4.1 THE ROLE OF CLIMATE
In the atmosphere, temperature , precipitation , and other environmental factors combine to produce weather and climate. Weather is the day to day condition to Earth's atmosphere at a particular time and place. Climate is the year after year conditions of temperature and precipitation in a particular region. Climate is caused by the interplay of many factors such as heat by the atmosphere, the latitude, and a few others.
Carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and a other atmospheric gases trap heat energy and maintain Earth's temperature range. The greenhouse effect is when the natural situation in which heat is retained by this layer of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases allow solar energy to penetrate the atmosphere in the form of sunlight (look at the picture below to understand more).
As a result of differences in the latitude and thus the angle of heating, Earth has three main climate zones: polar temperate, and tropical. The polar zones are cold areas where the sun's rays strike Earth at a very low angle. The temperate zones sit between the polar zones an the tropics. The tropical zones, or tropics, is near the equation between 23.5 North and 23.5 South latitude.
The unequal heating of Earth's surface drives winds and ocean currents, which transport heat throughout the biosphere. The equator is the warmest due to warm air tends to rise and cool air tends to sink. Similar patterns of heating and cooling also occur in Earth's ocean.
ALL IMAGES ARE FROM GOOGLE IMAGES.