Essay On Temperature Variations

There are many factors that determine the pattern of temperature variation. Temperature is the degree of hotness and coldness of the atmosphere. The temperature of an area is affected by incoming shortwave solar radiation or insolation being absorbed by the Earth’s surface and the outgoing longwave radiation in the form of heat. Air is then warmed up by the transfer of heat from the Earth’s surface via processes such as conduction, convection and radiation. With more shortwave solar radiation received, there will be more heat emitted by the Earth’s surface as infrared longwave radiation, leading to more heat being transferred. Hence, the more the amount of insolation an area receives, the higher its temperature. Temperature can vary across

In this essay, I will be discussing three factors that determine the pattern of temperature variation - latitude, cloud cover, and altitude. These factors affect the amount of insolation a location receives, therefore affecting its temperature. However, latitude is the most important factor as it affect temperature variation to a bigger extent as compared to the other factors using scale as the weighting criteria. Scale is defined as how big the temperature change of an area is where the temperature variation will be affected by these factors.

Latitude is one of the factors that affects temperature variation. Latitude is the distance in degrees to the north and south of the Equator. At higher latitude, the location has a lower temperature as the insolation received is more diffuse. As the angle of incidence is lower at higher latitudes, insolation spreads over a larger surface area and is more diffuse as compared to locations at lower latitude. Also, the Sun’s rays travel through a longer distance of atmosphere at higher latitudes, in which some of the insolation may be reflected or absorbed by atmosphere, resulting in less insolation reaching the Earth’s surface. These