Embedded Files
Living with the Climate
Summary
âī¸ Unit 2: Living with the Climate đĄī¸
Climate
Climate is what the weather is like over a very long time (at least 35 years).
It's a pattern of weather that a place has.
Things that make up climate are temperature (how hot or cold), rain (or snow), air pressure, wind, and how humid (wet) the air is.
Meteorologists are scientists who measure and understand the weather.
Extreme Weather đĒī¸
Extreme weather is when the weather is much stronger or different than usual.
This can happen over just one day or over a longer time.
Three common examples of extreme weather are heatwaves, droughts, and hurricanes.
Hurricanes
Hurricanes are very strong tropical storms. They are also called typhoons or tropical cyclones.
They start over warm tropical seas, usually 26 degrees C or warmer.
They need to stay over warm water to form or get stronger.
Hurricanes usually last over a month, sometimes two.
The strong winds can reach over 120 kilometers per hour (km/h)
They cause high waves, high tides, and sometimes very bad flooding.
The storms can destroy whole towns, buildings, and communication systems.
Extreme Hot Spells (Heatwaves) đĨ
These are times when temperatures are very high for a long time.
They can cause problems like sunburn and make dry plants catch fire easily.
Experts say a heatwave should be expected every 10 years or so.
The highest temperatures in the last 60 years were from March to May.
Droughts đĩ
Droughts are periods of very dry weather because of a lack of rain.
The terrible drought in Baluchistan, Pakistan, from 1998-2002 hurt crops badly.
Droughts put the supply of water and food at risk.
Floods đ
Floods happen when water covers land that is usually dry.
Pakistan has suffered from floods almost every year for the last $\mathbf{50}$ years.
Climate Zones of the World đ
The Earth's climates are put into different groups. This helps scientists understand them.
Climatologists (scientists who study climate) put them into groups using a system from 1918 by a person named Wladimir KÃļppen.
This system uses things like temperature and how much rain or snow falls (precipitation) to group the climates.
Here are some main climate groups:
Tropical: These areas are very hot and rainy almost all year. They are found mostly around the equator.
Equatorial: These hot, wet areas have lots of rain and the temperature stays about the same all year.
Arid (Dry): These are areas that get very little rain, less than 10 cm (4 inches) a year. There is more evaporation (water drying up) than rain here.
Mediterranean: These areas have hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters.
Temperate: These areas have mild (not too hot, not too cold) summers and cool, wet winters.
Continental: These areas are found deep inside large continents. They have hot summers and very cold winters.
Polar: These areas are cold all year long. They have long periods of freezing cold weather.
Contrasting Climate: Karachi (Pakistan) and New York City (USA) âī¸âī¸
We can compare the climates of two very different cities: Karachi (in Pakistan) and New York City (in the USA).
Climate of Karachi
Karachi is located on the coast. It has a moderate and semi-arid (a little dry) climate.
The city has two main seasons: a long, warm summer and a short, mild winter.
The climate is mainly tropical because the city is near the coast.
The summers are very warm. The warm monsoon season brings most of the city's rain from July to September.
The winter season is short, lasting from November to February. The temperature stays around 26 degrees C in the day and drops below 10 degrees C at night.
The water temperature of the Arabian Sea stays relatively high throughout the year.
Climate of New York City
New York City has a subtropical humid continental climate. This means the air is moist, and the temperature changes a lot.
It has cool, wet winters and hot, humid summers with lots of rain all year.
It often snows in winter, but the snow does not stay on the ground for very long.
Effect of Latitude and Longitude
The equator is an imaginary line around the middle of the Earth. Areas near it are warmer.
Karachi is closer to the equator (24.86 degrees N) and the sea. The sea keeps the temperature warmer.
New York City is farther north (40.71 degrees N) and closer to the cold poles. This makes its temperatures cooler.
When temperatures are near 0 degrees C (32 degrees F), water freezes. In New York, winter temperatures often go below 2 degrees C (36 degrees F).
Effect of Altitude
Altitude is how high a place is above the sea.
Karachi's height stays mostly the same within a 2 km radius.
New York City has a very low height of just 33 feet (10 m) above sea level. This means there are not big differences in height.
Effect of the Sea on the Land
Karachi is a coastal city (near the sea). The sea makes the climate moderate, meaning it doesn't get too hot or too cold.
The New York area is next to the Gulf Stream (a warm ocean current). The water helps keep the climate moderate in the summer and winter.
Winds
The average wind speed in New York City is faster, about 10.2 mph (miles per hour) in February.
The average wind speed in Karachi is fastest in July, at about 6.9 mph.
Impact of Climate Change đ
Melting Ice đ§
The sheets of ice in the North and South Poles are getting thinner.
Melting ice from glaciers (huge, slow-moving rivers of ice) is the most obvious sign of global warming.
Many glaciers are slowly melting down mountains due to gravity.
Melting ice is causing sea levels to rise and strong waves (sea storms).
For example, Alaska's glaciers are melting fast, losing about 46 gigatons of ice per year.
Scientists guess that a 1 m (one-meter) rise in sea level would flood large areas of land, making 92,000 square kilometers disappear and affecting 5.7 million people in Egypt alone.
Impact of Pollution on Climate đ
A lot of pollution is put into the land, air, and around us from homes, farming, and factories (industrial waste).
This pollution affects our air, soil, and water.
Burning fossil fuels (like coal, oil, and natural gas) creates pollution.
This pollution causes the air around Earth to trap more heat, which raises the Earth's temperature (global warming).
This leads to less rain and poor soil, which means less food can be grown (crop yields).
Pollution also harms the biodiversity (different kinds of life) of land and water.
Did you know?
The world loses about 24 billion tonnes (tons) of topsoil every year due to pollution.
The trash we throw away globally is enough to fill 5,000 waste removal trucks.
About 1 ton of oil is spilled for every 20,000 gallons of oil being transported.
The ocean takes in about 30 percent of the land pollution (from fertilizers, etc.).
Impact of Climate Change: Wildfires đĨ
As temperatures get hotter and dry times get longer, wildfires are becoming more common and dangerous.
Wildfires are large, uncontrollable fires in forests or dry regions.
Some problems linked to climate change that make wildfires worse are: droughts, desertification (land becoming a desert), and prolonged dry spells (long times without rain).
The rise in global temperature is connected to very heavy rainfall, long dry times, and big changes in weather patterns.
For example, forest areas in Pakistan (like Sulaiman Range, Buner, Shangla, Bannu) have been hurt by uncontrolled fires.
Impact of Climate Change: Tropical Cyclones
Between 1979 and 2017, there was a global increase in the number of tropical cyclones (strong storms).
This is because the oceans are warmer, especially the surface water over tropical areas.
As seas get warmer, these monster storms become even stronger.
A tropical cyclone creates winds that make waves that may go over 12 to 20 meters high.
Cyclones in the northern hemisphere hit the Gulf Coast of North America, North Western Australia, Eastern India, and Bangladesh.
The storms bring a lot of rain and a high tide of water pushed by the wind, called a storm surge, which can be 6 meters (20 feet) high.
Human Factors đ§
Human activities have changed the climate patterns greatly in the last two centuries.
Human Causes of Climate Change:
Burning fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal). This releases gases that trap heat in the air.
Fumes from transport and factories.
Deforestation (cutting down trees). Trees help clean the air.
Food waste.
Livestock production (raising farm animals).
Chemical fertilizers (chemicals used on farm fields).
[Image showing various human activities like factories, cars, deforestation contributing to climate change]
Natural Factors â°ī¸
The movement of continents and oceans affects how heat moves and controls air, wind, and rain patterns.
Natural Causes of Climate Change:
Natural forest fires.
Greenhouse gases (gases that naturally trap heat in the air).
Volcanic eruptions.
Solar Input (how much energy the sun sends to Earth).
Crustal plate movement (the Earth's plates moving).
Natural catastrophic events (like big floods or storms).
One example is the Himalayas. About 40 million years ago, the plates that formed the Himalayas started moving. This movement changed the world's climate by affecting rain patterns.
The amount of energy from the Sun, called solar output, can change the climate.
Changes in the Earth's movement in space also affect climate.
Volcanic eruptions can affect climate by changing the amount of dust in the upper air.
[Image showing natural phenomena like volcanic eruptions, sun, and moving continents affecting climate]
Climate Change: Economic Loss and Disease đ°
Economic Loss
Climate change is the biggest threat to a country's economic stability (how strong its money system is).
Long, hot weather and frequent storms can damage property and stop people from working.
This limits human growth and the supply of healthcare.
The floods in Pakistan in 2022 damaged over 1 million houses and affected more than 33 million people.
More Diseases
A rise in temperature around the world is expected to cause an increase in infectious diseases.
Flooding creates conditions for diseases such as typhoid and cholera to spread easily in water.
Warmer temperatures may increase the number of pests like mosquitoes, which spread diseases such as dengue fever and encephalitis.
Loss of Biodiversity đ
The Earth has lost over 90% of its plant and animal species throughout history.
The rate of loss of different kinds of life (biodiversity) is now about 1,000 times faster than normal, and almost all of this loss is caused by humans.
Warmer temperatures and changing rain patterns play a major role in the loss of biodiversity.
Hunting and destroying natural homes (habitat destruction) are also big causes.
Adaptation and Mitigation đĄī¸
Adaptation means making changes to how we live to deal with the effects of climate change that are already happening.
Moving to higher ground to avoid rising sea levels.
Planning new steps that will work well in new climate conditions.
Buying local foods and products to avoid adding to the demand for digging up fossil fuels.
Practicing organic farming to help reduce the pollution from pesticides and herbicides.
Using renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and geothermal energy.
Protecting and restoring natural wetlands to prevent flooding.
Promoting sustainable agro-forestry (good farming with trees).
Mitigation means working to slow down or stop global warming by reducing the gases that trap heat.
Reducing carbon emissions (pollution) from burning fossil fuels.
Promoting ecological industries (businesses that are kind to the environment).
Encouraging new, efficient ways to use energy and resources.
An example is turning old cooking oil or grease into biofuels to replace fuel in vehicles.
Sustainable Climate Action đą
Climate change is one of the most complex problems we face today.
Governments and groups should work together and help each other to adapt better to climate change.
Pooling resources means countries share money, technology, and people to reduce pollution.
We can use things like the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Climate Agreement. These are big plans where countries promise to lower their "carbon footprint" (the pollution they cause).
Practicing the 3Rs rule (reduce, reuse, recycle) helps.
Moving toward renewable energy (like sun and wind power) is important.
Farming that doesn't use chemicals and helps the land is also important.
Page updated
Report abuse