Chapter 1 LAB

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Cabrini University *

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175

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Geography

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Oct 30, 2023

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Chapter 1: The Sunshine State Remember to consult the extra resources page for this chapter for help understanding the topics in this lab! The ultimate reason behind all weather is the unequal heating of the earth. But what is responsible for that unequal heating? There are many factors: proximity to water, altitude, wind direction, surface materials (concrete vs vegetation), cold vs warm water currents, cloud cover... But the greatest influence comes from a location’s latitude . The greater the distance from the equator, the more pronounced the temperature differences between seasons due to the changing solar angle (degrees the sun is located above the horizon) and length of daylight hours . Florida’s proximity to the equator (from roughly 24.5° N to 31° N) translates to relatively small fluctuations among its seasons compared to states much further north. Knowing your solar angle for any day of the year can provide many benefits; for example, mounting solar panels properly requires a knowledge of your typical solar angles. Solar noon is the time when the sun is at the highest point in the sky. On the questions below, you will be asked to find solar noon for different dates and locations. The summer and winter solstices are the longest and shortest days of the year, respectively. The solstices happen on different dates depending on the year and location, but they usually fall between 21 and 23 of June and December.

[question 1] Find Tampa’s latitude to the nearest degree: 28 degrees North latitude Access this site: https://www.timeanddate.com . From the menu at the top, select Sun and Moon and then click on Sun Calculator. In the Search box, enter Tampa, Florida. Then scroll down and enter the month March 2018 and press “Go” . Click on March 27, 2018. The sun angle is listed as “altitude”. [question 2] What was the angle of the noon sun (solar noon) in Tampa on March 27, 2018? 65 degrees [question 3] Tampa’s highest noon sun angle would occur on the summer solstice , which usually occurs on (date) June 21st . [question 4] Tampa’s lowest sun angle occurs on winter solstice , which usually is (date) December 21 . [question 5] What was the noon sun angle in Tampa, Florida, for the summer solstice in 2018? 85 degrees [question 6] What was the noon sun angle in Tampa, Florida, for the winter solstice in 2018? 39 degrees Hint: you can find the winter and summer solstices by scrolling to the bottom of the page with June or December selected. Remember, for all questions we are referring to solar noon, not 12:00 p.m. The higher the solar angle, the greater the intensity of solar energy reaching the surface. Also, the higher the solar angle, the longer the time it takes for the sun to traverse the sky and therefore the longer the daylight hours. The summer solstice is the longest day of the year (greatest number of daylight hours) and the winter solstice is the shortest (least number of daylight hours). The second column shows the length of daylight hours. Select the correct day and record the daylight length for the winter and summer solstice of 2018 for Tampa. The sun was up for 10 hours on the winter solstice and 14 hours on the summer solstice. Finally, go to: https://usclimatedata.com/ and enter Tampa’s location. Select the Daily tab and retrieve the average high and low temperatures (daily normal) for the winter and summer solstices. Average high for winter solstice 71.0 Average low 53.2 Average high for summer solstice 89.7 Average low 75.4 Use the above websites to calculate the same information for the cities below. Use 2018 for all locations. Both cities are coastal and at sea level; they differ mainly in latitude. Miami, Florida:

latitude 26 degrees North Latitude Summer solstice noon solar angle 88 degrees Winter solstice noon solar angle 41 degrees Length of summer solstice daylight hours 13 hours and 45 min Length of winter solstice daylight hours 5 hours and 31 min Average high temperatures for summer solstice 89.8 Average low temperature for summer solstice 76.3 Average high temperature for winter solstice 77.3 Average low temperature for winter solstice 62.0 Locations close to the poles can have extreme differences between summer and winter months. Summer days can last for 24 hours and winter nights can last just as long. Barrow, Alaska: latitude 71 degrees North Latitude Summer solstice solar angle 42 degrees Winter solstice solar angle -5 degrees Length of summer solstice daylight hours up all day Length of winter solstice daylight hours down all day Average high temperatures for summer solstice 43.2 Average low temperature for summer solstice 32.7 Average high temperature for winter solstice -2.7 Average low temperature for winter solstice -15.0 What conclusions can you reach about the effect the differences in the solar angles and length of daylight hours have on the seasonal temperatures? The differences in solar angles and the length of daylight hours significantly impact seasonal temperatures. Summertime temperatures are influenced by higher solar angles and longer daylight hours, while wintertime temperatures are influenced by lower solar angles and shorter daylight hours. The resultant variances provide dramatic seasonal temperature changes.

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