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16) Air pressure decreases with increased elevation.
17) Elevation and altitude are essentially the same thing.
18) Clouds moderate temperatures producing lower daily maximums and higher nightly
minimums.
19) If you went for a walk on a hot beach, you could cool your feet off substantially by digging
them into the sand.
20) You would expect a tropical island to have a high degree of continentality.
21) Maritime influences tend to decrease both daily and monthly temperature ranges.
22) Ocean currents along midlatitude west coasts, even near deserts, are cool.
23) The moving of currents results in the mixing of cooler and warmer waters.
24) Ocean temperatures are typically recorded at the deepest points in the ocean.
25) The climate of Iceland, located at 65° N, is dictated mostly by its latitudinal position just
below the Arctic Circle.
26) In winter, isotherms over the interior of Northern Hemisphere continents trend equatorward.
27) Areas expensing continentality, such as Verkhoyansk, Russia, can have exceptionally large
annual temperature ranges (e.g. a range of 105 C° (189 F°)).
28) Maritime locales tend to have much larger daily and annual temperature ranges than areas in
the interior of continents.
29) The subsolar point migrates annually between 47° N and 47° S latitude.
30) The intensity of solar radiation decreases away from the equator and poleward.
31) Average air temperatures at higher elevations are generally higher, with smaller differences
between areas of direct sunlight and shadow.
32) Because water has a higher specific heat than land, it cools more quickly.
33) Evaporation is a cooling process.
34) Most evaporation occurs over large land masses influenced by continentality.
35) Continentality results in a greater range between maximum and minimum daily and yearly
temperatures.
36) The Southern Hemisphere is dominated by maritime influences, whereas the Northern
Hemisphere is dominated by continentality.
37) In July, the hottest places on Earth occur in Southern Hemisphere subtropical regions.
38) The largest average annual temperature ranges occur at subpolar locations within the
continental of North America and Asia.
39) The last 15 years feature the warmest years in the climate record.
40) Surface temperature anomalies maps from the past four decades show an overall positive
warming trend.
41) Strong winds and low humidity accompanying high temperatures result in higher heat index
than low winds and high humidity.
42) The highest temperatures on Earth are associated with the intense heating in subtropical
deserts.
43) Scientists have determined that an increase of global temperatures by a single degree of
Celsius will have little effect.
44) There is as yet no scientific consensus concerning the idea that Earth is warming as a result
of human activities.
45) Hypothermia occurs when a person has overheated to the point where the body is unable to
cool itself.
46) Climate change has led to the accelerating loss of glaciers.
47) There is little scientific agreement about long-term warming trends.
5.3 Essay Questions
1) Discuss how latitude, altitude/elevation, cloud cover, and land-water heating differences can
influence global temperature patterns.
2) Distinguish between temperature and heat. Then describe the important characteristics of the
three main temperature scales.
3) Why is the higher specific heat of water as compared to rock or soil an important factor in
determining temperature characteristics and changes?
4) How do ocean currents affect both water and air temperatures? Use the Humboldt Current and
Gulf Stream as examples.
5) Compare, contrast, and explain maritime and continental conditions.
6) Why do continental locations usually have greater extremes of temperature than do maritime
locations at the same latitude?
7) Where should you move to if you wanted to live an a region with the greatest annual range of
temperatures? If you changed your mind and wanted to live in the region with the lowest annual
temperature range where should you go? What are the qualities that create each of these
situations?
8) Compare and contrast Northern and Southern temperature ranges. Also, compare tropical and
midlatitude temperature ranges.
9) Compare and contrast the wind-chill factor and the heat index.
10) What are the various factors that can affect the apparent temperature?
11) How does wind affect the wind-chill factor and the heat index?
12) Would residents of Miami or San Francisco be more likely to pay attention to the heat index?
Why?
13) Discuss several ways in which global temperatures affects humans and how humans affect
global temperatures.
