When the same village gets placed at a height of 2 meters feet on a plateau, it can be as cold as 3. Atmospheric air has weight. It is not empty but consists of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and other gases like carbon dioxide and methane.
It also contains small particles like dust and pollen. This fact alone will help to explain the relationship between altitude and air pressure.
At the surface of the planet, you have the whole weight of the atmosphere specifically the troposphere pressing down on you. The Earth's gravity is also at its strongest at surface level, causing the air particles close to the ground to compress the most.
As an object starts to gain altitude, the atmospheric pressure around it begins to decrease. It is as a result of two factors. Firstly, with an increase in height, the amount of air above the subject starts to lessen, meaning the weight of air pressing down on it gets less as well.
Secondly, the more altitude you gain, the further you are from the Earth's surface and its gravitational forces, so you experience less gravity. It allows the particles in the air to expand, which reduces the air pressure even further. In the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere , the atmospheric pressure is almost non-existent.
The lack of oxygen is what makes life at this altitude impossible, but the thin air also allows airliners to fly without much air resistance and above any unstable weather. As already mentioned earlier in this post, temperatures continue to decrease as altitude keeps increasing.
Atmospheric pressure also continues to drop with an increase in height. The combination of both processes contributes to locations at higher altitudes receiving a significantly higher amount of precipitation than low-lying regions.
Please note that sufficient moisture must be present in the air for any precipitation to take place. The type of precipitation, however, depends on how low the temperature has dropped when condensation takes place.
When condensation takes place while the temperature is above freezing point, precipitation is usually in the form of rain. When the water vapor condenses in sub-zero temperatures, though, it will be in the shape of snow or another solid form of water. Sometimes other factors such as physical barriers cause air to rise as well. The mountain effect is one such case. A change in the elevation of the physical terrain and not natural atmospheric processes forces air to gain altitude.
Wind forces moisture-filled air to rise against a mountain, condensate, and result in precipitation on the windward side of the mountain, with warm, dry air flowing down on the leeward side.
You can read all about this effect and how it occurs in this article. Many of the climate conditions that are a result of an increase in altitude were highlighted throughout this post. A summary of these different conditions will explain just what a crucial role altitude plays in establishing the climate of any location. The best way to summarize the key differences between regions separated by altitude is to list the different weather conditions each one experience. Just note that there are many other variables involved in forming the climate of any region.
As previously mentioned, these climate conditions can occur under a variety of conditions but are typical of the difference between locations at low and high altitudes. As this article clearly illustrated, altitude causes lower-lying areas to have a very different climate than regions situated at a high altitude. If you experience any of the climate conditions described at the associated altitude, you now know why.
How Does Altitude Affect Climate? Before we look at what the climate conditions are like at a location a few thousand feet above sea level and then contrast it against a similar environment at sea level, one needs to see how an increase in altitude affects the different weather variables: But first, one needs to address the difference between altitude and elevation. Altitude vs. The higher the elevation, the more difficult breathing becomes.
These two sections form the stratosphere. The stratosphere is a very stable air layer. Increasing temperature with increasing altitude is called an inversion.
What happens to temperature as altitude increases from 27 km to 45 km? It increases upto 40 km and then decreases. It increases.
As you climb a mountain, you can expect the air temperature to decrease by 6. This is called the standard average lapse rate. What this implies is that atmospheric pressure decreases with increasing height. The troposphere is the region closest to the ground, and the mesosphere is just above the ozone layer. The stratosphere is the layer in the atmosphere above the troposphere. The stratosphere reaches from the tropopause to a height of about 50 km. Temperature in the stratosphere rises with increasing altitude, because the ozone layer absorbs the greater part of the solar ultraviolet radiation.
The valley, so named by pioneers who barely survived its hostile landscape in the s, has seen many deaths over the years due to heatstroke and dehydration. Dehydration can cause disorientation and confusion which, in a vast, dry desert full of steep cliffs, can prove fatal. Even during spring and autumn the heat can be unbearable for most people. Animal life is varied, although nocturnal habits conceal many of the animals from visitors to the valley.
Rabbits and several types of rodents, including antelope ground squirrels, kangaroo rats, and desert wood rats, are present and are the prey of coyotes, kit foxes, and bobcats. The average annual precipitation in Death Valley is 2. Sunny skies are the norm in Death Valley, but winter storms and summer monsoons can bring cloud cover and rain. Wind is common in the desert, especially in the spring. Why is it called Death Valley? Death Valley was given its forbidding name by a group of pioneers lost here in the winter of Even though, as far as we know, only one of the group died here, they all assumed that this valley would be their grave.
Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home Social studies How does altitude affect temperature? Social studies. Ben Davis January 14, How does altitude affect temperature?
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