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Climate Factors - Coggle Diagram
Climate Factors
Ocean currents
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Ocean currents help regulate the earth's climate by redistributing ocean water to offset the uneven solar radiation on the earth's surface
Ocean current are massive flows of water, 90% of the world's current are cold currents, cold currents come from the poles and warm currents come from the equator, Ocean currents are an energy distribution system. Ocean currents move in circular patterns because the earth is spinning on its axis.
Latitude
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The imaginary line that marks zero degrees latitude, it is the hottest point on earth because the sun's rays shine directly on it, goes east and west. Latitude lines determine how hot or cold a place is with the equator being the hottest point on Earth marked at zero degrees latitude and the poles being the coldest place on earth because it is furthest from the equator.
Locations closer to the equator are hotter and more humid, while locations at the poles are colder and more dry.
Elevation
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Elevation affects local temperature because the higher up you go few molecules means that the higher elevations are colder because there are fewer particles to trap. Air that is at a low elevation near the land or water are very good at absorbing heat.
Mountain Barriers/relief
When the warm wind from the sea hits a mountain everything on the side that the air hits get lots of rain and everything on the other side of the mountain is dry because it doesn't get that much rain all year.
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A mountain range like the Rockies can create a barrier to prevailing winds. Water moist air rises up because the mountain forces it up. The warm arm cools condenses and creates precipitation. So one the windward side gets lots of rain and the leeward side is dry sometimes even in the desert.
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Wind and Air Masses
Wind moves air masses and different weather conditions like heat or cold, or dry or wet to different regions around the world, causing severe storms.
The movement of air masses also helps predict climate patterns around the earth. Usually, air masses move from west to east following wind currents and the jet stream.
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Cold air comes from the poles and warm air comes from the equator, Wind systems spin because the earth is rotating on it’s axis, Much of the warm air masses come from the over water because water holds heat better than land, So the wind systems are like an energy distribution system they balance out the atmosphere by redistributing heat from equator and cold form poles.
When cold air meets warm air it is forced up because cold air is more dense, when the warm air rises it will cool, condense and it will rain.
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