Tell the rest of the class what your group thinks
Revision
Ex. 1. Fill the spaces,
a) using ten of the words listed below. No word can be used twice.
The attempt to understand what (1) ___have caused climatic change (2) ___ the last two hundred years requires a knowledge of climate before this time, (3) ___ reliable weather records in Europe do not go back (4) ___ further (5) ___ that length of time. Studying historical documents is one way of building up a picture of (6) ___ the weather was like (7) ___ year to year, but there are several others. Three rings,
(8) ___example, show (9) ___ much the tree grew in a summer. The better the summer, (10) ___more the tree grows.
| although as can during for from how may much than the that through what while |
b) using any prepositions.
1. Tropical cyclones or hurricanes may be responsible (1) ___enormous changes within regions where they occur.
2. The strength of the breeze depends (2) ___ temperature contrasts between the land and adjacent water.
3. Topographic features may influence (3) ___climates (4) ___very significant ways.
4. Obviously, continuous high barriers have more pronounced influences (5) ___ climate than discontinuous and lower barriers.
5. The proximity (6) ___ water and its modifying influence reduce the range (7) ___ temperatures (8) ___ season (9) ___season.
6. The general distribution of temperature is based mainly (10) ___ the amount (11) ___ solar energy.
7. Light precipitation may result (12) ___ crop failure, whereas an abundance (13) ___ moisture may result (14) ____ flooding.
8. After a rather long spell (15) ___ warm weather a considerable drop (16) ___ temperature is expected.
9. The climate is influenced (17) ___ ocean currents.
10. Occasional sleet showers are expected (18) ___ places.
11. There have also been some isolated hail storms (19) ___ places.
Ex. 2. Complete the sentences below with the most suitable word in the context. Only one answer is correct.
1. I am going to listen to the weather ... .
a) forecast
b) prediction
c) prevision
d) prospect
2. There will be occasional … of rain in the north.
a) drizzles
b) occurrences
c) outbreaks
d) storms
3. There is evidence that the weather has become more … in recent years.
a) seasonal
b) unequal
c) unsteady
d) unstable
4. In some parts of the country there has been no rain for five years, the longest period of … we have ever known.
a) desert
b) drought
c) drought
d) famine
5. … showers are expected in western districts.
a) Dispersed
b) Scattered
c) Spread
d) Separated
6. It’s an ... situation. I’ve never known anything like it.
a) inexperienced
b) initial
c) unprepared
d) unprecedented
7. It was impossible to work in the ... heat.
a) stifling
b) strangling
c) sweating
d) suppressing
8. We didn’t feel the cold, because we were well ... up.
a) clothed
b) dressed
c) packed
d) wrapped
9. I was out in the pouring rain all evening. When I got home I was ... to the skin.
a) dripped
b) drowned
c) soaked
d) sunk
10. When we had visited all the neighbours, we ... back to the village.
a) aimed
b) directed
c) headed
d) set
Ex. 3. Fill in the text with the appropriate word from the box.
| sunshine enjoy annual extremes (2) variation vary | rainfall average precipitation range maritime changeable | averages rain shadow moderate (2) altitude experience Northern Hemisphere | snowfalls temperate occur moist heavy |
Climate
New Zealand has an oceanic climate, without (1)_____ of heat and cold. The yearly (2)_____ of temperatures is quite small, with about 100C (3)_____ between winter and summer. New Zealand enjoys long hours of (4)_____ throughout the year. In winter the South Island mountains and central North Island have heavy (5)_____. Seasons are the reverse of the (6)___ ___. Most parts of the country (7)_____ ample sunshine and (8)_____, although the weather is (9)_____.
Rainfall is generally (10)_____ to abundant. The (11)_____ rainfall (5600mm) (12)_____ around Milford Sound on the southwestern coast of South Island. The (13)_____ temperature at Wellington (14)_____ between 200C in January and 60C in July; the average rainfall is 1230 mm. In Auckland, the (15)_____ in January and July are 230C and 80C, respectively; the (16)___ rainfall is 1850.
In parts of the Southern Alps, (17)_____ totals approximately 1200 mm. But east of the mountains, there is a marked (18)_____ . For the country as a whole, rainfall approaches 2030 mm, but most settled areas (19)_____ between 640 and 1520 mm. Snow is common only in the mountains. Temperatures are (20)_____, with no great (21)_____ except in limited areas of high (22)_____ . So, New Zealand has a (23)_____, (24)_____, and (25)_____ climate.
Ex. 4. Translate the text into Russian (in writing).
Weather maps
The earliest weather map was published by Edmund Halley as far back as in 1688, but it was not until the Great Exhibition of 1851 that a map was published showing the simultaneous readings of weather elements at various places. From these earliest maps there evolved very rapidly a standardized system of representation which is familiar to most newspaper readers. The weather map usually shows on an outline chart, or on a contoured chart of geographical features, a group of figures and letters, with one or two pictorial symbols, placed against each of the dots which indicate the positions of weather-reporting stations. These symbols tell – short-hand fashion – the weather at that particular place at the hour which is, as far as possible, the same for all the places concerned. The most important element recorded is the height of the barometer.
Probably the next most important element to be depicted is the wind. The direction is shown by an arrowshaft traveling with the wind into the observing station, the strength of the wind being denoted by the number of bards on the arrow. The other elements written in give the change of barometric pressure in the last three hours telling the forecaster whether “the glass” is steady, or rising, or falling, the temperature of the air and its dew-point, the range of visibility, type of cloud together with its amount and approximate height, and whether it is and has been in the recent past fine, or raining, or foggy, or thundery, etc.
The forecaster’s main business is to answer the following questions: What type of weather is associated with the prevailing pressure distribution? How will they develop as they move? What will the influence be of local geographical conditions on their general behaviour?
Like children, the weather does not always “behave” as expected; the solution of the forecasters’ problems cannot, therefore, be arrived at by applying a set of stereotyped formulae: experience based on keen observation must play a large part in any success which the professional achieves.
Ex. 5. Translate into English.
I
1. На берегах Средиземного моря, защищенного с севера горами, средние январские температуры составляют 5-100С тепла.
2. К восточному берегу материка подходит теплое течение, которое уменьшает ежегодные колебания температур.
3. Встречая на своем пути нагорье, влажные воздушные массы оставляют значительную часть влаги на их склонах.
4. На климат умеренного пояса Тихоокеанского побережья влияют западные ветры умеренных широт, приносящие с океана много влаги.
5. Морской климат является умеренным и не испытывает больших перепадов ни дневных, ни годовых температур.
6. В основе климатической классификации используемой в этом пособии лежит система, разработанная Владимиром Кеппеном. (to establish, Wladimir Kőppen)
7. Тропические циклоны имеют различные имена, в зависимости от части света, в которой они происходят.
8. Защищенное от холодных ветров Южное побережье характеризуется мягкой зимой и жарким летом.
9. Вдоль западного побережья с юга на север, почти до экватора, проходит мощное холодное Перуанское течение, сильно охлаждающее воздух прибрежных районов и не способствующее образованию осадков.
10. На севере Китая часть зимних осадков выпадает в виде снега, причем их количество увеличивается с широтой и высотой.
11. При классификации климатов может использоваться любая доступная (available) информация об атмосферных условиях, но температура и количество выпадаемых осадков применяются наиболее часто.
II
Климат Беларуси формируется под влиянием факторов, которые воздействуют на климат всей Восточно-европейской равнины. Главной среди них являются: географическое положение (широта) и рельеф. Особенности климата определяются положением страны в умеренных широтах, близость Атлантического океана, отсутствия природных барьеров на пути движения воздушных масс – морских с запада, континентальных – с востока и юго-востока.
В умеренных широтах преобладает западное движение воздушных масс, поэтому в Белоруссии чаще наблюдаются западные, северо-западные и юго-западные ветры, приносящие достаточное количество осадков. Осадки выпадают в виде дождя или снега. Их количество достигает 550-650мм в год, а в некоторых местах до 700мм!
Годовая амплитуда температур сравнительно небольшая: от 230 до 26,50. Температура воздуха в республике характеризуется значительной изменчивостью, поэтому среднегодовые температуры дают только общее представление о температурном режиме (temperature regime, temperature conditions).
Таким образом, климат Беларуси умеренно-континентальный, с мягкими зимами и частыми оттепелями, с дождливым и не горячим летом, а также с продолжительным вегетационным периодом.
Project Writing
Choose one of the topics below and write a composition of about 500 words. Use the paragraph plan to help you organize your work. Before you write, ask your teacher about any words and phrases you need.
Topic 1: The most extraordinary weather I have ever encountered.
Paragraph 1:
What are the most extreme weather conditions you have experienced? Where did this experience occur?
Paragraph 2:
What time of year was it? Was there any warning of what happened? Had the conditions been forecast?
Paragraph 3:
Were you indoors or outdoors? What did you do?
Paragraph 4:
How long did these conditions last? What replaced them? How did you feel?
Topic 2: Write a story in which the weather reflects a person’s mood.
Writers often use what is called ‘the pathetic fallacy’, where the weather reflects the feelings of the characters. Decide what kind of mood you want to convey and then describe the scene. Remember that the mood can change and so a stormy day can end in sunshine.
Active Vocabulary
aggregaten совокупность
annual a (syn. yearly) ежегодный
current n поток, течение
ocean ~ океаническое течение
air ~ воздушный поток
drought n засуха
elevation n высота
experience v испытывать
exposev выставлять, подвергать действию
extreme n крайность
extremea предельный, чрезмерный
forecastn прогноз
weather ~прогноз погоды
forecastv (forecast, forecasted) предвидеть, предсказывать
hemisphere n полушарие
the Northern (Southern) ~ северное (южное) полушарие
humidityn влажность
influence (smth.) v влиять (на)
influencen воздействие
latitude n широта
high ~ s высокие широты внутри Северного и южного полярных кругов (66,5 0C. ш. и ю. ш.)
horse ~s конские широты (районы высокого атмосферного давления и штилей)
low ~ s низкие широты или тропические широты (тропики), лежащие между тропиком Рака (23,5 0 с.ш.) и тропиком Козерога (23,50 ю. ш.)
mid (dle)~ s средние широты (23,5 0 – 66,50 с. ш. и ю.ш.)
locationn местоположение, местонахождение
moderate v смягчать
moderate a (syn. temperate) умеренный
moisturen влажность, сырость; влага
occurv происходить, встречаться, возникать, иметь место
precipitationn выпадение осадков; осадки
annual ~ годовое количество осадков
heavy ~ обильные осадки
range n предел, амплитуда
range v (from… to…)колебаться в известных пределах (от… до…)
receivev получать, принимать
(be) responsible (for) обусловливать
shower n ливень
developing ~начинающиеся ливни
light (heavy)~ небольшой дождь,(сильный ливень)
occasional ~кратковременный ливень
remaining ~остаточные ливни
scattered ~местами ливни
sleet ~сильный дождь со снегом
snow ~метель
thundery ~дождь с грозой
sleet n дождь со снегом
spell n короткий промежуток времени
a long ~ of fine weather продолжительный период хорошей погоды
variation n изменение, перемена, колебание
seasonal ~ годовая амплитуда
vary v (from… to…) изменяться (от… до…)
trade wind пассат
westerlyзападные ветры
Additional Reading
Climatic Change
Weather we expect to vary, both from day to day and from season to season. Nor are we surprised when one year has a colder winter or a drier summer than the one before. Less familiar are changes in climate. Even though climate represents averages in weather conditions over periods of, say, 20 or 30 years, there is abundant evidence that it, too, is not constant but instead undergoes quite marked fluctuations over long spans of time. The most dramatic such fluctuations were the ice ages of the past.
The last ice age reached its peak about 20,000 years ago when huge ice sheets hundreds of meters thick in places covered much of Europe and North America. Then the ice began to retreat and climates became progressively less severe; in a period of 12,000 years the average annual temperature of central Europe rose from -4°C to +9°C (24°F to 48°F). By about 6,000 years ago average temperatures were a few degrees higher than those of today. A time of declining temperatures then set in, reaching a minimum in Europe between 2,500 and 3,000 years ago.
A gradual warming up followed that came to a peak between 1,200 and 800 years ago; so generally fine were climatic conditions then that the Vikings established flourishing colonies in Iceland and Greenland from which they went on to visit North America. The subsequent deterioration led to cool summers, exceptionally cold winters, and extensive freezing of the Arctic Sea from 700 to 300 years ago. So extreme was the weather about 350 years ago that it has been called the "Little Ice Age." Greenland became a much less attractive place than formerly and the colony there disappeared, the coast of Iceland was surrounded by ice for several months per year (in contrast to a few weeks per year today), and glaciers advanced farther across alpine landscapes than ever before or since in recorded history.
Fig.1. Changes in worldwide average annual temperatures since 1880.
Five-year averages are plotted.
During the last century a trend toward higher temperatures became evident which has led to a marked shrinkage of the world's glaciers. In the first half of this century especially pronounced temperature increases took place whose most noticeable consequences were milder winters in the higher latitudes. In Spitzbergen, for instance, January temperatures averaged from 1920 to 1940 were nearly 8°C (14°F) higher than those averaged from 1900 to 1920, and Greenland became less inhospitable than before. Alas, these balmy conditions seem to have peaked about 1945, and since then the worldwide average annual temperature has been falling steadily (Fig. 1). The total drop in the past 30 years has been less than 0.5°C, which does not seem like very much, but the effects have been dramatic. What has happened has been a shift toward the equator of the various wind and climatic zones. In the Northern Hemisphere this shift has had a variety of effects. Siberia is growing colder as the polar front moves south. The northern rim of Africa, formerly in the dry zone of the horse latitudes, now receives unaccustomed rain as the cyclonic weather systems of the westerlies sometimes sweep over it. The horse latitudes have moved farther south, depriving vast areas of sub-Sahara Africa, the Middle East, India, and southern Asia of the moist tropical air that formerly brought them abundant rain. Famines have been the result. In North America, the pattern of air flow has changed so as to bring colder winters and more precipitation to western states.
Origin of Climatic Change
What causes climates to change? So many different factors influence climate that there is no shortage of possible explanations. One train of thought blames mankind for the temperature fluctuations of Fig. 1. The initial temperature rise is attributed to an increase in the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere. Both the biologic and oceanic cycles are, on the average, balanced in their consumption and production of carbon dioxide. But there are also sources of carbon dioxide that have no absorption processes to counter their effects. The most significant of these sources is the burning of coal and
oil by man to produce heat for dwellings and mechanical energy for industry and transportation. At present our chimneys and exhaust pipes pour about 12 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year into the atmosphere, and this rate is rapidly increasing. Since 1880 the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere has gone up by 12 percent (Fig. 2). Despite the relatively small proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere—only 330 parts per million—it is a most significant constituent because of its ability to absorb solar energy reradiated by the earth and thus to contribute to the greenhouse effect that provides energy to the atmosphere.
Fig.2. The carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere since 1860.
The cooling of the atmosphere since 1945 must have a different explanation since the carbon dioxide content has continued to increase. The culprit here is thought by some scientists to be dust at high altitudes which scatters a portion of the incoming sunlight back into space. The chief natural source of airborne dust is volcanic eruptions. Man's contribution comes from the chimneys of industry, large-scale burning of tropical forests to clear land for agriculture, and soil particles blown away during mechanical cultivation. There is no question that a sufficiently large increase in atmospheric dust would lead to the observed general cooling of the atmosphere—but just how large an increase is needed and whether it has in fact occurred are not known, nor are the relative importances of the different dust sources.
Another point of view attributes climatic change to variations in the solar energy arriving at the top of the atmosphere, not to events within the atmosphere. (Of course, the carbon dioxide and dust contents of the atmosphere play a role in climate: the issue is which influences are primary and which are secondary.) The sun's radiation is not constant but fluctuates through the 11-year sunspot cycle, and a number of weather phenomena apparently follow a similar cycle. Perhaps there are long-term variations in solar output as well. Also, periodic changes in the earth's orbit bring it exceptionally close to and far from the sun from time to time. But does the radiation reaching the earth vary enough when this happens to produce the drastic climatic changes known to have taken place in the past, notably the ice ages? The puzzle of climatic change remains one of the most challenging in earth science.
Ocean Currents
The existence of different climates is due to the variation with latitude and season of the solar radiation arriving at the earth. This affects climate both directly, through the heating effect of the radiation, and indirectly, through the general circulation of the atmosphere that results. A secondary but nevertheless important element is the influence of the oceans.
The oceans affect climate in two ways. First, they act as reservoirs of heat which moderate the temperature extremes of the seasons. In spring and summer the oceans are cooler than the regions bordering them, since the heat they absorb is dissipated in a greater volume than in the case of solid, opaque land. The heat retained in the ocean depths means that in fall and winter the oceans are warmer than the regions bordering them. Heat flows readily between moving air and water; with a sufficient temperature difference, the rate of energy transfer from warm water to cold air (or from warm air to cold water) can exceed the rate at which solar energy arrives at the top of the atmosphere. With no such heat reservoir nearby, continental interiors experience lower winter temperatures and higher summer temperatures than those of coastal districts. In Canada, for instance, temperatures in the city of Victoria on the Pacific Coast range from an average January minimum of 36 °F to an average July maximum of 68 °F, whereas in Winnipeg, in the interior, the corresponding figures are — 8°F and 80°F.
Also influencing climate are surface drifts in the oceans produced by the friction of wind on water. Such drifts are much slower than movements in the atmosphere, with the fastest normal surface currents having speeds of about 7 mi/h.
The wind-impelled surface currents parallel to a large extent the major wind systems. The northeast and southeast trade winds drive water before them westward along the equator, forming the equatorial current. In the Atlantic Ocean this current runs head on into South America, in the Pacific into the East Indies. At each of these, points the current divides into two parts, one flowing south and the other north. Moving away from the equator along the continental margins, these currents at length come under the influence of the westerlies, which drive them eastward across the oceans. Thus gigantic whirlpools called gyres are set up in both Atlantic and Pacific Oceans on either side of the equator. Many complexities are produced in the four great gyres by islands, continental projections, and undersea mountains and valleys.
Currents also occur deep in the ocean, though their speeds are usually slower than those of surface currents. In the polar regions of both hemispheres cold water sinks because of its greater density and flows toward the equator several miles below the surface. These cold currents keep tropical waters cooler than they otherwise would be, and they also bring oxygen to the lower depths of the ocean which enables plant and animal life to occur there.
Thus the oceans, besides acting as water reservoirs for the earth's atmosphere, play a direct part in temperature control—both by preventing abrupt temperature changes in lands along their borders and by aiding the winds, through the motion of ocean currents, in their distribution of heat and cold over the surface of the earth.
Check your understanding.
1. Why are there different climates?
2. How do oceans affect climate?
3. What is the speed of the surface drifts in the ocean?
4. What is a gyre?
5. What influence do cold currents have on tropical waters?
UNIT VII
| LAND FORMS |
Reading Material
Text A
Task