GEOG 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Subtropics, Solar Irradiance, Westerlies
28 Sep 2018
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Document Summary
The annual cycle of prevailing weather conditions at a given place, based on statistics taken over an extended period (30 years) Measures: 5 gradients temperature and precipitation are the key measures of climate. **climate is what you expect, weather is what you see or get. Rainbow globe (avg. annual temp: as latitude increases, insolation decreases, hot in tropics and the subtropics, decreasing temperatures toward the poles. Dry globe (avg annual percip: more precipitation farther from the center of continent, highest rainfall in tropics, low in subtropics and high in latitudes. Controls that affect the distribution of climate: latitude (variation of seasons, ocean currents, altitude/elevation. Early greek classification (based on latitude: torrid above and below equator, temperate tropic of cancer, tropic of capricorn, frigid above both poles. 2 main approaches: empirical classification, based on atmospheric data, ex. Moisture and vegetation: genetic classification, based on the causes.
