- What is the difference between regional climate and microclimate?
Regional climate describes the general climatic conditions of the locality that plants and animals inhabit
Microclimate is the climate of a small area that is different from an area around it - Why is vegetation important in climate?
vegetation is important because it lowers the overall temperature of an area, by providing shade and percolating water through the leaves - What are impervious surfaces? How can impervious surface affect local climates?
Impervious surfaces are surfaces that do not allow water to seep through the surface and just allow it to runoff the surface. They affect local climates because the dry out the soil under the surface by restricting water from seeping into the ground. This raises the overall temperature because dry soil can heat up faster than wet soil. - What is an urban environment?
An urban environment is an environment occupied by buildings that are used for residences and industrial sites - What is a suburban environment?
A suburban environment is on the outskirts of a city. Structures are farther apart and there is a lower population than in the city. - What is a suburban environment?
A rural environment consists of a lot of land with a much lower population than Urban or suburban environments. - What is an urban heat island? Explain.
An urban heat island is an urban region that is warmer than it’s surroundings, which forms and island of higher temperatures in the landscape - Why do we care about urban heat islands? What do they do to urban environments?
We care about urban heat islands because they affect communities by increasing summertime energy demand, air conditioning costs, air pollution, greehouse gas emissions, heat-related illness and mortality, and water quality - What can be done about the urban heat island effect?
We can increase tree and vegetative cover, create green roofs, use cool or green pavements, and installing cool or reflective roofs - What are green roofs and what are their advantages?
The advantages of green roofs are that they raise air and water quality and they dissipate heat, which cools the area - What is a cool pavement?
A cool pavement is a pavement increases the reflectivity or controlling temperature through choice of materials and engineering designs
A pervious pavement allows rainwater to seep into the ground and through the pavement. Th advantages that come along with pervious pavements is vegetation is watered, groundwater replenished, water resources preserved, stormwater runoff reduced, stormwater runoff quality is improved
FRQ
A: Describe how the temperature of urban areas like Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Chicago differs from that of surrounding rural areas.
Urban areas like Atlanta, Philadelphia, and chicago differ from that of surrounding areas because they have more impervious surfaces which raises the average temperature, causing it to be warmer in those types of urban areas than in the surrounding rural areas that have more vegetation and close to none impervious surfaces
B: Identify and describe TWO differences between urban and surrounding rural areas that contribute to the temperature differences between them.
The two differences between urban and rural areas that contribute to the temperature difference is that urban areas have impervious surfaces and rural areas don’t. Another difference is that rural areas have a lot more vegetation than urban areas because they don't need a lot of space for buildings like urban areas.
C: Urban areas typically have levels of air pollution that are significantly higher than those found in surrounding rural areas. Identify a characteristic of the urban microclimate that lead to higher levels of air pollution and describe how that characteristic contributes to this increase
A characteristic of urban microclimates is the urban heat island effect. The urban heat island effect causes higher peak energy demands, air conditioning costs, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions. This raises the levels air pollution because the higher demand for energy, the more fossil fuels that need to be burned in order to obtain that energy, which releases greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere, raising the air pollution levels
D: Identify and describe TWO actions that local governments in urban areas could take to reduce air pollution.
They could choose to use alternatives for energy that do not harm the environment and do not release greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere. Another action is education. If more people are aware of the issue at hand, they may choose to start biking as transportation, or purchasing an environmentally friendly car, in turn decreasing the levels of air pollution.