2009 Year 4 Geography Term 3 Week 3 Assignment

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2009 Year 4 Geography – Term 3 Week 3 Assignment

QUESTION:        State and explain the factors affecting temperature

Temperature is the measure of hotness of coldness of an object or the environment. There are many factors that affect temperature and they are the latitude, altitude, the distance from sea, ocean currents, aspect, humidity and cloud cover, type of surface and the place itself.

Firstly, latitude is important in determining the temperature of the location. As the latitude decreases, temperature increases. At lower latitudes, the midday sun is always high up in the sky. The angle of incidence where the sun’s rays reach earth is at 90 degrees. Due to the sun’s rays falling over a small area, the heat is more concentrated, thus the temperature is higher. Another reason is because the earth is a spherical planet. Because of this shape, the distance the sun’s rays that reach the places with lower latitudes will be short. Thus, less radiation is lost via reflection, scattering and absorption. An example of this place with low latitudes would be in the equator, Singapore. At higher latitudes, the sun is lower down in the sky and the angle of incidence where the sun’s rays reach the surface is smaller. For example in the Polar Regions or the Arctic Circle, the angle of incidence is extremely small. As the sun’s rays are spread over a larger area, the heat is not as concentrated and is diffused. Because of the earth’s spherical shape, the distance that the sun’s rays reach the earth’s surface is longer. Hence, more solar radiation would be lost via reflection, absorption and scattering. This is how latitude affects the temperature of an area.

Another factor that affects the temperature would be altitude. As altitude increases, the temperature of the area decreases. Air is warmed by heat radiated from warm ground via conduction and convection. It is much warmer at ground level because there is a large surface area. Another reason would be that the atmosphere is much more concentrated at ground level, which also means that there is a high concentration of atmospheric gases, carbon dioxide and dust particles and water vapour at ground level. These trap heat from the warm ground. However, it is much cooler at higher ground, such as hills and mountains. This is because the surface area of land there is smaller and that the atmosphere is not as dense as ground level. With a thin atmosphere, there is a lower concentration of carbon dioxide, water vapour, and dust particles. This will result in a reduced amount of heat trapped and most heat will escape back into space. However, sometimes, in special cases, as the altitude increases, the temperature also increases. This is known as temperature inversion. This can happen due to a number of reasons. The first reason is that there is rapid outgoing terrestrial radiation on a cloudless night and this will cause the air below to be cooler while the air above to be warmer. Another reason would be cold air rolling down slopes in a valley and displacing the warm air at the bottom of the valley. Other reasons that cause temperature inversion would be that warm air rises over cold air at a warm front or vice versa when the cold air undercuts warm air a cold front.

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The third factor that affects temperature would be the distance from sea. This is mainly because the sea heats up relative quickly but loses heat slower as compared to land. As a result, the sea exerts a moderating influence on coastal areas, especially when prevailing winds blow onshore. At temperature latitudes, coastal areas are affected by moderating influences and them experience and maritime climate. This will mean that during the summer period, air heats up slowly and during the winter period, heat in the air is lost slowly. This will result in a small difference in temperature during the ...

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