AGE 301/341: PHYSICAL

GEOGRAPHY III

TOPIC1: CLIMATE ELEMENTS AND THEIR

CLOBAL DISTRIBUTIONS
Climate elements
• Climate: the average conditions of the atmosphere near the earth’s
surface over a period of years.
• Meteorological conditions: temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind,
radiation, sunshine and cloudiness
• Climate influences soil, vegetation and landforms
• Understanding the global distribution of the earth’s climatic regions is
the key to understanding many of the characteristics of those regions.

Objective
i) Explain the importance and characteristics of three main climatic
elements, namely temperature, evaporation and precipitation
ii) Describe the global distribution patterns of the three climatic
elements and explain the factors the cause these patterns.

2
1. Temperature

• Measure of the intensity or degree of hotness of a given object or

body.
• Study temperature characteristics of the earth- atmosphere system,
to understand heat energy of the system and how it is distributed
over the earth’s surface.

• Affected by
i. Vertical distribution
ii. Horizontal distribution

3
Vertical distribution

• Altitude: The higher you go, the cooler it becomes

• Troposphere, temperature decreases with increase in elevation:
environmental lapse rate (ELR) of 6.50C/km.

• Diurnal range of temperature:

4
Vertical distribution

5
Effects of Altitude On
Temperature
Mt. Kilimanjaro
Diurnal Change in temperature

• Diurnal range in temperature is greater at a higher

elevation than at an equivalent climate at sea level
• escape of terrestrial energy takes place readily because of the
lower density of gases at higher elevation
• decrease of pressure with altitude - at sea level, water boils at a
temperature of 1000C, at an elevation of about 3,000m, water will
boil at 900C, at 6,000m water boils at about 700C

8
Vertical distribution

• Vertical distribution of temperature is influenced by the

nature of the underlying surface
• Temperature lapse rate
• Temperature inversion

9
Altitude

Temperature
10
Environmental Lapse Rate

• Has been calculated for many world areas to average

6.50C/km
• Temperature decreases most rapidly with altitude over
continental areas than water masses

11
Insolation

• Incoming Solar Radiation

• Constant at top of atmosphere (when averaged annually)
• ~1400 watts/m2
Solar Constant

~1400 W
sun

Some of the
energy passes
back into space

Clouds

Rate of
Insolation
Effect of Clouds
on Temperature
scattering
Surface properties

• Albedo
• Heat capacity
• Heat conductivity

19
i) Albedo
What is happening here?
What happens to absorbed
radiation?
 Insolation

Long-wave radiation
Heat Transfer
Two Types of Heat

• Latent Heat

• Sensible Heat
Phase Changes in Water

Sublimation 670 calories per gram

solid 80 calories per gram 590 calories per gram Gas

liquid

Sublimation 670 calories per gram

CONTROLS ON
TEMPERATURE
Latitude
Horizontal distribution of
Temperature
• Locational factors
• Dynamic factors

29
Location factors

i. Latitude of a place
ii. Surface properties
iii. Aspect and topography

30
Latitude

• Apparent migration of sun

• Solstice and equanoxes
• Cloudiliness
• Seasonal temperature cycles

31
solar declination angle (s)

Tropic of cancer

Equator

Tropic of Capricorn

32
34
 September 22 or 23
(Equinox)

December 21 or 22
(Winter solstice)

Perihelion
March 20 or 21
(Jul 2nd)
(Equinox)

152,500,000 km 147,500,000 km

Aphelion
(Jan 2nd)

June 20 or 21 35
(Summer solstice)
Substance Heat capacity Thermal conductivity
PC(Jm-3 K-1) K(WJm-1 K-1)

Ice 1.89 x 106 2.272

Dry sand 1.26 x 106 0.164
Wet soil 1.68 x 106 1.681
Still water 4.2 x 106 0.63
Stirred water 4.2 x 106 2.1 x 104

Still air 1.26 x 103 205 x 10-2

Stirred air 1.26 x 103 1.3 x 104
39
ii) Aspect & topography

• Northern & southern latitudes

• Leeward and windward sides
• East-west versus north-south alignment of mountain ranges

40
Dynamic factors

• Transfers of latent heat (LE), sensible heat (H), and the

heat that is stored within the water of the ocean (S).

41
Temperature 00C 0° 10° 20° 30° 40° 50° 60° 70° 80°

Northern hemisphere
Planetary Temperatures 33 32 28 22 14 3 -11 -24 -32

Actual Temperatures 26 26 25 20 14 5 -1 -10 -18

Difference -7 -6 -3 -2 0 +2 10 +14 +14

Southern Hemisphere
Planetary Temperatures 33 32 28 22 14 3 -11 -24 -32

Actual Temperatures 26 25 22 17 11 5 -3 -13 -27

Difference -7 -7 -6 -5 -3 +2 +8 +11 +5

42
Global Heat Transfer

43
Global Distribution of
evaporation

44
UNEQUAL HEATING OF AIR

45
Solar declination angle (s)

Tropic of
cancer
Equator

Tropic of
Capricorn

46
 September 22 or 23
(Equinox)

December 21 or 22
(Winter solstice)

Perihelion
March 20 or 21
(Jul 2nd)
(Equinox)

152,500,000 km 147,500,000 km

Aphelion
(Jan 2nd)

June 20 or 21 47
(Summer solstice)
 Temperature Gradients

Net
Heat Transfer
Low High
Temperature Temperature

The unequal heating makes the tropical regions

warmer than the polar regions.

48
Uneven heating of the earth’s surface drives global differences in
evaporation and precipitation patterns.

Warm air near the surface of the Earth can hold more moisture than
cool air above the Earth’s surface.

Water from the Earth’s lakes, oceans, land surfaces, and plants
evaporates into this warmer air. Eventually, the warm moisture-filled air
rises and becomes cool. Now the air can no longer hold all the moisture
it had acquired when it was near the surface of the Earth. As a result,
much of the water vapor in the air condenses.

Water vapor that condenses and forms clouds can fall to the Earth
precipitation.

49
 Precipitation Types

• The two most common and familiar forms of precipitation

are:
▪ rain (drops of water that fall from a cloud and have a diameter of at least
0.5 millimeter) and
▪ snow (precipitation in the form of ice crystals or, more often, aggregates
of ice crystals).

51
Rain Measurement

•Rain, the most common form of precipitation,

is probably the easiest to measure.
•The most common instruments used to
measure rain are:
▪ the standard rain gauge, which is read directly,
and
▪ the tipping bucket gauge and weighing gauge,
both of which record the amount of rain.

52
53
A standard rain
gauge

54
Questions??

55