Making and Understanding Climatographs

Simple and Complex Climatographs

Todays Objective

Identify distinctive climatic characteristics of the 8 terrestrial biomes

What makes biomes different?

There are 4 key differences between biomes:◦Elevation (altitude)◦Latitude◦Temperature◦Precipitation

We call these factors abiotic factorsAbiotic factors are non-living physical

characteristics of the environment

Climatographs

A climatograph is a graph that displays the characteristics of a two of the abiotic components of a biome:◦Temperature◦Precipitation (rain, snow, mist, fog)

There are two types of climatograph:◦Complex Climatographs◦Simple Climatographs

Complex Climatographs

How do I read this graph?

If you are given the a range or an average of temperature and/or precipitation and asked to find the corresponding biome…◦Find the point on the graph where the average

temperature and precipitation intersect (cross) OR

◦Draw a line along the first and second point on the range, see which biome is sandwiched in between and touching the two lines

Use the complex climatograph in your textbook to answer the following questions

Complex Climatographs

Try it!

Which biome has an average annual precipitation of 175 cm and an average annual temperature of 5 C?◦Boreal Forest

Which biome ranges in temperature from 0 C to 20 C and receives about 100 cm of rain? ◦Temperate Deciduous Forest

Which biome has a low average annual precipitation and an average annual temperature that ranges between -18 C and -8 C? ◦Tundra

Which biome has a high average annual precipitation and an average annual temperature of 15 C? ◦Temperate Rainforest

Simple Climatographs

Parts of a Climatograph

At the top is a title showing the locationThe left scale shows the precipitationThe right scale shows the temperatureThe bottom list the 12 months

◦All sides are clearly labelled and show units!Average monthly temperatures are drawn

using a line with a dot for each monthAverage monthly precipitation is shown by

drawing a bar above each month

Try to answer these questions!

What is the average precipitation during the month of June for Wellington, NZ?◦~82 mm

What is the average precipitation during the month of December?◦~138 mm

What is the average temperature during July?◦16 °C

Assignment

Your job is to create a BEAUTIFUL simple climatograph for your biome◦This climatograph can be used for your Biome

BoxAt the front of the class is climate data for a

location in each of the biomes and a graphTake the data for YOUR biome, and use it to

create your climatographInstructions are written on the handout