3.

1: Air- Temperature Data

Calculations
● Daily mean temperature: Determined by averaging the 24 hourly readings or by
adding the maximum and minimum temperatures for a 24-hour period and
dividing it by two
● Daily temperature range: Computed by finding the difference between the
maximum and minimum temperatures in a 24-hour period
● Monthly mean temperature: Calculated by adding together the daily means for
each day of the month and dividing by the # of days of the month
● Annual mean temperature: Is an average of the 12 monthly means
● Annual temperature range: Computed by finding the difference between the
warmest and coldest monthly mean temperatures

Hottest/Coldest Places in the U.S

● Maximum temperature record for the United States was 134ºF in Death Valley,
California on July 10, 1913
○ Mountains cut off death valley from the oceans “moderating influence and
moisture” because it's 190 ft below sea level
● Minimum temperature record for the United States was -80ºF in Prospect Creek,
Alaska
○ Lower 48, the record was set at -70ºF at Rogers Pass, Montana on January
20, 1954

Isotherms
● Defined as a line that connects
points on a map that have the
same temperature
● Temperature gradient: the
amount of temperature change
per unit of distance (colored
map)
3.2: Cycles of Air Temperature

Daily Temperature Cycle

● The primary control of the daily cycle of air temperature is Earth’s daily rotation,
which causes a location to move into daylight for part of each day and then into
darkness (day and night)
● As sun angle increases throughout the morning, the intensity of the sun’s rays
also increase, reaching a peak at noon and gradually diminishing in the afternoon
● At night, the atmosphere and the surface of Earth cool as they radiate away heat
● The time of highest temperature does not generally coincide with the time of
maximum solar heating; as long as the amount of solar energy gained exceeds the
amount of Earth radiation lost, the air temperature continues to rise
○ When the incoming solar energy no longer exceeds the rate of energy lost
by Earth, the temperature begins to fall
● The lowest daily temperature generally occurs at sunrise and highest daily
temperature occurs in the mid- to late afternoon

● In dry regions, particularly on cloud free days, the amount of radiation

absorbed by the surface is generally high, which means the highest temp.
Is usually in the late afternoon
● Humid locations, in contrast, frequently experience a shorter time lag in
the occurrence of their temperature maximum because of the moisture in
the air
Annual Temperature Cycle
● The seasonal temperature cycle becomes more pronounced the farther you get
from the equator
○ In most years, the months with the highest and lowest mean temperatures
do not coincide with the periods of maximum and minimum incoming
solar radiation
○ North of the tropics, the greatest intensity of solar radiation occurs at the
time of the southern solstice in June, yet the months of July and August
are generally the warmest of the year in the Northern Hemisphere
○ Conversely, the least amount of solar energy received is in December at the
time of the winter solstice, but January or February are usually colder
 ● In the U.S, the annual temperature cycle lags behind the period of the most
intense solar heating by an average of 27 days
○ Areas located near a large body of water have an average lag time of 36
days
○ E.g., warmest temperature in St. Louis Missouri is warmest in july,
whereas in San Francisco California its warmest in september or october

3.3: Why Temperatures Vary

● Temperature Control: Any factor that causes temperatures to vary
○ Primary control of temperature is latitude because it determines the
annual variations in Sun angle and length of daylight
Elevation
● Besides latitude, elevation is the strongest control of air temperature
● In the troposphere, temperatures generally decrease at altitude increases
● Elevation can affect the daily temperature range:
○ Atmospheric pressure and density also decrease with altitude; because the
air is thinner at high altitudes, the overlying atmosphere absorbs, reflects,
and scatters a smaller portion of the incoming solar radiations
■ As a result, with an increase in altitude, the intensity of solar
radiation increases, resulting in rapid daytime cooling. Nighttime
cooling also occurs at an accelerated rate
○ Elevated locations have a greater daily temperature range than locations
closer to sea-level
● Elevation modifies temperatures, but it does not significantly affect the annual
temperature range

Land and Water

● Different land surfaces reflect and absorb varying amounts of incoming solar
energy, which it turn cause variations in the temperature of the air above
● The greatest contrast is between land and water; variations in air temperatures
are much greater over land than over water
○ Land heats more rapidly and to higher temperatures than water, and
conversely, cools more rapidly and to lower temperatures than water.
● Since land surfaces are opaque, heat is absorbed only at the surface (E.g., sand at
the beach; the sand exposed to the sun is very hot whereas just a few inches
beneath the sand is cold)
○ Water’s transparency allows some solar radiation to penetrate a greater
depth, up to several meters
● Specific heat: the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of a
substance 1ºC
 ○ The specific heat for water is three times greater than that for land; thus,
considerably more heat is required to raise the temperature of water than
it is to raise the same volume of land
● Evaporation (a cooling process) from water bodies is greater than from land
surfaces; energy is required to evaporate water. When energy is used for
evaporation (latent heat), it does not raise the temperature (sensible heat)
● Collectively, these factors cause water to warm more slowly, store greater
quantities of
heat, and cool
more slowly
than land
● Figure: Annual
Mean
temperature
range with
latitude

Ocean Currents
● Gulf Stream: An important surface current in the Atlantic Ocean that flows
northward along the East Coast of the U.S
○ Surface currents are set in motion by the wind
● At the water surface, energy is massed from moving air to the water through
friction. The drag caused by the friction causes the surface layer of water to move.
○ Major horizontal movements of surface waters are closely related to the
circulation of the atmosphere
● The transfer of heat by winds and ocean currents is nature's attempt
to equalize the latitudinal energy imbalance between the tropics and
the poles
 ● Poleward moving currents are warm, and equatorward-moving currents are cold.
● Surface ocean currents are driven by global winds and are responsible for
redistributing heat around the globe

● Surface-ocean currents have an important effect on climate

○ Moderating effect of poleward-moving warm ocean currents keeps certain
areas much warmer in the wintertime than what would be expected for
their latitudes (Great Britain, Western Europe)
● Cold ocean currents exert their greatest influence in the tropics or during the
summer months, in the middle latitudes
○ The cold Peru current of the west coast of South Africa moderates the
tropical heats along that coast
○ The California current keeps subtropical coastal California cooler on
average than at east coast stations at the same latitude

Geographic Position and Prevailing Wind Direction

● The effects of differential heating of land and water can be blown inland by the
prevailing wind at a particular location
○ Coastal station where prevailing winds blow from the ocean onto the shore
(windward coast) observes considerably different temperatures from those
observed by a coastal location where prevailing winds blow from the land
toward the ocean (leeward coast)
● Windward coasts experience the full moderating influence of the ocean; cooler
summers and milder winters
● Leeward coasts would experience a much larger annual temperature range
● If there is an ocean current along the coast, then the moderating effect of the
ocean current can also be blown inland
○ B/c of prevailing westerly winds, the moderating effects of the North
Atlantic Drift are carried far inland
● Prevailing winds can also affect temperatures if the wind blown across a
mountain range, where the mountains create a barrier from the moderating
effects of the ocean
 ○ E.g., Seattle and Spokane; The Cascade
mountain range effectively cuts off Spokane
from the prevailing winds that directly hit a
coastal town at the same latitude- Seattle.
● Mountains have their own temperature moderating
properties. The windward side (upslope) of a
mountain tends to be cooler, while the leeward side
(downslope) tends to be warmer
○ Adiabatic process does this to air flow over a
mountain

Albedo Variations
● Any increase in albedo reduces the amount of
energy available to heat the atmosphere
○ Conversely, a decrease in albedo means an increase in the quantity of
energy absorbed by Earth’s surface and available heat to the atmosphere

Cloud Cover
● Cloud cover is an important control of temperature; clearer days are warmer, and
cloudy days are cooler
● Cloud cover reduces the amount of incoming solar radiations, thus cloudier days
are cooler; the albedo of clouds depends on the thickness of the cloud cover and
can vary from 25-90%
● At night, clouds have the opposite effect. They absorb outgoing Earth radiation
and emit a portion of it back toward the surface
○ Nighttime air temperatures do not drop as dramatically on a cloudy night
than they would on a clear night
● The effect of cloud cover is to reduce the daily temperature range by lowering the
daytime maximum and raising the nighttime minimum

Influence of Snow Ice

● Snow and ice covered surfaces have high albedos; the incoming solar energy is
reflected by the snow and lost rather than absorbed by the ground and heating
the lower atmosphere

Other Factors Influencing Temperature

● Local factors can influence the temperature at a location; for example the type of
surface that predominates
○ Areas that are heavily vegetated tend to have cooler average summer
temperatures than sparsely vegetated arid regions.
○ Shade and transpiration by plants absorb heat from the surface
 ● Urban Heat Island: Temperatures in cities are generally higher than in nearby
rural areas; The construction of factories, roads, office buildings, and houses
creates new microclimates in cities
○ Changes in the way cities absorb and emit radiation generally increase
temperatures compared to surrounding rural areas.
○ Stone, asphalt, concrete, steel, all absorb solar radiation in much higher
quantities than do the trees and farmland of rural areas
○ Dry conditions are associated with higher daily temperature ranges, many
because of greater nighttime cooling
● Atmospheric circulation patterns strongly influence the movement of warm and
cold air across a region, which directly affects temperatures
○ These large-scale circulation patterns are also associated with weather
systems that bring cloud cover and precipitation, which reduce incoming
solar radiation and result in cooler temperatures.

3.4: Global Distribution of Temperature

● There is a latitudinal shifting of temperatures caused by the seasonal migration of
the Sun’s vertical rays
● The global distribution of temperatures is primarily determined by
latitude and, to a lesser extent, by the distribution of land and water.
● The annual temperature range increases with an increase in latitude
● The ocean-dominated southern Hemisphere has a much smaller annual
temperature range than the Northern Hemisphere, which is dominated by
continents
○ Continental (land) locations must endure hotter summers and colder
winters than coastal locations, where seasons are not as extreme

Above: Sea level temperatures during the seasons in the Northern and Southern
Hemisphere
3.5: Temperature Measurement
Thermometer
● Instrument that measures temperature; must be placed in the shade and
mounted at 1.5 meters (five feet) above the ground
● Liquid-in-glass thermometer: Provides relatively accurate readings over a wide
temperature range; contains a bulb with liquid and a stem that has been bored to
form a thin tube, when the temperature rises the molecules of fluid move faster
and expand, which threads the fluid up the tube and gives the temperature
reading
● Mechanical thermometers rely on the fact that most substances expand when
heated and contract when cooled
● Thermistor: Electronic temperature measurement, where electricity flows
through a metallic oxide disk or bead which increases with temperature.
○ Rapid response instruments that quickly measure temperature range
● The lowest recorded temperature on Earth was -89ºC (-129ºF) in Antarctica on
July 23rd, 1983
● Instrument Shelters: Shields instruments from direct sunshine, heat from nearby
objects, and precipitation
Temperature Scales
Fahrenheit Scale
● Defined by two fixed points; the temperature at which ice melts (32ºF)
and the point at which water boils (212ºF)
● Only the U.S and Belize use the fahrenheit scale
Celsius Scale
● Defined by two fixed points; the temperature at which ice melts is set at
0ºC, and the temperature at which water boils is set at 100ºC
Conversion
● ºF= (1.8 x ºC) + 32
● ºC= (ºF - 32) / 1.8
Kelvin Scale
● Used for scientific purposes, because its an absolute scale.
● Melting point of ice is set at 273 K, and the boiling point of water is set
at 373 K.

3.6: Applying Temperature Data