Chapter 2 and 3 Notes

1. Chapter 2 and 3 Notes

2. Climate • Climate: • Natural Vegetation: is the plant life that grows in an area if the natural environment has not been changed by people. • Five Major Climate Regions: 1) tropical, 2) dry, 3) mid-latitude, 4) high latitude, 5) highland.

3. Tropical Climates • Tropical climate regions are found in or near the low latitudes, the tropics. • The two kinds of tropical climate regions are: • tropical rain forest and tropical savanna.

4. Tropical Climate • Tropical Rain Forest Climate: Hot and wet • Found near the Equator. • Direct rays of sun keep the temperatures high, average 80°F. • Vegetation grows thick in layers formed at different heights. • Amazon River basin in South America contains the world’s largest tropical rain forest.

5. Tropical Climates • Tropical Savanna Climate: Areas that have a dry season in winter and a wet season in summer are called tropical savanna climate regions. • In the dry season the tough ground is covered with clumps of coarse grass.

6. Dry Climate • Dry Climates: Because of vegetation, dry climate regions are also divided into two types, desert and steppe.

7. Dry Climates • Little plant life. • Little rain • Underground springs, however may support an oasis. • Oasis: an area of lush vegetation. • Cold at night and warm at day.

8. Dry Climates • Steppe Climate: • Dry areas • Often border deserts.

9. Mid-Latitude Climates • The world has four mid-latitude climate regions. • Marine West Coast • Mediterranean • Humid subtropical • Humid continental

10. Mid-Latitude Climates • Marine West Coast Climate: Cool summers, and mild but wet winters. • Deciduous Trees and Mixed forests. • Marine west coast climate regions cover much of western Europe and as well as the Pacific coast of North America.

11. Mid-Latitude Climates • Mediterranean Climate: Have mild rainy winters and hot, sunny summers. • These regions are generally found in coastal lands between latitudes 30° and 40° north and south. • Dense forests=chaparral.

12. Mid-Latitude Climate • Humid Subtropical Climate: Humid subtropical climate regions are generally found at mid-latitudes in the southeastern parts of continents. • Here a pattern of win and high pressure related to nearby oceans causes high humidity. • Vegetation in humid subtropical climate regions includes both grasslands are forests. • Grasslands that lie inland are known as prairie lands.

13. Mid-Latitude Climates • Humid Continental Climate: The fourth type of mid-latitude climate is the humid continental climate. • These regions are more influenced by landmasses than by winds, precipitation, or ocean temperatures. • These regions are located only in the Northern Hemisphere.

14. High Latitude Climates • High Latitude Climates: There are three types of high latitude climates: • Subarctic • Tundra • Ice cap • Temperatures average below freezing for half the year. • In some places only a thin layer of surface soil thaws. • The frozen subsoil is known as permafrost.

15. High Latitude Climates • Subarctic Climate: The subarctic severe conditions limit the variety of plant life. • Geographers often use taiga, the Russian word for this forest, to refer to subarctic climate regions in general.

16. High Latitude Climates • Tundra Climate: Like the subarctic climate region, the tundra climate regions have bitterly cold winters with greatly reduced sunlight. • The tundra region’s thin soil above the permafrost supports certain low plants during the short summers. • Mosses, bushes, very short grasses, and lichens, plants that grow on rocks, survive on the treeless plain.

17. High Latitude Climates • Ice Cap Climate: Because monthly temperatures average below freezing, ice cap climate regions support no vegetation. • The land surface is constantly covered by snow and ice, sometimes more than 2 miles. • The earth’s greatest polar ice cap spreads over almost all of Antarctica.

18. Highland Climates • Highland Climates: In mountain areas the climate varies with elevation. The higher the altitude, the cooler air becomes. • Elevation also influences vegetation. • Above the timberline, the elevation above which it is too cold for trees to grow, are scattered tundra plants.

19. People, Climate, and Environment • People, Climate, and Environment: Climate affects the kinds of clothing people wear and the kinds of houses they build. • Changes that people make in the environment also affect climate.

20. People, Climate, and Environment • Adaptations: People adapt to the climate. • In cold regions people build well-insulated houses with furnaces or other means of heating. • Houses in deserts often have light-colored roofs to reflect the sun’s heat. • In wet regions houses may have steep, pointed roofs so that rain or snow run off easily. • Climate affects transportation. • In some tropical rain forests, plants and trees grow so quickly that building and maintaining roads is very difficult.

21. People, Climate, and Environment • Climatic Changes: Climates change gradually over time. • During the last 1 to 2 million years, for example, the earth passed through four eras when large areas were covered with glaciers. • Geographers have developed several possible explanations for what caused glacial eras: • 1) One is that variations in the sun’s output of energy and in the earth’s orbit may have caused our world to absorb less solar energy and cool off. • 2) Another hypothesis, or scientific explanation, suggest that volcanic activity, which put massive amounts of dust in the atmosphere, might have had a cooling effect.

22. People, Climate, and Environment • Geographers also believe that human activity causes changes in the world’s climates. • Particles in smoke from the burning of fossil fuels may stay in the air for years, scattering the sun’s rays. • This reduces the sunlight reaching the ground, lowering the temperature. • The exhaust from automobiles helps create smog, a haze caused by the sun’s ultra violet radiation. • Smog endangers people’s health.

23. People, Climate, and Environment • People also affect climate through water projects, such as dams and river diversions. • Dams built for industrial water supplies or for irrigation sometimes cause new areas to become dry.