Climate, Climatologists, Climatology

1. www.nps.gov Climate, Climatologists, Climatology By: Kelly, Mike and Jamie October 20th, 2009 www.climate.gmu.edu

2. Climate • Climate is long term weather patterns for an area • Average temperature and precipitation over time • Ways to figure out climate: amount of sunshine, average wind speeds and directions, number of days above freezing, weather extremes, and local geography

3. Francis Galton • Galton launched his scientific career with an expedition to tropical Africa and subsequent election to the Royal Geographical Society. • By studying inheritance statistically, Galton founded the "biometric" approach to genetics. • Galton founded Differential Psychology, sometimes called the "London School" of experimental psychology.. • The study of heredity could only be placed on a scientific basis by introducing new statistical concepts like regression and correlation.  • Galton first described the anti-cyclone and pioneered the introduction of weather-maps based on charting data about air pressure.

4. Edmund Halley • English astronomer who established the first observatory in the southern hemisphere on the island of St. Helena. • After studying comets, he noticed that the path of the comets of 1456, 1531, and 1607 were surprisingly similar. • He surmised that these three sightings were different apparitions of a single comet, which he predicted would return again around 1758. • He died before his prediction was tested, but the comet indeed returned and has been known as Halley's Comet ever since. When Flamsteed died in 1720, Halley was appointed Royal Astronomer at Greenwich Observatory.

5. Whaldimir Köppen • German meteorologist, climatologist and botanist. • He elaborated the Köppen climate classification system, which is still commonly used today to group climates into similar types (albeit with modifications). • responsible for establishing a weather forecasting service for the northwestern part of Germany and the adjacent sea areas. After four years of service, he was able to move on to his primary interest - the fundamental research - and left the meteorological office. • Köppen began a study of the climate and also experimented with balloons to obtain data from upper air. This work led to the development of the Köppen climate classification system around 1900. • The full version of his system appeared first in 1918 and, after several modifications, the final version was published in 1936. . • Alfred Wegener was his son-in-law

6. Milutin Milankovic • The Serbian astrophysicist Milutin Milankovitc is best known for developing one of the most significant theories relating Earth motions and long-term climate change  • Born in 1879 in the rural village of Dalj • Milankovitc dedicated his career to developing a mathematical theory of climate based on the seasonal and latitudinal variations of solar radiation received by the Earth. • Milankovitc Theory, it states that as the Earth travels through space around the sun, cyclical variations in three elements of Earth-sun geometry combine to produce variations in the amount of solar energy that reaches Earth: • Variations in the Earth's orbital eccentricity—the shape of the orbit around the sun. • Changes in obliquity—changes in the angle that Earth's axis makes with the plane of Earth's orbit. • Precession—the change in the direction of the Earth's axis of rotation, • Orbital motions have become known as Milankovitc cycles.

7. Hubert Lamb • English climatologist   • Refused to work on the meteorology of gas spraying during World War II  • Founder and first Director (1971-1977) of the Climatic Research Unit.

8. Köpplen’s Classification • Groups of climates into similar types • Five major climate types based on the annual and monthly averages of temperature and precipitation

9. Climate Affect Biomes http://www.teachersdomain.org/asset/ess05_int_biomemap/ • Biome is defined by its climate and the types of plants and species of animals that live there. Tundra Forest Savanna Taiga Rainforests Chaparral Grasslands Alpine Desert-scrub Desert

10. Areas most affected by Climate • So if a lush tropical rain forest stops getting rain. Pretty soon all the plants and animals will die out or adapt, or flee from that area. Pretty soon that tropical rain forest will turn into a desert. A desert biome has some characteristics and a tropical rain forest has some others. • If the climate changes, the whole biome will be affected and will turn into something else. sometimes the change is positive and sometimes negative. if u switch the rainforest thing around, then the affect is positive. • Marine biome has the most diversity

11. Climate affect Biodiversity • Variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or for the entire Earth. • Scientists predict that climate change will significantly affect the land base and the living organisms and communities that depend on it. • Global warming is recognized as a key threat to biodiversity. • Used as a measure of the health of biological systems • The biodiversity found on Earth today consists of many millions of distinct biological species, which is the product of nearly 3.5 billion years of evolution. • Environmental conditions play a key role in defining the function and distribution of plants, in combination with other factors. • Changes in long term environmental conditions that change the climate are known to have had big impacts on plant diversity patterns in the past and are seen as having significant current impacts. • Predicted that climate change will remain one of the major drivers of biodiversity patterns in the future. • Marine biome has the most diversity

12. Areas least affected by Climate • Biomes are defined as "the world's major communities, classified according to the predominant vegetation and characterized by adaptations of organisms to that particular environment" • The importance of biomes cannot be underestimated. Biomes have changed and moved many times during the history of life on Earth. More recently, human activities have drastically altered these communities.  • Desert and Arctic biomes have the least precipitation.  • San Francisco is one of the most affected areas by precipitation. • The biome that is least affected by biodiversity aerial biome because nothing live in the air except for some bacteria and viruses

13. Work Cited • www.classzone.com/book/earth_science • www.galton.org • www.earthobservery.nasa.gov/features/milankovic • www.space.about.com/astronomerbios/a/edmundhalley • www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/people/lamb • www.britannica.com/EBchecked/.../Wladimir-Peter-Koppen • www.greenlearning.ca/climate/science/ecosystem-effects/2 • www.blueplanetbiomes.org