Climate and the weather

1. Climate and theweather • Unit 7

2. World cliclimate zones

3. Factors influence climate latitude A place’s distance from the Equator. altitude The height of an area above sea level. relief Shape of the land can affect some weather conditions. Distancefromthesea Has an effect on the surrounding land.

4. Climate zones in Spain

6. Natural disasters Characteristics Consequences • Occur where there’s precipitationover a long period of time, or very heavy precipitation. • Melting snow and ice from mountains can cause rivers to overflow. • Can destroy farmers ‘crops and kill livestock. • Can destroy or damage property. • Can contaminate water supplies. F L oods Droughts • Soil dries up and becomes hard and cracked. • Fertile land becomes infertile. • Plants and other vegetation can die. • The wind erodes soil. • Animals die because they don’t have water or plants to eat. • The groundwater can dry up. • Occur when there’s little or no precipitation for a long time. • Water evaporates and rivers and lakes can dry up and disappear.

7. Wild weather

8. CLIMATE CHANGE • Thegreenhouse gases find in theatmosphere. • Greenhouse gases can beusefulbecausethey stop alltheheatescapingfromtheEarth at night, and thereforekeeptheEarthwarm. • Thegreenhouseeffectiswhencertain gases in theatmosphere stop alltheheatfromtheEarthescaping back intospace. • Global warmingisthewaywe describe theriseinaveragetemperaturethattheEarthiscurrentlyexperiencing. • People can reduce theamount of carbondioxide in theatmosphereuse their cars lessoften, do thingsmanuallyratherthanusingelectricalappliances, and use more wind, tidal and solar energy.