Highland Climate

1. Highland Climate By Luke Hall

2. What is a Highland Climate? A highland climate can be described as a climate that is found in high mountains and plateaus. Highland areas have different climate conditions at each location and change drastically with elevation. These climates are extremely unpredictable. Weather conditions often shift at a rapid pace. Highland climates weather patterns vary from place to place and are unique from one another. These highland climates can be found worldwide.

3. Where can they be found? Highland climates are not bound to one latitude or continent, they can be found all over the globe. They range from: The Rocky Mountains in North America Mt. Fuji in Japan The Himalayas in Tibet The Alps of Europe Mt. Kilimanjaro of Africa The Andes of South America And many other high plateaus all over the world

4. Highland Climates are at all latitudes on nearly every continent!

5. What Creates these high elevations?

6. Plate Tectonics Convergent Plate Boundaries: Continent to continent collisions- cause crustal uplifting. Example: mountain chains Subducting oceanic plates- Cause volcanoes that can be high enough to be considered a highland climate.

7. Continent-to-continent collision

8. Oceanic Plate Subducting

9. What conditions create these unique highland climates? Elevation- the abrupt changes in elevation. Atmospheric Pressure- the amount of atmosphere above highland climates. (pressure decreases with height) Slope- the side of the mountain and its angle upward. Angle of Insulation- the angle at which the suns rays hit the mountain side. Wind direction- Where is the wind coming from? is the wind blowing from lower elevations or from higher elevations? Is it blowing from off shore or from the middle of a continent? Precipitation- The windward vs. leeward side of each mountain have large variation in amount of precipitation they receive. What side of the mountain are you on, windward or leeward?

10. How does elevation affect highland climates? The higher in elevation one travels the thinner the air becomes. There is less pressure in high elevations because there is less atmosphere overhead. Temperatures tend to be much cooler at higher elevations because the air is thinner and is less able to retain heat than the lower lying elevations.

11. Slope

12. Angle of Isolation due to Slope The slope of the mountains side can create many different angles at which the suns rays hit the earths surface. The more direct the suns rays, the warmer the surface temperatures become. (Similar to what happens at the equator)

13. Precipitation

14. Windward vs. leeward side of mountains The windward side of mountains on average receives 5 times more precipitation than the leeward side of the mountain. This causes much more vegetation growth on the windward side. The leeward side of the mountain tends to be much drier and has less vegetation.

15. Example of Highland Climate: Himalayan Mountains and The Tibetan Plateau

16. Living in highland climates People living in highland climates often use the differing conditions at each elevation to their advantage! They produce a variety of crops at different elevations which support their nutritional needs. These people also sell their produce which provides and income for their families.

17. The End!!!

18. References D., H. (n.d.). Rocky Mountains. Retrieved April 1, 2009, from http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rocky_mountain.htm Hidore, J. J., & Oliver, J. E. (2001). Climatology: An Atmospheric Science (2nd Edition). Alexandria, VA: Prentice Hall. polar latitudes. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2009, from http://www.cnr.vt.edu/boyer/geog1014/topics/102Climate/polar/polar_lat.html N/A. (1997, June). World climates. Retrieved from http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/climate.htm