TEST OF PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE QUESTION Explain how the following factors affect the temperature of a place: (a) altitudes (b) distance from the sea (c) Slope ...

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How the following factors affect the temperature of a place

(a) Altitude: temperature falls with increasing height above sea level, at an average rate of about 6.5 °C per 1000 m (the normal lapse rate). The air near the ground is warmed from below by the earth's surface, and it is also denser and holds more heat, dust and moisture. Higher up the air is thinner, drier and further from the heated surface, so it loses heat quickly. This is why highland areas such as Jos and mountain tops are cooler than surrounding lowlands on the same latitude.

(b) Distance from the sea (continentality): the sea heats and cools more slowly than the land. Coastal places have a small (moderate) temperature range because the sea warms them in winter and cools them in summer. Places far inland have a large temperature range, with very hot days/summers and cold nights/winters, because land heats and cools rapidly. Sea and land breezes also moderate coastal temperatures.

(c) Slope and aspect: the direction a slope faces (aspect) and its angle control how much insolation it receives. In the northern hemisphere, south-facing slopes face the sun and are warmer, while north-facing slopes are cooler and shaded (the reverse in the southern hemisphere). Slopes at right angles to the sun's rays receive concentrated heat over a small area and become warmer, while gentle or shaded slopes receive slanting rays spread over a wider area and stay cooler.