Temperature Controls

1. Temperature Controls

2. Temperature Control • Any factor that causes temperature to vary from place to place or from time to time

3. Why Temperatures Vary • Factors (other than latitude) that cause changes in the temperature are: • Heating of land and water • Geographic position • Altitude • Cloud cover • Ocean currents

4. Land and Water • Land heats more rapidly and also cools more rapidly than water • Land heats to higher temperatures as well as cools to lower temperatures than water • Temperature variations greater over land than over water

5. Geographic Position • A coastal location where winds blow from the ocean onto shore would have cool summers and mild winters • A coastal location where winds blow from the land toward the ocean would have a continental temperature pattern

6. Altitude • As elevation increases (further from sea level), temperatures will decrease • As elevation lowers (closer to sea level), temperature will increase

7. Albedo • The fraction of total radiation that is reflected by any surface • Clouds have a high albedo • Reflect a significant portion of the sunlight that strikes it back into space

8. Cloud Cover • Cloud cover during the day will lower the temperature by lowering the amount of incoming solar radiation • Cloud cover at night will raise the temperature by absorbing outgoing radiation and reradiating a portion back to the surface

9. Isotherms • Lines that connect points that have the same temperature • Hot colors near equator • Cool colors towards the poles

10. Ocean Currents • East and west currents show a decrease in temperatures from the tropics toward the poles • Video