1: What is the difference between regional climate and microclimate?
regional climate is the general climatic conditions of the locality that plants and animals inhabit, but it does not describe the actual climate in which they live. Microclimate is the climate of a small area that is different from the area around it.
2: Why is vegetation important in climate?
Altering wind movement, evaporation, moisture, and soil temperatures, vegetation influences the microclimate of an area, especially near the ground.
3: What are impervious surfaces? How can impervious surface affect local climates?
A hard surface area that either prevents or retards the entry of water into the soil mantle as under natural conditions prior to development. Impervious surfaces can also affect the temperature of the region
4: What is an urban environment?
People often define urban areas, or cities, as land occupied by buildings and other structures used for residences and institutional and industrial sites
5: What is a suburban environment?
Those on the outskirts of cities
6: What is a rural environment?
Large amounts of land with significantly lower populations than urban or suburban areas
7: What is an urban heat island? Explain.
Changes occur in their landscape. Buildings, roads, and other infrastructure replace open land and vegetation. The changes cause urban regions to become warmer than their rural surroundings, forming an "island" of higher temperatures in the landscape.
8: Why do we care about urban heat islands? What do they do to urban environments?
Heat islands can affect communities by increasing summertime peak energy demand, air conditioning costs, air pollution and greenhouse gas emission, heat-related illness and mortality, and water quality.
9: What can be done about the urban heat island effect?
Increasing tree and vegetative cover, creating green roofs, using cool or green pavements, installing cool or reflective roofs.
10: What are green roofs and what are their advantages?
Green roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and soil, or a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. Economic advantages, air quality, water quality, heat dissipation.
11: What is a cool pavement?
reducing the urban heat island effect
12: What is a pervious pavement? What is the advantage?
Pervious pavements can be made of concrete, asphalt, open-celled stones, and gravel, that are mixed in a manner that creates an open cell structure allowing water and air to pass through. Vegetation is watered, reducing the need for irrigation, ground water is recharged, water resources are preserved, stormwater runoff is reduce, 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.
Temperatures in urban areas tend to be higher than those in rural areas. Typically larger during the nighttime
B: Identify and describe TWO differences between urban and surrounding rural areas that
contribute to the temperature differences between them.
More asphalt, concrete and buildings in urban areas and fewer trees and vegetation. More trees, factories and machines.
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
Increased combustion from many machines, increased temperature, particulates, and greenhouse gases.
D: Identify and describe TWO actions that local governments in urban areas could take to
reduce air pollution.the cap-and-trade and tax on air pollution. A company need to buy good amount of water that they want so they can emit to the atmosphere. Taxing businesses can lower your budget and it will make you emit less greenhouse gases to save your money.
regional climate is the general climatic conditions of the locality that plants and animals inhabit, but it does not describe the actual climate in which they live. Microclimate is the climate of a small area that is different from the area around it.
2: Why is vegetation important in climate?
Altering wind movement, evaporation, moisture, and soil temperatures, vegetation influences the microclimate of an area, especially near the ground.
3: What are impervious surfaces? How can impervious surface affect local climates?
A hard surface area that either prevents or retards the entry of water into the soil mantle as under natural conditions prior to development. Impervious surfaces can also affect the temperature of the region
4: What is an urban environment?
People often define urban areas, or cities, as land occupied by buildings and other structures used for residences and institutional and industrial sites
5: What is a suburban environment?
Those on the outskirts of cities
6: What is a rural environment?
Large amounts of land with significantly lower populations than urban or suburban areas
7: What is an urban heat island? Explain.
Changes occur in their landscape. Buildings, roads, and other infrastructure replace open land and vegetation. The changes cause urban regions to become warmer than their rural surroundings, forming an "island" of higher temperatures in the landscape.
8: Why do we care about urban heat islands? What do they do to urban environments?
Heat islands can affect communities by increasing summertime peak energy demand, air conditioning costs, air pollution and greenhouse gas emission, heat-related illness and mortality, and water quality.
9: What can be done about the urban heat island effect?
Increasing tree and vegetative cover, creating green roofs, using cool or green pavements, installing cool or reflective roofs.
10: What are green roofs and what are their advantages?
Green roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and soil, or a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. Economic advantages, air quality, water quality, heat dissipation.
11: What is a cool pavement?
reducing the urban heat island effect
12: What is a pervious pavement? What is the advantage?
Pervious pavements can be made of concrete, asphalt, open-celled stones, and gravel, that are mixed in a manner that creates an open cell structure allowing water and air to pass through. Vegetation is watered, reducing the need for irrigation, ground water is recharged, water resources are preserved, stormwater runoff is reduce, 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.
Temperatures in urban areas tend to be higher than those in rural areas. Typically larger during the nighttime
B: Identify and describe TWO differences between urban and surrounding rural areas that
contribute to the temperature differences between them.
More asphalt, concrete and buildings in urban areas and fewer trees and vegetation. More trees, factories and machines.
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
Increased combustion from many machines, increased temperature, particulates, and greenhouse gases.
D: Identify and describe TWO actions that local governments in urban areas could take to
reduce air pollution.the cap-and-trade and tax on air pollution. A company need to buy good amount of water that they want so they can emit to the atmosphere. Taxing businesses can lower your budget and it will make you emit less greenhouse gases to save your money.