Name: ______Date: ______Per:# ___:____

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE WEATHER

INSTRUCTIONSPart 1: Elevation and Temperature

1.  Locate and mark the following locations on a map of Ecuador.

Location / Latitude / Elevation(m) / High Temperature(C)
Cotopaxi / 0 / 5897 / -10 C
Quito / 0 / 2811
Latacunga / -1 / 2785
Ibarra / 0 / 2228
Esmeraldas / +1 / 7
Guayaquil / -2 / 4

1.  Which location do you think will have the highest temperature? the lowest? Why?
HINT: the effect latitude will have on the temperature for each of the locations is negligible because they are all within 2 of the equator.

2.  Access the links from theActivity C3: Elevation and Temperatureweb site for each of the cities and record the high temperature for today's forecast. The first location has already been completed.
NOTE: Since these are real time weather readings, the current temperature may be submitted to the weather web site at different times during the day and therefore you should compare the high temperature readings for today's forecast.

Part 2: Analyze the Data

3.  Create a scatter plot of Temperature vs. Elevation using the data you collected above.

1.  Add a linear trend line (line of best fit) through the data in the scatter plot. NOTE: A trend line will not cross every point but rather there should be approximately the same number of points below the line as above it.

2.  Look the trend line. Estimate the approximate change in temperature for every increase of 1,000m in elevation.

3.  Based on the graph you created above and assuming all other weather factors remained constant (same latitude, etc.), predict the temperature for the following elevations:

1.  0 m: ______C

2.  1000 m: ______C

3.  2000 m: ______C

4.  3000 m: ______C

5.  4000 m: ______C

4.  Highest Elevation: Mt. Everest, located on the border of Nepal and Tibet, is the world's tallest mountain with an elevation of 8848m:

1.  Assuming no other factors affected the temperature, what would be your prediction for the temperature at the summit?

2.  Theactual temperatureon the summit of Mt. Everest varies from -15 C to as low as -36 C. What might account for the differences between your prediction and the actual temperatures? (Hint: Locate Mt. Everest on a world map)

Part 3: Final Conclusions

1.  How does elevation affect temperature?

2.  Can you rely on one day's worth of data to determine a general trend between temperature and elevation? Explain.

3.  If you would opt to collect more data, how much do you think would be sufficient?
How could you obtain this data?

  1. In the troposphere, the lowest, or inner-most layer of earth's atmosphere, both air pressure and the density of air (the number of gas molecules per cubic measurement) decrease as elevation increases. How and why do you think this affects the change in air temperature as elevation increases?