BIOL 203 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Intertropical Convergence Zone
Document Summary
Global climate change: patterns of climate determine the types of ecosystems (and thus organism) that can exist in a region, an area"s climate is de ned by the mean, variation, and seasonality of precipitation and temperature. Temperature and moisture = main limiting factors to distribution of most terrestrial organisms. There are seasonal variations in sun radiation: different latitudes receive different variation of radiation over the year. Air circulation patterns driven by solar energy: things to keep in mind: As warm air rises, it expands and cools. Warm air holds more moisture than cold air. As water cools, it can hold less moisture as air: this causes it to condense, eventually reaching a point where it begin to fall and compress, equator water. Warm air rises here, as air rises it expands and cools. Equator is wet with low pressure: air from the equator. Coriolis effect: consequence of earth"s rotation (and conservation of angular momentum: learn how to draw the graph.
