• Latitude, wind patterns, geography and ocean currents are all factors that define climate.
• Range from Tropical Desert, Tropical Rainforest, Temperate Desert, or Temperate Rainforest.
GCMs – Computer models – study climate change video http://www.sandi.net/cms/lib/CA01001235/Centricity/Domain/7724/video/Global Warming. Part 4 - Consequences and Climate models.wmv http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eLKIWoIWlM • Three factors: human activity (carbon monoxide & other greenhouse gasses), natural external factors (sun, volcanoes), and sulfate aerosols.
• Sulfate aerosols arise from fossil fuel combustion which has a cooling affect.
• Water vapor is a powerful greenhouse gas.
• Not all models agree on the outcomes of future climates.
• A great concern is sea level rise due to melting glaciers, can cause coasts from Venice to California to be affected.
Extreme Weather: thunderstorm video http://www.sandi.net/cms/lib/CA01001235/Centricity/Domain/7724/The Thunderstorm Recipe.avi
• Moisture, lift and instability are needed for a thunderstorm to form.
• Clouds are created by the moisture. Cold front could provide the lift in order to condense.
• Wind shear is a change in wind speed or direction with height that turn storms severe.
• Thunderstorms with rotating updrafts are called super cells commonly producing tornadoes. animation – audio http://www.sandi.net/cms/lib/CA01001235/Centricity/Domain/7724/animations/animations glencoe earth science/thunderstorm_stages_332.swf
• Stages of thunderstorms:
Cumulus stage(no rain, mainly updrafts) , Mature stage(updrafts and downdrafts caused by rain), Dissipation stage (lingering downdrafts). http://my.hrw.com/sh2/sh07_10/student/tabpages/hq7c/c24/s02/vc04/hq7c_c24s02_vc04fs.htm •