Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
• Tropicalcyclonescanformoverwarmoceansandbringlarge
amounts of rainfall and damaging winds to coastal areas.
• Ataround30°northandsouththerearemajorzonesofdescend-
ing air which are clear and dry and this is where most of the
world's large deserts are found.
• Atthesurfaceinmiddlelatitudes,themainfeaturesareeasterly
moving cyclonic and anticyclonic systems which bring highly
variable weather conditions.
• Continentalinteriorshavedifferentclimatesfromthoseareas
close to the oceans and ocean circulation which transports heat
energy can have a major influence on the climate of a region.
• Polarclimatestendtobecoldanddry,beingassociatedwith
descending air and clear conditions, but they can be very
windy.
• Topographyplaysanimportantroleinmodifyingthelocaland
regional climate; upland areas are often more windy and receive
more precipitation. However, the downwind side of mountain
areas can be very dry.
• Seaandlakebreezescaninluencethelocalclimateofareasnear
water bodies.
• Urbanenvironmentstendtobewarmerthanruralenvironments
due to building materials that absorb the Sun's energy, air pollu-
tion that traps more heat, local heat escaping from buildings
which humans have heated and reduced evaporation.
FURTHER READING
Five topics that provide excellent in-depth coverage of material covered in
this chapter with plentiful illustrations are:
Barry, R.G. and Chorley, R.J. (2009)
Atmosphere, Weather and Climate
, ninth
edition, London: Routledge.
Bridgman, H.A. and Oliver, J.E. (2006)
The Global Climate System: Patterns, Pro-
cesses, and Teleconnections
, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hughes, K.K. and Mayes, J. (2004)
Understanding Weather: A Visual Approach
,
London: Hodder Arnold.
Pinet, P.R. (2009)
Invitation to Oceanography,
fifth edition, Sudbury, MA: Jones
and Bartlett Publishers Inc.
Sverdrup, K.A. and Armbrust, E.V. (2009)
An Introduction to the World's Oceans
,
tenth edition, London: McGraw-Hill.
