Weather: describes the current conditions
Climate: Long term pattern of weather
Factors that influence climate:
– The sun, it provides all the light and heat. Not all places receive the same amount of light due to the Earth’s rotation on it’s axis (day-night cycle).
– Revolution of the Earth (how long it takes to make one full circle around the sun). The tilt gives the Earth: seasons.
– Lattitude: the distance away from the equator. There are 5 lines of lattitude.
– Equator: 0. The equator receives more sun than the other places further from it.
– Tropic of Cancer: 23.5 N.
– Tropic of Capricorn. 23.5 S.
– Anywhere located between T.o.Can and T.o.Cap are called the low lattitudes/tropics.
– Antarctic Circle: 66.5 S.
– Arctic Circle: 66.5 N.
– Areas between 23.5 and 66.5 are called the Middle Lattitudes. The sun never shines directly on those zones. AKA the Temperate Regions.
– Polar Regions/High Lattitudes are above 66.5 degrees north or south. They receive the least amount of sunlight.
– Elevation: height from sea level. Higher elevation = colder.
– Percipitation: when water vapour condenses and falls (rain, snow, hail, etc).
– Wind: air moving sideways from one place to another. Wind blowing from tropics = warm air. Wind blowing from polar regions = cold air.
– Like wind, water currents flow. But they are restricted by land. Water currents moderate temperature by carrying warmth.
– Gulf Stream
Six Climate Regions:
– Tropical
– Sub Tropical
– Temperate
– Sub Polar
– Polar
– Highlands
Climate zones are defined by two main things: Percipitation and temperature.
– Climate determines the type of architecture used in homes.
Feb 18 notes (review last class notes later)
– Craton in South Africa (oldest rock on the planet)
– Granite is less dense than most other rocks in the Earth’s mantle
– Pillow lava: formed under the sea when lava from underneath hits the cold water.
– The crust is made of tectonic plates (like a jig-saw, constantly moving)
– The tectonic plates float on top of the mantle (semi-solid layer).
– Continental Drift (1912 theory trying to explain why the tectonic plates move).
– Identical fossils found in seperate continents (a fresh water organism can’t tolerate salt water long enough to travel that distance)
– These fossils must have been closer together at some point
– Plate tectonics, heat is moving them
– The core of the planet is as hot as the surface of the sun (deeper=hotter)
– Radioactive decay. As matter breaks down, it releases heat
– Magma
– Molten rock inside
– Lava
– When magma hits the surface
– Magma that rises, will cool and become rock. As it cools and solidifies, it will push the plates apart.
– The majority of new rock happens usually happens under the sea. This process is important in cooling the Earth
– The atlantic oocean is expanding because of the plates
– One of the super continents: (pre-pangaea) Baalbaara
– East African Rift, you can see the continent splitting
– Subduction zone: the area where one plate goes under another plate. The denser plate will go under.
– Rodinia, another super continent
– The North American craton can be traced back to Rodinia
– Pangaea, last super continent
– Africa reaches to the Alps
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