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How is the Koppen System classified?
vegetation boundaries
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Describe the A climates.
- Tropical Wet (Af)
- Monsoonal (Am)
- Tropical Wet and Dry (Aw)
- exist almost entirely between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn
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Why does the weather never change in a Tropical Wet climate?
- almost always under the ITCZ
- always under a maritime tropical air mass
- ex. Dominican Republic
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What are the summers and winters like in a Monsoonal climate?
- super wet summer
- super dry winter
- ex. India, Myanmar
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What are the summers and winters like in a Tropical Wet and Dry climate?
- dry summers
- wet winters
- ex. South America, the Caribbean, Cuba, Haiti
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Describe B climates.
- Dry
- Potential evaporation exceeds annual precipitation
- most prevalent climate type
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What causes subsidence in the subtropical deserts?
subtropical highs
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How are the steppes different from the deserts?
they are wetter and cooler
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What is the reason for the low moisture in dry deserts?
rainshadow effect
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Describe C climates.
- mild mid-latitude climates
- no severe winter temperatures
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Describe the weather in a Meditterranean climate.
- dry summers
- winters can be wet
- subtropical highs in summer
- mid-latitude cyclones in winter
- ex. Los Angeles, South Africa
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Describe the weather in a humid subtropical climate.
- subtropical highs bring warm and moist air during summer
- mid latitude cyclones in winter
- hurricanes
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Describe the D climate.
- severe mid-latitude climates
- jet stream often overhead in summer
- Northern Hemisphere only
- summers can get hot because of continentality
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Why are there no D climates in the Southeren Hemisphere?
because there are no high latitudes and there is no land at Antarctica
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Describe the E climate.
- Polar
- very dry and cold because of high latitudes
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What are the anthropogenic sources of particulates?
fuel combustion and earth-moving
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What are the anthropogentic sources of carbon monoxide?
motor vehicles
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What are the anthropogenic sources of sulfur dioxide?
- coal and oil combustion
- copper-smelting
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What is glaciation?
where glaciers are likely to expand during periods of minimal seasonality (wetter winters and cooler summers)
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What is natural deglation initiated by?
Earth's orbital cycles
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the amount of suspended solid and liquid material in the air
turbidity
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cycle of 100,000 years
nearly circular to elliptical
eccentricity
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cycle of 41,000 years
Earth's tilt varies between 22.1" and 24.5"
Obliquity
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cycle of 27,000 years
change in orientation of Earth's axis
becomes more important with an increase in eccentricity
Precession
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the collective bunch of eccentricity, obliquity, and precession
Milankovich Cycles
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Where glaciers are likely to expand during periods of minimal seasonality (wetter winters and cooler summers)
Glacation
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How is national deglaciation initiated?
by the Earth's orbital cycles
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What does the Faint Young Sun paradox explain to us?
The intensity of solar radiation was much lower 4 billion years ago, but the Earth was not completely frozen
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self regulating and inhibits further change
negative feedback
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enhances change in a particular direction
positive feedback
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Where the expansion of ice sheets leads to higher albedo-more cooling
pisitive feedback mechanism
Ice-Albedo Feedback
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Where warming leads to increased evaporation and a higher water vapor content and turns more "trapping" of llongwave radiation
positive feedback mechanism
Evaporation of Liquid Water
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CO2 fertilization; vegetation as a sink for CO2
negative feedback mechanism
Atmosphere-Biosphere Interactions
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What are the four atmospheric controls of Air Pollution?
- Emissions
- Production
- Transport
- Ventilation
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In what part of the country are pH levels the highest?
the western United States
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What do changes in Land Configuration explain?
changes in the sizes and locations of the continents or Continental Drift
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What do satellite records show about the Arctic region?
The lower troposphere of the Arctic region has been warming twice as much as global warming
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What kind of weather patterns result from glaciation?
wetter winters and cooler summers
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