Chapter 5 Lecture

Geosystems
9th Edition

Global
Temperatures

© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Chapter 5 - Global Temperatures
Part 1:
• Measuring temperature
• Temperature controls:
– Latitude
– Altitude/elevation
– Cloud cover
– Land-water heating differences
– Ocean currents and sea surface temperatures

Part 2:
• Earth’s temperature patterns
– January temperature maps
– July temperature maps
– Annual temperature range map

© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Temperature Concepts and Measurement

• Heat and temperature are not the same.

• Heat is energy that flows from one system or
object to another because the two are at
different temperatures.
• Temperature is a measurement of kinetic energy
(motion) of individual molecules in matter.
• Temperature and heat are related because
changes in temperature are caused by the
absorption or emission (gain or loss) of heat
energy.

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 Temperature Concepts and Measurement

• Temperature Scales
– Fahrenheit: US system
– Celsius: melting point of ice is 0˚C and boiling
point of water at sea level 100˚C
– Kelvin: uses absolute zero as the starting
point. That is -273˚C. It is the temperature at
which all kinetic energy in molecules ceases.
Therefore it is used mostly in physics.
• Measuring Temperature: thermometer

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 Temperature Scales

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 5.2

 Temperature Concepts and Measurement

• Recordings are made of daily maximum and

minimum temperatures at many weather stations
around the globe.
• Average daily temperature is calculated by
adding the max and min temps together and
dividing by 2.
• Average monthly temp is worked out by adding
the daily temps together for the month and
dividing by the number of days in the month
(ave. annual temp. is calculated the same way).

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Thermometer and Instrument
Shelter

Figure 5.2 Figure 5.3

 Principal Temperature Controls

• Latitude
– Affects insolation
• Altitude
– High altitude has greater daily range
– High altitude has lower annual average
• Cloud Cover
– High albedo
– Moderate temperatures – cooler days,
warmer nights

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 Principal Temperature Controls

1. Latitude
– Affects insolation
– Insolation intensity decreases in as one
moves from the subsolar point (point at which
the direct rays of the sun touch the earth’s
surface).
– The subsolar point shifts from the tropic of
Capricorn in southern hemisphere summer to
the tropic of Cancer in northern hemisphere
summer being over the equator on the two
equinoxes.
– Insolation decreases from the equator
towards the poles with seasonal and
continental effects.
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Latitude and Temperature

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 5.4

 Principal Temperature Controls

2. Altitude
– In the troposphere temperatures decrease with an
increase in altitude, therefore higher altitude areas
(such as mountainous areas) will have lower
temperatures.
– Density of air also decreases with increasing altitude.
This decrease in air pressure decreases the
atmospheric absorption causing a decrease in heat.
– Insolation is higher, but temperature is lower.
– High altitude has greater daily range.
– High altitude has lower annual average temperature.
– Therefore mountainous environments can have snow
or glaciers even at the tropics.

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 Altitude

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 5.5

Mt. Kilimanjaro – Tanzania
 Principal Temperature Controls

3. Cloud Cover
– Approximately 50% of the earth is cloud covered at
any given time.
– Clouds moderate temperature, but their effect
depends on their types, height and density.
– Moisture reflects, absorbs and liberates large
amounts of energy, released in condensation and
cloud formation.
– High albedo
– At night clouds can act as insulation preventing rapid
energy loss, resulting in milder temperatures.
– During the day they reduce insolation because they
reflect it and therefore can reduce temperatures to
differing degrees.
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 Land–Water Heating Differences

• Another major control over temperature is the

differing ways in which land and water respond
to insolation.
• Land and water absorb and store energy
differently as a result of their differing properties.

• Water bodies tend to show a pattern of more

moderate temperatures whereas land shows
higher extremes and higher temperature ranges.
This is because land heats up and cools down
faster than water. As a result of the following
physical differences.
© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Land–Water Heating Differences
Characteristics causing the differences (1)
• Evaporation:
– Evaporation of water absorbs heat energy and stores it in the
form of latent heat.
– More evaporation occurs off a water surface, such as the ocean,
than over a land surface and thus the temperature decrease
caused by the evaporation is greater over a water body causing
lower temperatures over the water.
• Transparency:
– Transparency of water allows the effect of insolation to be
spread over a larger area, whereas land surfaces are opaque
and have the effect of concentrating insolation to a much
shallower depth therefore causing greater concentration of
absorption and higher temperatures.

© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.

Land–Water Heating Differences

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 5.7

 Land Is
Opaque

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 5.8

 Land–Water Heating Differences
Characteristics causing the differences (2)
• Specific Heat
– Water has a higher specific heat than land, ie. it can hold more
heat.
– A given volume of water is able to hold more heat than the same
volume of land therefore it takes longer to warm up and longer to
cool down.
– Therefore temperatures of water tend to be more moderate in
relation to land.
• Movement
– Water is fluid and is capable of movement therefore mixing
occurs which spreads the energy over a larger area causing a
moderating of water temperatures.
– Land is more solid and heating more concentrated, therefore it
heats and cools faster than water.

© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Land–Water Heating Differences
Characteristics causing the differences (3)
• Ocean currents and sea-surface temperatures
– Warm ocean currents will affect the temperatures of the air
masses above them, increasing temperatures and enhancing
evaporation.
– Warm ocean temperatures and ocean currents are often the
source areas of tropical storms or hurricanes.
– Cold ocean currents tend to decrease evaporation and air mass
temperatures above them, causing decreased cloud formation
and decreased rainfall.
• Marine vs. continental effects:
– Marine or maritime effects therefore tend to have a moderating
influence on temperature.
– This means that locations on coastlines tend to have lower
temperature ranges than inland areas.
– They also tend to have warmer winters and cooler summers
than areas immediately inland.
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Sea-Surface Temperatures

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 5.11

Marine and Continental
Climates:
San Francisco
vs.
Wichita

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 5.12

Marine and Continental
Climates:
Trondheim
vs.
Verkhoyansk

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 5.15

 Chapter 5 Lecture

Part 2
Earth’s Temperature Patterns

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2012 Pearson
Pearson Education,
Education, Inc.
Inc.
 Earth’s Temperature Patterns

• Comparing global isotherm maps from

January and July reveals certain patterns.
• Isotherms are lines joining places of equal
temperature on a map.
• Global isotherm maps reveal a generally
zonal pattern with temperatures
decreasing from the equator to the poles.

© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Earth’s Temperature Patterns

• January Temperature Map

– Thermal equator moves southward due to the most
direct rays of the sun falling in the southern
hemisphere at this time of the year.
– This pattern is more pronounced over large continents
particularly Africa and South America with the
changes in ocean temperatures being more
moderate.
– Colder temperatures shift south in the northern
hemisphere.
– Extremely cold temperatures in the north pole due to
lack of sunlight. Greenland too, has extremely low
temperatures due to it’s high elevation and inland
location.
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January Temperatures

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 5.13

January Temperatures

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 5.14

 Oymyakon, Russia (Winter N.H.)
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Earth’s Temperature Patterns

• July Temperature Map

– Thermal equator movement northward due to the most direct
rays of the sun falling in the northern hemisphere at this time of
the year. Therefore higher temperatures are shown in the
northern hemisphere.
– More pronounced over large continents.
– Hottest places on earth are in the northern hemisphere deserts
in July: Sonoran desert of north America and Sahara in Africa
due to clear skies, high insolation, almost no surface water and
few plants.
– Winter temperatures in the southern hemisphere tend to be
milder than those in the northern hemisphere because there is
less land mass in the southern hemisphere. However the lowest
temperatures are in the antarctic due to the lack of insolation
during this time of the year.

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July Temperatures

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 5.16

July Temperatures

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 5.17

 Vostok Station Antarctica
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Lake Vostok - Antarctic
 Earth’s Temperature Patterns

• Annual Temperature Range Map

– Temperature range maps show the areas that
experience the highest annual temperature
extremes.
– Equatorial regions experience little to no
annual temperature range
– The continental interiors in the polar regions
have the highest temperature extremes.

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Global Temperature Ranges

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Figure 5.18

Arctic Sea
Ice Changes

Figure HLC 5.1.1

 Learning Objectives
• Define the concept of temperature.
• Distinguish between Kelvin, Celsius, and Fahrenheit
temperature scales, and describe how they are
measured.
• Explain the effects of latitude, altitude and elevation,
and cloud cover on global temperature patterns.
• Review the differences in heating of land versus water
that produce continental effects and marine effects on
temperatures, and utilize a pair of cities to illustrate
these differences.
• Interpret the pattern of Earth’s temperatures from their
portrayal on January and July temperature maps and on
a map of annual temperature ranges.

© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Chapter 5 Lecture

End Chapter 5
Follow with Chapter 6

©© 2015
2012 Pearson
Pearson Education,
Education, Inc.
Inc.