Have you ever noticed that the weather is almost never the same in different places? Why, for example, the southern region of Brazil is usually colder than the region Çenter-OThis one? And why the climate of the Alps region Is Swiss so cold and the Sahara desert so hot?
After all, why can't the climate always be the same in different parts of the Earth?
The explanation for the occurrence of different types of weather on our planet is the fact that the climate is influenced by a combination of several factors. Thus, we can conclude that as these factors change, the climate of each region also changes.
The main and most important climatic factors are: the altitudes, at latitudes, The continentality and maritime, at relief forms, Thesvegetations, at Ocean currentsand the air masses.
These climatic elements are called Atmospheric Phenomena, as they occur in the Earth's atmosphere, that is, in the air layer immediately above the surface. Let's now know a little about each of them:
altitudes: altitudes affect the climate because the higher the air, the less dense the air is and therefore the colder it becomes. As a result, temperatures tend to drop. On the other hand, the closer we are to sea level, the higher the temperatures tend to be.
An example of a high altitude region that is very cold is the Alps, a mountain range located in Europe.
latitudes: latitudes define how close or far we are to the Equator Line, an imaginary path that “cuts” the Earth in half horizontally. So the closer we are to that line (that is, the lower the latitudes), the more heat it usually gets. On the other hand, the further we are from this line (smaller latitudes), the greater the cold.
This explains why the North Pole and South Pole are frozen. The southern region of Brazil, due to its greater latitudes, tends to have lower average temperatures throughout the year.
Maritimeity and continentality: have you ever noticed that water takes longer to heat up in the sun than the ground? This is because water retains its temperature longer than soil, which heats up and cools down very quickly. Thus, it is not difficult to imagine that the proximity and distance of a place from the sea influence its climate.
The closer to the sea a location is (maritime), smallerare you usually the variations in temperature; the farther from the sea (continentality), the greater are the thermal variations.
Relief: the relief interferes with the climate more than you can imagine. The higher regions, as we've already talked about, are usually cooler. But, in addition, these zones help to "bounce" moisture from other places, preventing them from reaching certain places, which become drier.
An example of this is the Atacama Desert in Chile. The Andes Mountains do not allow the moisture-laden winds to reach this region, causing it to become one of the driest deserts on the planet.
Vegetation: forests and other forms of vegetation help to absorb heat from solar radiation, easing heating. Furthermore, through the evapotranspiration, they help to increase the humidity of the air, causing more rain. This is one of the reasons why the correct preservation of our forests is necessary!
Ocean currents: changes in marine current temperatures also affect the climate. When they are warmer, they evaporate more and increase humidity and temperature in coastal regions. When they are colder, they cause the temperature to drop in these regions, in addition to “pulling” moisture from other places, which end up with less rain.
air masses: there is several layers of air over the Earth, which exist due to differences in the intensity of sunlight across the globe. Thus, the air masses (which are sometimes cold, sometimes hot, sometimes moist and sometimes dry) interfere directly on the climate where they pass. The meeting between two air masses is called Air Front.
By Rodolfo Alves Pena
Graduated in Geography
