Why does temperature vary around the world?

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Why does temperature vary around the world?

  There are many reasons why the temperature varies around the world, why it is often very hot in some places but below freezing in others.  The main factor in temperature is the sun, and it is because of the sun that places are not way below freezing in the first place.  The sun is our main source of heat, and places that get more sun are obviously warmer than those that don’t receive as many of the sun’s rays.  There are many different causes that the temperature varies around the world, and they all affect our climate in many ways.

  One of the most important factors affecting temperature is latitude.  Places nearer the Earth’s equator are far warmer than those near to the poles.  This is due to the shape of the Earth and the way the rays of the sun hit the planet.  Since the Earth is spherical, the suns rays will be far more concentrated at the equator, as the sun is always far higher in the sky, so it will concentrate its rays on a small area.  And as the sun is far lower in the sky around the poles, the rays are shared over a much larger area, and the temperatures will stay down.  

  Also, as you can see on the diagram, towards the poles, the sun’s rays have much further to travel through the Earth’s atmosphere before they reach the Earth than the rays at the equator.  As the rays pass through the atmosphere, they lose heat in the gases, dust and cloud, so the rays are far weaker the further away from the equator they are.  All this combines to make the areas near the equator warmer than those to the far north or south.  This is why areas to the far north of Scotland are much colder than the south of England.

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  Another main factor in global temperature is the oceans and seas, and they are obviously important since they make up about 70% of the Earth.  Britain’s temperatures are highly affected by the seas, as it is of course an island surrounded by water.  The distance from the sea is a large factor in an area’s temperature, and it is a key reason why Britain is generally mild in winter and cool in summer.  As the sea is a liquid, it is far less dense than the land, so it can be heated more.  This means that the sea takes ...

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