Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
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]
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.
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]
Orographic or relief rainfall is caused when masses of air are forced up the side of elevated land formations, such as large mountains or plateaus (often referred to as an upslope effect). The lift of the air up the side of the mountain results in adiabatic cooling with altitude, and ultimately condensation and precipitation.
The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification BWh and BWk) is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert climates are dry and hold little moisture, quickly evaporating the already little rainfall they receive.
On the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating. The movement of the monsoon trough, or Intertropical Convergence Zone, brings rainy seasons to savannah climes. The urban heat island effect leads to increased rainfall, both in amounts and intensity, downwind of cities.
Heating of solids, sunlight and shade in different altitudinal zones (Northern hemisphere) [5] A variety of environmental factors determines the boundaries of altitudinal zones found on mountains, ranging from direct effects of temperature and precipitation to indirect characteristics of the mountain itself, as well as biological interactions of the species.
Moisture is removed by orographic lift, leaving drier air (see foehn wind) on the descending and generally warming, leeward side where a rain shadow is observed. [24] In South America, the Andes mountain range blocks Pacific moisture that arrives in that continent, resulting in a desertlike climate just downwind across western Argentina. [25]