8 Factors that Influence Climate are listed and discussed herein. We hope you find the article informative and helpful for your research.
Factors Affecting Climate of a Place
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From one part of the world to another, the climatic condition changes, and this change is because of the effects of the following factors:
1. Latitude
This refers to the location of a place on the surface of the earth when related to the equator. The Tropical latitudes, where the sun‘s altitude is always high have hotter temperatures than lower latitudes where the sun’s altitude is usually low. These differences in temperature in relation to different latitudes affect climatic conditions.
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2. Altitude
Altitude refers to the height that a place has above the level of the sea. As a person moves higher into the atmosphere, the temperature reduces by 6.5°C for every 1000 meters of ascension.
This is usually referred to as the normal lapse rate. High altitudes like high mountains contain less dust and water vapor and so allow heat to escape easily and still remain cold.
3. Continentality or distance from the sea
Generally, the further the island is from the sea, the less rainfall, for example, free town on the coast and Timbuktu on the inland.
A lower temperature range exists along the coast than on the inland, e g Calabar (less than 30°C) and Agades (more than 15°C) Higher humidity also happens along the coast than further inland generally. There is also a thicker cloud cover along the coast than inland.
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4. Ocean currents
The currents of the ocean can affect the climate of adjacent coastlands. For instance, cold currents lower the temperature of adjacent coastlands e.g. the Benguella current.
Cold currents help in the formation of fogs along the coast adjacent land, e.g. warm Guinea and warm currents of Mozambique.
Cold current results in the formation of coastal deserts, e.g. Kalahari deserts, because of the cold Benguella current, and the Sahara Desert because of cold canaries current.
5. Planetary winds and pressure belts
Wind can affect the climate of adjacent coastlands. For example, warm winds raise the temperature of adjacent coastlands, e.g. the westerlies bring warm air into Western Europe.
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Cold winds lower the temperature of adjacent coastlands, e. g. cold polar Winds lower the temperature of the coasts of Newfoundland.
Warm. Moist winds from the ocean bring rainfall to the adjacent coastlands, e.g. W. Monsoon in West Africa. Dry winds from the interior do not produce rain, rather they produce dust and dryness, e.g. North-East trade Wind brings no rain but dust and dryness to the coastal lands of West Africa offshore winds blowing from the interior to the coat produce fogs at the coast, e.g. fog formation along the Namibian coast.
6. Slope and aspect
A steep slope experiences a more rapid change in temperature than a gentle slope.
7. Cloud cover
Cloud reduces the amount of solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface and the amount of solar radiation escaping from the earth’s surface into space. The day temperature in the equatorial region is always high because of the heavy cloud cover.
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8. Natural vegetation and soil
The tick foliage (leaves) of heavy forest cuts off much of the incoming sunlight energy (insolation). As a result, the forest temperature is cool and lower than that of the open ground (soil). Light soils reflect more heat than darker soils which are better absorbers of heat.
