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Table of Contents
Climate refers to a region’s long-term weather patterns, usually estimated over 30 years. More precisely, it is the average variation of meteorological patterns over months to millions of years. Weather variables such as temperature, humidity, atmospheric conditions, breezes, and precipitation are just a few factors that are primarily determined.
See the fact file below for more information on Climate, or you can download our 27-page Climate worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.
Key Facts & Information
CLASSIFICATION
- Climates are classified by average factors, the most common being temperature and precipitation. The Köppen climate classification was the most widely used categorization scheme.
- The Thornthwaite system, which has been in use since 1948, combines evapotranspiration with precipitation and temperature data and is used to study biological diversity and how climate change affects it.
- The Bergeron and Spatial Synoptic Classification systems are concerned with the origin of air masses that define a region’s climate.
- The study of old climates is known as paleoclimatology.
- Paleoclimatologists try to explain climate variations in all parts of the Earth above any given geologic duration, beginning with the formation of the Earth.
- Because there were few direct observations of climate before the nineteenth century, paleoclimates are inferred from proxy variables.
- They entail non-biotic evidence like lake bed sediments and ice cores, as well as biotic evidence like tree rings and coral. Furthermore, climate models are numerical representations of past, present, and future weather patterns. Climate change can occur in both short and long time frames due to a variety of factors. Moreover, the temperature rise is discussed in the context of global warming, which causes redistribution.
INTERPRETATION
- The weather averaged over a long period is generally identified as climate (from the Ancient Greek ‘inclination’). The current average time frame is 30 years, but other times are possible depending on the situation. Climate statistics that are not average include the extent of daily and year-to-year variations.
- The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) defines “climate normals” as “points of reference used among climate experts to draw comparisons of different climatic trends to those of the past or what is considered typical.”
- A climate normal is the arithmetic average of a climate component (e.g., temperature) over 30 years. A 30-year time frame is used because it is long enough to filter whatever inter-annual variation or discrepancies, such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, while also short enough to demonstrate longer climatological trends.
- The WMO agreed in 1982 to update climate normals, which were then completed using climate information from January 1, 1961, to December 31, 1990. Furthermore, the climate normals from 1961 to 1990 serve as the baseline reference. The WMO will publish the next set of climate normals from 1991 to 2010.
- Apart from the most prevalent meteorological parameters (air temperature, pressure, precipitation, and wind), moisture, visibility, fog amount, radiation from the sun, soil conditions, pan evaporation rate, days of lightening, and days with hail are also collected to track climate changes.
TYPES OF CLIMATE
- Climates types are tropical, desert/dry, temperate, polar, or Mediterranean. A polar environment (also known as the boreal climate) has long, cold winters and short summers. Around the south and north poles.
- There are four seasons in temperate climates. The majority of European countries have such a climate.
- Deserts are arid. In Saudi Arabia and several African countries, they only have either one or two seasons. Tropical climates are hot and have only two seasons: wet and dry. The Amazon Rainforest in Brazil is an example of a tropical climate.
- Summers in the Mediterranean are typically hot and dry, while winters are cool and wet. Spain is an example of a country with a Mediterranean climate.
CLIMATE: VARIABILITY AND CHANGE
- Climate variability refers to variations in the mean state and other characteristics of the weather “on all temporal and spatial scales beyond the scope of specific weather patterns.” Some variations don’t appear to be caused systematically and seem to occur randomly.
- Moreover, this type of variation is known as random variability or interference. Periodic variability, on the other hand, happens pretty frequently and in various modes of variability or climate change.
- For instance, close correlations exist among natural climate oscillations as well as astronomical variables along with modes of distribution of heat. Substantial volcanic activity, impact occurrences, abnormalities in climate temperature data, positive response procedures, or anthropogenic emissions of intoxicants, including greenhouse gases, may obscure prevailing, historical, and paleoclimatological natural oscillations in some cases.
- The interpretations of climate variability, as well as the related term global warming, have evolved. While the term “climate change” now refers to long-term changes caused by humans, it was first used in the 1960s to refer to what we now call “climate variability,” or climatological inconsistencies and anomalies.
- Climate change is the variation in regional or global climate zones over time. It represents the variability or means situation of an atmosphere over time scales that tend to range to millions of years. Such changes can be triggered by internal earth processes, external forces, or, more recently, human activity.
- For instance, the Earth has previously experienced periodic climate shifts, which include the four major ice ages. These are glacial periods with colder temperatures than usual, divided by interglacial periods. During a glacial period, the concentration of ice and snow raises the surface insolation, representing a more significant portion of thermal light into space.
- Moreover, increasing levels of greenhouse gases, including those caused by volcanic eruptions, can raise global temperatures and cause an interglacial period. The locations of the continents, variations in the Earth’s orbit, modifications in solar output, and volcanism have all been proposed as causes of volcanism of the ice age periods.
CLIMATE MODELS
- Through a series of physics equations, climate models utilize quantitative techniques to recreate the interrelations and transmit radiant energy between the atmosphere, coastlines, land surface, and glaciers.
- Furthermore, they are used for a variety of purposes, ranging from investigating the dynamics of the climate and weather system to future climate projections.
- All climate models balance, or nearly balance, incoming energy in the shape of shortwave (such as viewable) electromagnetic energy to the Earth with outbound energy in the form of longwave (infrared) electromagnetic waves from the Earth. Any imbalance causes a change in the Earth’s average temperature.
- Climate models come in various resolutions, from 100 km to 1 km. High resolutions in worldwide climate models are computationally demanding, and there are only a few global datasets available. To study the effects of global warming on a local scale, climate models can be adaptively or statistically downscaled to regional geographic climate models.
- In recent years, the most discussed topic has been the implementation of such models and their use to predict the effects of rising levels of greenhouse gases found in the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide. Models can range in complexity from simple to complex. Moreover, a simple radiant heat transfer model considers the Earth to be a specific element and averages outgoing energy; this can be expanded either vertically or horizontally.
- Lastly, global climate models discretize and focus on solving the full equations for energy and mass transfer, as well as radiant exchange.
Climate Worksheets
This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about Climate across 27 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching kids about Climate, which refers to a region’s long-term weather patterns, usually estimated over 30 years.
Complete List of Included Worksheets
Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.
- Climate Facts
- MATCH IT!
- Climate Crossword
- BINGO!
- Shade the World
- HOW I CAN HELP?
- Climate or Weather?
- FORESEE 2030
- Raising Awareness
- Climate vs. Season
- 5-3-1
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Link will appear as Climate Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, November 30, 2022
Use With Any Curriculum
These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.