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As air flows over mountain barriers, orographic lift can create a variety of cloud effects. Orographic fog is formed as the air rises up the slope and will often envelope the summit. When the air is humid, some of the moisture will fall on the windward slope and on the summit of the mountain.
Effect of a rain shadow The Tibetan Plateau (center), perhaps the best example of a rain shadow. Rainfalls from the southern South Asian monsoon do not make it far past the Himalayas (seen by the snow line at the bottom), leading to an arid climate on the leeward (north) side of the mountain range and the desertification of the Tarim Basin (top).
Tectonic–climatic interaction is the interrelationship between tectonic processes and the climate system. The tectonic processes in question include orogenesis, volcanism, and erosion, while relevant climatic processes include atmospheric circulation, orographic lift, monsoon circulation and the rain shadow effect.
Wind and moist air are drawn by the prevailing winds towards the top of the mountains, condensing and precipitating before it crosses the top. In an effect opposite that of orographic lift, the air, without much moisture left, advances behind the mountains, creating a drier side called the "rain shadow". [citation needed]
An orographic map of Eastern Siberia from 1875 by Peter Kropotkin. Orography is the study of the topographic relief of mountains, [1] and can more broadly include hills, and any part of a region's elevated terrain. [2] Orography (also known as oreography, orology, or oreology) falls within the broader discipline of geomorphology. [3]
World leaders are meeting in Paris this month in what amounts to a last-ditch effort to avert the worst ravages of climate change. Climatologists now say that the best case scenario — assuming immediate and dramatic emissions curbs — is that planetary surface temperatures will increase by at least 2 degrees Celsius in the coming decades.
In South America, the Andes mountain range blocks Pacific Ocean winds and moisture that arrives on the continent, resulting in a desert-like climate just downwind across western Argentina. [9] The Sierra Nevada range creates the same drying effect in North America, causing the Great Basin Desert, [10] Mojave Desert, and Sonoran Desert.
Climate change will push snow higher in California's Sierra Nevada by the second half of the century, bringing more winter rain and faster mountain runoff. Snowpack predicted to retreat in ...