UNIT 2.

RELIEF AND CLIMATE

5 primary/ Social Science

Pedro Antonio López Hernández
Colegio La Presentación de Granada
 WEATHER
Weather is what the atmosphere is like in an place at a particular time. Meteorologists explain what the weather Will be
during the next few days.
* Weather can be
rainy, snowy, cloudy,
THE ELEMENTS OF WEATHER foggy or sunny. *

1. THE WIND 2. ATMOSPHERIC

PRESSURE 3. TEMPERATURE 4. PRECIPITATION
Moving air makes
wind. We measure it This is how much of This is how hot or This is the water that
with: the air´s weight cold the air is. falls to Earth from
pushes on Earth the atmosphere
during the water
cycle.
Weather vane Anemometer Thermometer
Barometer

It shows the It measures It measures It meisures Rain gauge

wind´s the wind´s atmospheric temperatura
direction speed in pressure in in degrees.
(N, S, W, E;) km/hour. millibars. It measures
rainfall in
mililitres.
 CLIMATE
It is the typical weather of a region for a long period of time. To study the climate, scientists study the elements of weather for at least
thirty years. They record them on a climate graph so we can see the typical weather in a place throughout the year.

Climate graphs
represent the
temperatures
and precipitation
of an area
during an entire
year.

One side marks degrees centigrade ( ºC). We use The other side marks millimetres. We use this side
The months of the year are at the
this side to measure the temperature with red dots to measure the precipitation with blue bars.
bottom of the graph.
and connect them with a line.
 CLIMATE FACTORS

There are different factors that influence climate

ALTITUDE

The higher a place is above sea level, the colder it

is. That is why it is colder in the mountains than on
the coast.

LATITUDE

The Sun´s rays are stronger

the closer they are to the
equator. The further we are
from the equator, the
colder it gets.

This is why the poles are the

coldest places on Earth.
DISTANCE FROM THE SEA

The sea absorbs the Sun´s

heat and then loses it slowly.
This is why the coast has
mild, stable temperatures.
 EARTH CLIMATE ZONES They are areas of Earth that have similar climates, temperatures and precipitation
each year.

1. POLAR ZONES

They are near the

poles and in the
mountains. They
have low
temperatures all 3. TEMPERATE ZONES
year round. The little
precipitation they There are two of them
get during the year is on either side of the
the form of snow. tropical zone. Their
temperatures are
between 0 ºC and 20 ºC,
depending on whether it
is winter or summer.
2. TROPICAL ZONES Europe is in a temperate
zone with many groves
They are along the and forests.
equator. They have
high temperatures, but
different
precipitations. Jungles,
savannahs and
deserts are all in
tropical areas but they
don´t have the same
amount of
precipitation.
 THE CLIMATE IN SPAIN In Spain, there are different climates due to landscape, altitude and the
distance from the sea.

4. MOUNTAIN CLIMATE

1.OCEANIC CLIMATE • Precipitation: Snow in winter

and rain in summer.
• Precipitation: Constant • Temperature: Cold winters
except in summer. and cool summer.
• Temperature: Mild all • Vegetation: Pyrenees fir,
year round. scrubland, grass.
• Vegetation: Chestnut,
oak, beech, heather,
ferns. 5. INLAND
MEDITERRANEAN

• Precipitation: Little,
mainly in spring and
autumn.
• Temperature: Long, cold
winters and short, hot
summer.
2. SUBTROPICAL • Vegetation: Chestnut,
holm oak, scrubland,
CLIMATE
pine.
• Precipitation: Little,
more frequent in 3. COASTAL MEDITERRANEAN
the north.
• Temperature: Mild • Precipitation: Little and irregular,
and warm all year sometimes torrential.
round. • Temperature: Mild winters and hot
• Vegetation: summers.
Canary Island pine, • Vegetation: Holm oak, cork oak and pine.
oak and fir.
 Spanish rivers are very different according to the landscape or the climate they are
THE RIVERS OF SPAIN found in. Depending of the sea or ocean, that they flow into, the rivers can be grouped
together in WATERSHEDS.

RIVERS IN THE CANTABRIAN WATERSHED: They are short rivers. They

have a high and regular volume of water.
The most important are: BIDASOA, NAVIA, NARCEA and NERVIÓN.

RIVERS IN THE
RIVERS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN
ATLANTIC WATERSHED: WATERSHED:
- The GUADALQUIVIR and - The most important are
the rivers that cross the the TER, LLOBREGAT,
MESETA CENTRAL, like TURIA JÚCAR, SEGURA
the Duero, Tajo or and ALMANZORA.
Guadiana:
- They are long - They are short
rivers. rivers.
- Their volume of - They have a low
water is irregular and irregular
because it goes volume of water.
down a lot in *. The EBRO is the only
summer. exception because it is the
longest and the largest river
- The ATLANTIC RIVERS of in Spain. It is the heaviest
the northeast: the TAMBRE, water flow.
ULLA and MIÑO.
 THE RELIEF OF SPAIN Relief is the shape of Earth´s surface. Spain has a diverse land relief.

ARCHIPELAGOS

PLATEAUS Spain has two

groups of
The MESETA CENTRAL is a great archipelagos:
elevated plain that take up the ISLAS CANARIAS
centre of the Iberian Peninsula. (Atlantic ocean)
with the highest
It is divided into two part: mount in Spain,
SUBMESETA NORTE and SUBMESETA the TEIDE and
SUR. ISLAS BALEARES
(Mediterranean
Sea)
DEPRESSIONS

They are areas of low land crossed by

rivers.

- The DEPRESIÓN DEL EBRO.

- The DEPRESIÓN DEL GUADALQUIVIR MOUNTAINS
SURROUNDING THE
MESETA
MOUNTAINS WITHIN THE MESETA
The SISTEMA
The SISTEMA CENTRAL and the MONTES
MOUNTAINS OUTSIDE THE MESETA IBÉRICO, SIERRA
DE TOLEDO. MORENA and the
The PIRINEOS and the SISTEMAS BÉTICOS. They are the youngest CORDILLERA
The Sistema Central is the mountain
and the highest mountains in the Iberian Peninsula. CANTÁBRICA
range that divides the Meseta en two
parts.
 CLIMATE CHANGE
In the last few decades, human activities have increased the amount of heat-trapping gases.
Global warming
This causes the atmosphere to store more heat than usual, raising Earth´s temperatures.

Intensive farming, industry and the

excessive use of fossil fuels are adding SIGNS AND CONSEQUENCES OF GLOBAL WARNING
heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere.
This is the global warming.
1. The warming of the Earth´s
poles makes the ice melt, 2. Rising temperatures create
which raises the level of our drought and desertification.
oceans.

The higher sea levels will Plants and animals will not be
flood our coasts. able to adapt to it and will
die out.
 CAUSES AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO THE CLIMATE CHANGE

Decreasing some of our negative activities can help stop climate change.

1. FOSSIL FUELS 3. WASTE AND RUBBISH

Factories and means of transport They create enormous amounts of

burn them, adding extra heat- methane when they decompose.
trapping gases like carbon
dioxide to the atmosphere.

4. INTESIVE FARMING
2. DEFORESTATION
Crop fertilisers and the gases created
Trees help turn carbon dioxide into
by farm animals when they digest
oxygen. Cutting them down
food are also harmful to the
increases the carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere.
atmosphere.