1. A stream of ocean water moving in a certain direction

2. These currents are caused by the Earth's rotation and gravity

3. Currents bring warm water from the Equator and cold water from the poles

4. This warm water will warm the air above it and the cold water cools the air above it.

Ocean Currents

1. Winds that mainly blow in one direction

2. These wind currents are caused by the Earth's rotation and the sun's uneven heating of air

3. Winds across the ocean carry moist air and bring rain

4. Winds across dry land carry dry air

Prevailing Winds

Wind and Ocean Currents

Why should I care about ocean currents?

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1. Elevation: the height above sea level

   1. Higher elevations tend to be cooler

2. Rain Shadow: is an area of land that has become a desert because mountain ranges block a large amount of the rainfall

   1. When a prevailing wind blows warm, moist ocean air toward a mountain, the mountain forces the air upward. The air cools as it rises.

   2. Cold air cannot hold as much moisture as warm air. The moisture falls from the air as rain.

   3. By the time the prevailing wind blows over the top of the mountain, the air has dropped its moisture and is dry. The land on the other side of the mountain becomes a rain shadow. It does not get much rain.

Elevation and Mountains

Categorize

Options (20)

summers are warm

winters are cold

a fair amount of rain and snow

forests of evergreen or leafy trees

generally located on substantial land masses

warm and humid in the summer

mild temperatures in the winter

plenty of rain and snow

forests of leafy trees and some evergreen trees

generally located at mid-level latitudes

warm or hot temperatures all year

little amounts of rain

shrubs and cacti, or no plant life

generally located near deserts

Climates can be classified into 5 major Climate Zones.

Organize these options into the right categories

Arid Climate

Continental Climate

Temperate Climate

1. Climate Change happens over time

   1. The earth's average temperature is about 2 degrees warmer then it was 150 years ago

2. Climate Change can happen naturally

   1. Volcanic eruptions (The Year Without a Summer - 1816)

3. Climate Change can be caused by humans

   1. Burning of Fossil Fuels (Coal)

4. Impact of Climate Change

   1. destroy ecosystems

   2. Rising Sea Levels (Sea has risen 8 inches over 150 years)

​

Climate Change

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​Option 1...
Use the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science map locater and locate the climate changes of five cities around the world. Identify what the changes will be with and without emissions changes. Share your results in the correct slide.

What will the climate be like in 60 years?

Options 2...
Choose one of the 5 Climate Zones (Arid, Polar, Continental, Temperate, and Tropical) from around the world and Draw an image of a description of that Climate Zone. Share in the

Picture It!

​You Pick...

Open Ended

What will the Climate be like in 60 years?

Use the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science map locater and locate the climate changes of five cities around the world. Identify what the changes will be with and without emissions changes. Share your results below.

Example:

City Name: Dural Australia - High Emissions will be 7 degrees Fahrenheit and 26% wetter - similar to the city of Mount Morgan, Australia

Template:

City Name:______ High Emissions will be ___ Similar to _____

City Name: ______ High Emissions will be ___ Similar to _____

City Name: ______ High Emissions will be ___ Similar to _____

Draw

Choose one of the 5 Climate Zones (Arid, Polar, Continental, Temperate, and Tropical) from around the world and Draw an image of a description of that Climate Zone.

Categorize

Options (12)

warm temperatures all year

high amounts of rain

plenty of plants, including rainforests

generally located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn

cold temperatures all year

low amounts of rain and snow

mosses, or no plant life

generally located at high latitudes and near the poles 

Organize these options into the right categories

Tropical Climate

Polar Climate