Measuring the weather

Your homework is to make a poster that describes Sydneys weather today.

Go to www.bom.gov.au
Scroll down to the maps icon and click on it.
Click on interactive weather and wave forecast maps.
Where it says area, choose NSW.

You can use this to look up the air pressure (surface pressure), rainfall, temperature, relative humidity and wind speed by
changing what you want the map to show, using the show button. You can work out the cloud cover for yourself!

(You need to click refresh every time you change to a different map.)

Your poster should describe the air pressure, rainfall (if any), temperature, humidity, wind speed and cloud cover using the
correct terminology, not just show a series of maps!

Measuring the weather

Your homework is to make a poster that describes Sydneys weather today.

Go to www.bom.gov.au
Scroll down to the maps icon and click on it.
Click on interactive weather and wave forecast maps.
Where it says area, choose NSW.

You can use this to look up the air pressure (surface pressure), rainfall, temperature, relative humidity and wind speed by
changing what you want the map to show, using the show button. You can work out the cloud cover for yourself!

(You need to click refresh every time you change to a different map.)

Your poster should describe the air pressure, rainfall (if any), temperature, humidity, wind speed and cloud cover using the
correct terminology, not just show a series of maps!

Measuring the weather

Your homework is to make a poster that describes Sydneys weather today.

Go to www.bom.gov.au
Scroll down to the maps icon and click on it.
Click on interactive weather and wave forecast maps.
Where it says area, choose NSW.

You can use this to look up the air pressure (surface pressure), rainfall, temperature, relative humidity and wind speed by
changing what you want the map to show, using the show button. You can work out the cloud cover for yourself!

(You need to click refresh every time you change to a different map.)

Your poster should describe the air pressure, rainfall (if any), temperature, humidity, wind speed and cloud cover using the
correct terminology, not just show a series of maps!
Measuring the weather

Factor What is it? Unit Equipment

Temperature

Humidity

Precipitation

Air pressure

Wind speed
 Synoptic Charts Symbols

Test your memory from last lesson! What do the following symbols mean?

\\\\

What happens when air pressure gets lower? (what usually happens and what is the worst-case
scenario?)

What kind of weather do high pressure systems bring?

Explain one way you can remember that air pressure decreases in a clockwise direction towards the
centre of a low pressure system
 SKILLS MASTER Low pressure system (L)air pressure decreases towards the centre
of the system. Intense low pressure systems are called cyclones. They
Isobarsare lines that join places of bring unsettled weather with cloud and rain. When air is warmed it
equal pressure. Air pressure is measured expands and rises causing low pressure. Surrounding air moves in to
in hectopascals (hPa). The air pressure take the place of the rising air. In the Southern Hemisphere, winds Wind speedis shown
here is 1014 hPa. spiral clockwise into low pressure systems. by feathers on the wind
direction line. Winds are
strongest where the
1012 isobars are close
L Darwin together. In this case the
High pressure
1014 10 wind speed in Townsville
system (H)Air 12
pressure increases is 14-23 km/hr.
towards the centre of the Port Hedland Townsville 10
12
system. High pressure Rainin the previous
Alice Springs
systems are also Carnarvon
Rockhampton 24 hours is shown
called anticyclones. using diagonal lines.
L
They bring settled Charleville
Brisbane
weather with clear skies. 1026 H Wind directionis shown
When air is cooled it H Perth by a line pointing to the
contracts and sinks Adelaide Sydney direction that the wind is
causing high pressure. Melbourne Canberra
Lord Howe Is coming from. Winds are
Air moves away from always named by the
24 20
high pressure. In the 10 10 16 direction they come from.
10 2 Hobart
Southern Hemisphere, 101 008 In this case the wind on
1
winds spiral 1004 L Lord Howe Is is a north-
anticlockwise out from 1000 easterly. Winds from the
high pressure systems. 996 south bring cooler weather.
WINDS RAINFALL Winds from the north bring
ISOBARS 1024
calm 24.32
MELBOURNE 33.41 warmer weather.Calm
COLD FRONT
NOON 1.14 42.51 Previous weather is shown by a
WARM FRONT 5.13 52.60 12 hours
9 OCTOBER 1992 circle (see Perth).
TROUGH 14.23 61.68

Cold frontis the front of a mass of cold air. As a cold front

passes over it brings a drop in temperature, change in wind Legendshows the time
direction, increase in wind speed and the chance of rain. and place where the chart
This front is moving north-east. It will pass over Perth in the was produced and provides
next 24 hours. a key to the symbols.

Activities Fieldwork
2 Individually or in groups, make your own weather recording
Knowledge instruments and use them to collect data in your local
1 Copy and complete the following table: environment.
3 Follow the eldwork guide on page 18 to devise your own
Weather element Instrument Units of weather research.
measurement
Skills
Temperature 4 What is the air pressure in:
% a Rockhampton b Adelaide c Perth?
5 What is the lowest air pressure shown?
Rainfall
6 What is the highest air pressure shown?
Anemometer
7 What is the wind speed and direction in:
Wind vane Compass points a Carnarvon b Port Headland c Rockhampton?
Air pressure 8 How many fronts are there on the map?
9 Which direction is the cold front south of Perth moving?
Observation
10 Name one place that received rainfall in the past 24 hours.

Unlocking the world 23

CLIMATE GRAPHS

1) Explain why precipitation is drawn as a bar graph and temperature as a line graph

2) Which month has the greatest precipitation?

3) What is the temperature range?

4) Which season has the highest rainfall?

5) Which hemisphere do you think Geoville is in? Why?

1) Complete the climate graph for Nadi.

2) Which season experiences the least precipitation?

3) What is the temperature range?

4) Describe the type of climate that would be experienced in December

 Label Water Cycle Diagram
Read the definitions below, then label the water cycle diagram.

Accumulation - the process in which water pools in large bodies (like oceans, seas and lakes).
Condensation - the process in which water vapor (a gas) in the air turns into liquid water. Condensing water forms clouds in the sky. Water drops that form
on the outside of a glass of icy water are condensed water. (This term appears twice in the diagram.)
Evaporation - the process in which liquid water becomes water vapor (a gas). Water vaporizes from the surfaces of oceans and lakes, from the surface of the
land, and from melts in snow fields.
Precipitation - the process in which water (in the form of rain, snow, sleet, or hail) falls from clouds in the sky.
Subsurface Runoff - rain, snow melt, or other water that flows in underground streams, drains, or sewers.
Surface Runoff - rain, snow melt, or other water that flows in surface streams, rivers, or canals.
Transpiration - the process in which some water within plants evaporates into the atmosphere. Water is first absorbed by the plant's roots, then later exits by
evaporating through pores in the plant.
 5.4
The water cycle

The water cycle describes how water is collected, purified and

distributed over the earth in an endless cycle. The water cycle is a
closed system because the same water has been circulating since the
earliest days of the planet. No water is added and none is taken away.
Within the system, water is always moving and always changingit
changes its form (such as ice and snow, liquid water and water vapour)
and its geographical location. The main processes involved in the
water cycle are shown in Figure 5.4a.
Figure 5.4b Snowflakes magnified.
The water cycle is powered by the suns energy and by gravity.
Solar energy evaporates water from the oceans, rivers, lakes, soil and
vegetation. Water changes from a liquid to a gas. About 84 per cent
of the water vapour in the atmosphere comes from the oceans. The
oceans cover about 71 per cent of the earths surface.
The amount of water vapour that can be held in the air depends on
its temperature. Warm air is able to hold more water vapour than cold
air. This means that the warmer tropical regions near the Equator
generally have more precipitation than the colder areas near the poles.
Winds, particularly those coming from over warmer ocean areas, can
transport moisture-laden air over long distances. This means that even water cycle The transfer of water
those areas with very little surface water will sometimes receive between various stgorages (such as
precipitation. oceans, lakes and the atmosphere)
through a variety of processes (such
As warm, moist air rises, it cools. This causes the water vapour to
as evaporation, condensation,
condense into tiny droplets that form clouds or fog. For precipitation precipitation and runoff)
to occur, air must contain small particles of dust, smoke, sea salt or
pollutants from factories and cars. It takes millions of tiny water

Evaporation: the conversion of Condensation: the conversion of water Transpiration: the loss of water
Precipitation: any liquid water into water vapour vapour into droplets of liquid water vapour from the leaves of plants
moisture reaching the
earths surface, including
Rain clouds
rain, sleet, hail, snow,
fog, dew and frost
Transpiration Transpiration
from plants Precipitation
Precipitation
Evaporation to land Precipitation

Evaporation
Precipitation
from land Surface runoff (rapid)
to ocean Evaporation
from Runoff
ocean

Surface runoff Inltration and

Runoff: the (rapid) percolation
movement of surface
water down slopes Groundwater movement (slow) Inltration: the
movement of water
Ocean storage into the soil
w)
Groundwater movement (slo Percolation: the movement of water down
through the soil to become groundwater

Figure 5.4a The water cycle.

Introducing physical environments 113

 Human
interactions with
the water cycle
Humans interact with the water cycle The total amount of water on earth is 1385 million cubic kilometres.
in a variety of ways: The amount of water vapour in the atmosphere represents just
building structures, such as levee 1/10 000 of the total volume of the earths surface water but is enough
banks, to protect farmland and to cover the earths land surface to a depth of 2.5 metres.
settlements from flooding The amount of water vapour transferred to the atmosphere by plants
storing water in dams in areas (in a process called evapotranspiration) is enough to meet the annual
where rainfall is unreliable water needs of 200 million people.
using canals and pipelines to Water covers 70.8 per cent of the earths surface, or 360 million
transport water from one area to square kilometres, with an average depth of 4 kilometres. Only 1.4 per
another cent of the earths water is fresh. Most of this is trapped in the polar
sinking wells and bores to extract ice caps and glaciers.
groundwater Eighty-seven per cent of the worlds precipitation falls over the
using water and gravity to oceans. Only 17 per cent reaches the land.
generate hydroelectricity Australia receives less precipitation than any other continent with the
using large bodies of water to exception of Antarctica. Australia receives an average of just 47
dilute various pollutants, such as centimetres, compared with 163 centimetres in South America and
dumping sewage into oceans more than 60 centimetres on the other continents. Most of this
clearing land for agriculture, evaporates. Only 10 per cent actually flows into the continents rivers.
mining and urban development. Although the salinity of the sea varies there are, on average, 25 grams
of salt in each litre of seawater.
Antarcticas massive ice fields hold 70 per cent of the earths
Foundation worksheet
5.2
freshwater supplies.
More than 30 per cent of the earths surface is covered by snow
during at least part of the year. About 10 per cent is permanently
covered by ice and snow.
The amount of water stored in polar ice and glaciers is 4.7 million
cubic kilometres.

droplets clinging to these small particles to produce a single drop of

1 What is the rain or a snowflake heavy enough to fall to the earths surface. About
water cycle? 77 per cent of all precipitation falls back into the sea. The rest falls
ater cycle
2 Why is the w closed on land.
referre d to as a
Some of the fresh water returning to the earths surface becomes locked
system? e? in glaciers and ice sheets. The rest either flows into lakes, rivers and
s the water cycl
3 What power streams, which eventually carry it back to the sea, or seeps into the
oration?
4 What is evap of ground, where it can be stored in layers of porous rock for thousands of
ines the amount
5 What determ th e ai r? years as groundwater. Saturated porous rock is called an aquifer. The
water vapour in
uator level to which the aquifer is filled is called the water table.
ons near the Eq r
6 Why do regi infall th an ot he
receive more ra
areas? process
is given to the
7 What name vapour is co nverted
by which water uid water?
liq
into droplets of
e w ha t ha ppens to
8 Describ ce it reaches the
precipitation on
. 1 Constructing diagrams a water molecule. Be creative.
earths surface
Construct your own drawing of The water molecule must take
the water cycle. On your on at least three different
5.4
UTT worksheet drawing, label the main forms; for example, liquid, solid
processes involved in the and vapour.
operation of the water cycle.
3 Writing task Write a report
2 Writing task Write a short outlining the ways people alter
story titled A day in the life of the water cycle (see Unit 2.15).


114 Global Explorations: Stage 4 Geography

 5.5
Ecosystems and food webs

Living organisms interact with each other and their non-living Interactions in
environment. The nature of these interactions determines the variety an ecosystem
of ecosystems that we studied in Unit 5.1. Each ecosystem has its own
Ecosystems get their energy from the
characteristic community of plants and animals that are adapted to a sun. The sun gives light and warmth to
particular set of environmental conditions. Ecosystems can exist at a plants and powers the processes that
variety of scales. On a local scale, for example, an ecosystem could be give us our weather and climate.
a small area of wetland. On a global scale, an ecosystem could, for Figure 5.5a shows the links between
example, be a forest community dominated by a particular type of tree, climate, plants, animals and soil, as
such as conifers or eucalypts. Global ecosystems are often referred to well as their links with solar energy and
as biomes. the earths surface. Each arrow in this
The variety of ecosystems on the earths surface depends mostly on illustration represents one set of
climatic differences. The main types of ecosystems on land are forests, interactions, and shows the effect that
one element has on another. For
example, plants influence the type of
soil found in an area. In turn, the soil
Solar energy type found in an area may favour
certain plants and particular plant
communities. An ecosystem may also
include birds that distribute seeds of a
plant, which, in turn, provides food and
shelter for other species of birds.

Climate

Plants Animals

Food chain The relationship between

living organisms where one organism
is dependent on another as a food
source.
Soil Food web The series of inter-
connected food chains within an
ecosystem.

1 What
does each
Earths surface ve?
ecosystem ha
e factors that
2 Outline th roduce the
interact to p ystems on
os
variety of ec
earth.
5.5
UTT worksheet
Figure 5.5a The major elements of an ecosystem and the interactions between them.

Introducing physical environments 115

 Extension worksheet grasslands and deserts. In general, areas of high rainfall have forest,
5.3
areas of medium rainfall have grasslands and areas of low rainfall have
deserts. Figure 5.5b shows how rainfall and temperature interact to
produce different types of ecosystems. Figure 5.5c shows how latitude
and height above sea level influence ecosystems.
120

110

100

90
Coniferous forest Deciduous forest Tropical rainforest
80
Average rainfall (centimetres per year)

70

60

50

Tundra Temperate grassland Tropical savanna

40

30

20

10

Cool desert Temperate desert Tropical desert

0
Cool Temperate Hot
Average temperature

Figure 5.5b Temperature and rainfall interact to produce different types of ecosystems.

Latitude Altitude
Mountain ice
and snow

Tundra (moss,
Coniferous forest lichen and herb

Tropical forest Deciduous forests

Tropical forests
Deciduous forest
Coniferous forests

Tundra
Polar ice (herbs, lichens
and snow and mosses)

Figure 5.5c Latitude and height above sea level are important factors in producing different ecosystems.

116 Global Explorations: Stage 4 Geography

 This unit looks at the operation of ecosystems and the types of
relationships that exist within them.

What are food chains?

Within every ecosystem there are food chains, made up of producers,
consumers and decomposers. A food chain (see Figure 5.5d) indicates
the flow of energy from the sun through to the various kinds of
animals in the ecosystem.
Producers
Plants are called the producers in an ecosystem because they produce
Figure 5.5e Caterpillar, an example of a
their own food. They do this by photosynthesis. They use energy from
herbivore (primary producer).
the sun to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars, starches and
cellulose (carbohydrates), producing oxygen as a byproduct.
Only plants and a few bacteria can produce their own food. All
other organisms are either consumers or decomposers. Animals and
humans are the most obvious examples of consumers.
Consumers
Herbivores are primary consumersthey eat only plants. Herbivores
include animals that graze on grass, birds that eat seeds, and animals
that browse on leaves. These herbivores are eaten by the secondary
consumerscarnivores (meat eaters). Some carnivores eat only herbi-
vores; others eat only other carnivores. Those animals and birds that
feed on other carnivores are called higher-level, or tertiary, consumers.
Examples of these are sharks, hawks and lions. They are said to be at
the top of the food chain. This is because the energy from the sun has Figure 5.5f Fungi, an example of a decomposer.

Figure 5.5d This food chain shows the transfer of energy and nutrients. The sun is the source of energy for all the levels of the biosphere, including
the decomposers that return the minerals to the producers.

Introducing physical environments 117


Figure 5.5g Lions are at the top of the savanna
grassland food chain. They are a tertiary
consumer.
Figure 5.5h Wood owls.
Figure 5.5i A simplified model of a food web. Real food webs are often much more complex and involve the interaction of smaller food chains.
Food webs also overlap, blurring the edges of an ecosystem.
118 Global Explorations: Stage 4 Geography
worked its way through the producers, the herbivores and the lower-
order carnivores before it reaches them.
Some animals (including pigs, cockroaches and humans) are both
herbivores and carnivores. They eat a mixture of plants and animals
and so are called omnivores.
Decomposers
Decomposers include many kinds of bacteria and fungi. Their function
in the food chain is to break down (decompose) the wood, leaves
and dead bodies of other living things, so that every living thing is
recycled.
This recycling means that there is no waste in an ecosystem. For
example, a mouse eats grain; an owl eats the mouse; a fox eats the owl.
Other grain, owls and foxes die naturally and their remains are broken
down by decomposers.
What are food webs?
Although a food chain shows in a simple way how energy moves
through different feeding levels in an ecosystem, it does not show all
the relationships. Each animal does not eat one type of plant or one
type of animal only. A food web shows the more complex interactions
between different food chains within an ecosystem (see Figure 5.5i).
Energy flows
At each level of the food chain or food web, energy passes from one
organism to another. The energy for plants comes from the
carbohydrates produced by photosynthesis; the energy for animals
comes from eating plants and other animals. Most of the energy taken
in by an animal is used in the process of living, but a small percentage 1 Challenge: Interpreting
is passed on to the next-level consumer when the animal is eaten, or diagrams Study Figure 5.5a
to the decomposers when the animal dies. (p. 115), then write a paragraph
At each level of the food chain, most of the energy is used up in explaining how plants, animals,
living; only a little goes to the next level. This means that less energy soil and climate interact.
is available at each higher level of the food chain. For example, of 2 Library research: Classroom
100 units of energy produced by plants, only 0.1 unit is available to display Do some library
humans, who are at the top of the food chain and have eaten research to find examples of
carnivores that have eaten herbivores that have eaten plants. More food webs for each of the main
people can be supported by eating grains and vegetables than by ecosystems shown in Figure 5.5b
feeding grains and vegetables to animals and then eating the animals (p. 116). Use a photocopier to
(see Figure 5.5j). enlarge the food webs. Display
them on the classroom wall.
3 Challenge: Writing task Study
Heat is lost during movement in animals and in Figures 5.5b and 5.5c (p. 116).
the production of heat in mammals and birds Write a report describing how
Decomposers rainfall, temperature and altitude
interact to produce different
Heat ecosystems.

Tertiary 4 Library research Do some

consumers library research to investigate the
(human) work of decomposers, such as
bacteria, dung beetles or fungi.
Heat 5 Writing task Study Figure 5.5j.
Write a report describing the flow
Secondary of energy within an ecosystem.
consumers
(perch)
Heat
Heat

Primary
1 Explain how t
consumers ecosystems ge
(zooplankton) their energy.
difference
2 Explain the nsumer
Heat betwee n a pr oducer and a co
in a food chain.
green plants
Producers 3 Outline how eir own food.
(phytoplankton) manufac tu re th
na
di fference betwee t is an
4 Explain the rn iv ore. W ha
a ca
herbivore and
omnivore? sers in
role of decompo
5 Outline the
Smaller and smaller amounts of energy the food chain. te in an
are available at each level of the food chain there is no was
6 Explain why
ecosystem. ows that
Figure 5.5j Pyramid of energy transfers within an ecosystem. Energy is lost t a food web sh
from the system at each level in the food chain. 7 Identify wha es not.
a food chain do is
s to the energy that
8 What happen animal when it eats
taken in by an
some grass?
5.5
UTT worksheet

Introducing physical environments 119