Investigating the Global Climate

Investigating the Global Climate book cover — CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 WHAT Is CuMATE 10 CHAPTER 2 CLIMATE CONTROLs 20 Equator CHAPTER 3 TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL CLIMATES 36 CHAPTER 4 CYCLONIC CLIMATES 46 CHAPTER 5 OTHER TYPES OF CLIMATE 56 CHAPTER 6 THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE 63 CHAPTER 1 CLIMATE CHANGE 70 74 76 CONCLUSION GoSSARY FOR MORE INFORMATION BIBLIOGRAPHY 79 83 INDEX 84

Investigating the Global Climate — page 1 — INTRODUCTION hen we picture a location its most dis tinguishing geographic and cultural landmarks the Grand Canyon or the Eiffel Tower for instance are frequently the first things to come to mind What may seem less appar ent is the climate although it is also indispensable to our understanding of a particular area Climate has played a large part in crafting the land and shaping the way life evolved in a place and it continues to shape our interactions with the landscape Visiting the pyramids of Giza to take just one example would be a vastly different experience without Egypt s arid desert climate as a backdrop This volume provides a thorough introduction to the climate regions of the world and examines what accounts for those global variations A region s climate is influenced by a number of factors and cannot simply be determined by glanc ing at the weather forecast on any given day Rather climate describes the aggregate weather of a place over a period of years and is governed by controls such as latitude land and water distribution atmo spheric pressure altitude and ocean currents to name a few The most common measures of climate include mean average values of temperature and precipitation such as rain and snow Comparing var ious locations using measures like these reveals the

Investigating the Global Climate — page 2 — INTRODUCTION This true color satellite image depicts land covered in vegetation in green arid areas in brown snow covered areas in white and water in blue The largely green central landmass representing the North American continent contrasts with the white landmasses representing Greenland and northern Canada demonstrating the varying climates affecting different regions of the world Planet Observer Universal Images Group Collection Mix Subjects Getty Images

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