What is the big deal with weather and climate?

Weather

• _________ changes in air that take place over a short time

Climate

• Usual, __________ pattern of weather in an area over a long time

Tropical• area located in the tropics( 23.5 degrees north and 23.5 degrees south latitude) • ______ all year

Tropical Savanna

• broad _________ with few trees

Marine West Coast

• mid-latitude coastal climate with mild, rainy _______ and ______ summers

Mediterranean

• mid-latitude coastal climate with mild, rainy ________ and hot, dry _______

Humid Continental• inland mid-latitude climate with cold, snowy ________ and short, hot _______

Humid Subtropical• rainy mid-latitude climate with hot, humid _______ and short, mild _______

Subarctic• high _______ climate with bitter cold winters and near-freezing summers

Tundra

• vast treeless plain with ________ in the high latitudes

Steppe• partly ____ grasslands and prairies surrounding many deserts

Another large steppe area (prairie) is located in the central United States and western Canada. The High Plains steppe is the westernmost part of the Great Plains region, and the Channeled Scablands in Southern British Columbia and Washington State.

Acid Rain• rain containing high amounts of chemical ________

Branches from a tree in Germany’s Black Forest show needle loss and yellowed boughs caused by acid rain.

Deforestation

• widespread _______ of forests

Slash-and-burn agriculture in the Peruvian Amazon

Clear-cutting in the Amazon rainforest

Greenhouse Effect• buildup of certain ______ in the atmosphere that , like a greenhouse, hold more of the sun’s warmth

A schematic representation of the

exchanges of energy between outer space, the Earth's atmosphere,

and the Earth's surface. The ability of the atmosphere to capture and recycle energy emitted by the Earth surface is the defining characteristic of the greenhouse effect.

Rain Shadow• _____ area on the inland side of coastal mountains

The Atacama Desert in Chile lies in the rain shadow of the Andes.

Latitude• location ______ or ______ of the Equator, measured by imaginary lines (parallels) that are numbered in degrees north or south

Longitude

• location ______ or ______ of the Prime Meridian, measured by imaginary lines( meridians) numbered in degrees east or west

Desert

• is a landscape that receives almost ____ precipitation

Icecap• is a high latitude region of a planet that is covered with _____

Figure CS.39 South Pole Station, 1978. (Courtesy NOAA)