ComparingClimatesSEp

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2019 Name: Date: 11/16 Student Exploration: Comparing Climates (Metric) [Note to teachers and students: This lesson was designed as a follow-up to the Observing Weather (Metric) lesson. We recommend doing that activity before trying this one.] Vocabulary: adaptation, climate, equator, hot desert climate, humidity, latitude, precipitation, temperature, tropical monsoon climate, weather Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.) 1. Climate is the average of all weather conditions in a location. Cli- mates can be warm or cold, rainy or dry, and windy or calm. What do you think the climate is like where this palm tree grows? The climate is probably warm, windy and rainy 2. What is the climate like where you live? It fluctuates but it’s a little cold now Gizmo Warm-up In the Comparing Climates (Metric) Gizmo™, you will compare weather conditions, landscapes, and wildlife from different parts of the world. To begin, choose Barcelona from the Location 1 menu. Select the LANDSCAPE tab. Barcelona is a city in Spain that is located on the Mediterranean Sea. You are looking at a landscape near Barcelona. 1. Drag the slider from January to December. Based on what you observe, do you think Barcelona has large temperature changes throughout the year? No 2. Click on an olive tree and read about it. Based on what you read, do you think the climate of Barcelona is very wet or rather dry? Explain. Hot because it’s fire and drought-resistant.

2019 Activity A: Describing climate Get the Gizmo ready : · On the WORLD MAP tab, select New York from the Location 1 menu. Introduction : Climate is the average of weather conditions in a location over many years. In this Gizmo you will focus on four aspects of climate: temperature, wind speed, precipitation (rain and snow), and humidity (how much moisture is in the air). Other climate characteristics include cloud cover and hours of sunlight. Question: How do we describe climate? 1. Predict : Look at New York’s position on the globe. What do you notice? It’s far north of the equator. Based on this, what do you think New York’s climate will be like? Windy, cold and wet 2. Observe : Select the LANDSCAPE tab. Drag the slider from January to December. A. What changes do you see throughout the year?It changes a lot throughout the year B. How many distinct seasons do you notice? I noticed 4 seasons 3. Analyze : Go to the DATA tab. Look at the Avg. temperature graph and table. A. What is the general shape of the graph? It’s a parabola, like a n B. What are the highest and lowest monthly temperatures, and what would you esti- mate is the average temperature for the year? (Hint: The average temperature for the year will be about halfway between the highest and lowest temperatures.) Highest temp. 78F Lowest temp. 33F Avg. temp. 54F C. Select Two locations and choose Barcelona for the second location. Based on what you see, which location experiences greater seasonal changes? Explain. Barcelona and New York. New York has 4 seasons. (Activity A continued on next page)

2019 Activity A (continued from previous page) 4. Observe : Switch to One location and look at the Avg. precipitation graph for New York. A. What is the general shape of the graph? Fluctuating B. About how many millimeters of precipitation fall in a year? Around 45 C. Select Two locations and choose Barcelona for the second location. Based on what you see, which location has a wetter climate? New York has a wetter climate than Barcelona. 5. Describe : Plants and animals have structures, behaviors, and other traits called adapta- tions that help them to survive. For example, the gills of a fish are an adaptation for living under water, while lungs are an adaptation to living on land. Switch to the LANDSCAPE tab, choose One location , and check that New York is se- lected. Click on the deer, squirrel, and oak tree to learn about each organism. Describe one way that each organism is adapted to live in New York’s climate. Organism Adaptation White-tailed deer It has 4 chambered stomach Eastern gray squirrel They build nests to be better for the climate Northern red oak They can deal with the cold 6. Observe : Return to the DATA tab. For New York only, there are two extra graphs: Avg. yearly temp and Yearly precip. These graphs give 30-year records for temperature and precipitation. The numbers in the other graphs are averages of data from the last 30 years. A. Look at the Avg. yearly temp. graph. What do you notice? It stays around 50 degrees B. How do the average yearly temperatures compare to the estimate you made in ques- tion 3B? They are similar C. Look at the Yearly precip. graph. What do you notice? It fluctuates a lot depending on the season D. Which year of the last 30 years was the wettest?1989 was the wettest Driest? 1997

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2019 Activity B: Rainforests and deserts Get the Gizmo ready : · Select Two locations . · On the WORLD MAP tab, select Manaus for loca- tion 1 and Cairo for location 2. Question: What are the characteristics of tropical monsoon and hot desert climates? 1. Predict : Look at the positions of Manaus and Cairo on the globe. Based on what you see, what do you predict the climates are like in these locations? They will probably be warm 2. Observe : Select the LANDSCAPE tab and One location . Check that Manaus is selected. Drag the slider from January to December. Observe what happens to the landscape. A. How many seasons do you observe in Manaus? Only season B. Click on the leaf-cutter ant, Guyanan red howler monkey, and kapok tree to learn about each organism. Describe one way that each organism is adapted to live in the thick forests that result from the climate of Manaus. Organism Adaptation Leaf-cutter ant They can move on leaves Guyanan red howler Their tails allow them to swing and get food Kapok tree They have big trunks 3. Analyze : Select the DATA tab. Look at the Avg. temperature , Avg. precipitation , Avg. wind speed , and Avg. humidity graphs. (For the Avg. precipitation graph, click the zoom out [–] button to see the whole graph.) A. What is the shape of the temperature graph? Almost a flat line, it goes very high up B. What is the shape of the precipitation graph? A parabola that is like a U Manaus has a tropical monsoon climate . Tropical climates are found near the Earth’s equator . They are warm and can be wet, dry, or somewhere in between. Monsoon climates have a wet season with abundant rainfall and a dry season with less rain. (Activity B continued on next page) Activity B (continued from previous page)

2019 4. Observe : Select the LANDSCAPE tab and change the location to Cairo . Drag the slider from January to December. A. What changes do you notice, if any?No changes B. Click on the dorcas gazelle, Egyptian cobra, and date palm tree to learn about each organism. Describe one way that the organism is adapted to live in Cairo’s climate. Organism Adaptation Dorcas gazelle Able to get the water from the plants Egyptian cobra Lays in the sun to heat up Date palm tree Needs low humidity and warm temperatures to grow and reproduce C. D. 5. Observe : Go to the DATA tab. Select Two locations , and set location 2 to Manaus. View the Avg. temperature , Avg. precipitation , Avg. wind speed , and Avg. humidity graphs. A. How do the highest monthly temperatures compare in each location? It’s the same B. In which location does the temperature change more throughout the year? Egypt and Cairo C. Estimate the total yearly rainfall in Cairo. Cairo rains rarely How does this compare to Manaus? Manaus rains a lot D. How do wind speeds and humidity compare in the two locations? Manaus has high humidity and Cairo has higher wind speed Cairo has a hot desert climate. In a hot desert, daytime temperatures are very high and nighttime temperatures are cool. Precipitation is very rare and is less than 200 mm per year. Cairo is unusually humid for a desert because it is close to the Mediterranean Sea.

2019 Activity C: Climate factors Get the Gizmo ready : · On the WORLD MAP tab, select Two locations . · Select Yellowknife and Miami . Introduction: The climate of a location is influenced by many factors. These include latitude (how far north or south a location is), position relative to oceans, and motions of large air masses. In this activity you will see how some of these factors affect climate. Question: What factors influence climates around the world? 1. Predict : How do you think climates near the equator compare to climates near the north and south poles? Climates around the equator are hot and wet. Further way its colder and drier. 2. Gather data : From the WORLD MAP tab, find the latitude of each city. Then go to the DATA tab and find the highest and lowest monthly average temperature. List these below. Location Latitude Highest temp. Lowest temp. Yellowknife 62 63 -15 Miami 25 84 68 3. Analyze : Miami is located much closer to the equator than Yellowknife. A. How does the latitude affect the average temperature of each location? It’s hotter when it’s lower in the latitude Locations closer to the equator receive more direct sunlight than locations near the poles, so they tend to be warmer. B. In which location was there a bigger difference between the highest temperature and lowest temperature? Yellowknife C. In locations closer to the equator, the length of a day does not change as much as it does near the poles. In fact, north of 66.5 °N (and south of 65 °S) the sun doesn’t rise at all during parts of the winter. In the summer, very long days can lead to some surprisingly mild temperatures.

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2019 D. For location 2, select Manaus . Manaus is very close to the equator. How much does the monthly average temperature vary near the equator? It’s around 70 and 80 Fareinheit E. (Activity C continued on next page)

2019 Activity C (continued from previous page) 4. Predict : On the WORLD MAP tab, select San Francisco and Kansas City . In which city do you expect a greater change between summer and winter? Kansas City 5. Analyze : On the DATA tab, view the temperature graphs of San Francisco and Kansas City. A. What do you observe? San Fransisco is around 55F and Kansas is between 30 and 80 F Because San Francisco is located near the cool Pacific Ocean, it doesn’t get as warm in the summer or as cold in the winter as Kansas City. B. Change Location 1 to New York . What do you notice about the temperature graph of New York? It fluctuates a lot C. While New York is also located near an ocean, the air masses that affect its weather tend to come from the land to the west rather than from the ocean. Thus New York’s climate is less affected by the ocean than the climate of San Francisco. 6. Explore : Select the WORLD MAP tab. For each location, the climate classification is listed. Find the climate classification for each of the locations listed below. Then, using the LAND- SCAPE and DATA tabs, describe the characteristics of each location’s climate. Location Climate classifica- tion Climate characteristics Yellowknife Subarctic Cool Kansas City Humid continental Wet and fluctuating Miami Tropical monsoon Warm Barcelona Humid subtropical Mild temperatures Ulaanbaatar Cold Humid Sydney Humid subtropical Warm

2019 Extension activity: Adaptations and climate Get the Gizmo ready : · On the LANDSCAPE tab, select One location and Ulaanbaatar . Question: How are animals and plants adapted to the climate? 1. Predict : Based on what you have seen so far, what are some adaptations you would expect animals and plants to have to cold climates? Hot climates? Wet climates? Dry climates? Write some possibilities into each of the boxes below. Cold climate adaptations Warm coats, speed, good eyes Hot climate adaptations Light coat, agility Wet climate adaptations Not dependent on dryness, can build homes Dry climate adaptations Not dependent on water, able to stay wet fast 2. Describe : Using the Gizmo, find an example of an animal adaptation to a cold climate, a warm climate, a wet climate, and a dry climate. Write the locations, animal names, and adaptations below. Remember, adaptations can be physical features or behaviors. Climate Location Animal Adaptation Cold San Francisco California Sea Lion Layers of fat to stay warm Hot Cairo Dorcas gazelle Gets water from plants Wet Miami Snowy egret Long legs that make it easier to walk in the water

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2019 Dry Ulaanbaatar Mongolian wild donkeys Can dig holes in river beds to get water (Extension activity continued on next page)

2019 Extension activity (continued from previous page) 3. Describe : Now do the same thing, but look at the plant adaptations. Give one example of a plant adaptation to each climate characteristic. Climate Location Plant Adaptation Cold Yellowknife White Spruce Can survive the cold Hot Cairo Date Palm In need of humidity and higher temperatures Wet Miami Red Mangrove Roots in the mud make the trees stay stable Dry Kansas City Switchgrass Deep roots to absorb the water 4. Challenge : The climate helps to determine if a landscape is a forest, a grassland, a swamp, or a desert. Therefore, adaptations to the type of landscape are often related to the climate. For example, on the open grasslands of Mongolia, it is helpful for an eagle to see very far because it can spot its prey from a great distance. Long-distance vision may be less helpful in the rainforest, where trees will block the view. In the Gizmo, try to find other examples of adaptations that relate to the type of landscape the animal (or plant) lives in. Describe them in the space below. If possible, share your ex- amples with your classmates and teacher. A polar bear with little ears to prevent loosing heat when it’s very cold A very long beak for a bird could be ideal for them in order to eat small bugs in wet climate

ComparingClimatesSEp

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