This is my first post in this blog and my second assignment.
Today I am going to talk about what factors that controls the temperature in
Australia. Like why is the temperatures in this city what they are, and the
different processes.
Canberra,
the capital of Australia is located in New South Wales, southeast in the
country. Actually Canberra is an own state, called: “Australian Capital
Territory”, just like Washington D.C in the US. The capital is located on
latitude 35, 307 °S and longitude 149, 12°E.
The warmest
month in this city is January with an average monthly temperature of 21, 05 °C
(69, 8 °F). The coldest month is July with an average monthly temperature of 5,
75 °C (41 °F). The seasons in Canberra is reversed compared to Honolulu, when
we have summer they have winter. Based on the information above the annual
range of temperature for this city is 15, 3 °C (59 °F)
Websites
where I found this information:
The geographic
position is one of the factors that control the temperature in this city. I
have a map below showing the normal wind currents in Australia along with
Canberra marked as a red dot.
This image is found on:
The
city is known for very cold winter temperatures and warm summer temperatures.
That can be described from the wind currents and the geographic position.
Canberra is located on the east coast with the winds normally coming from the
west, towards the east. That means the city is located on the “Leeward” side of
the continent. And the leeward location normally has warm summers and cold
winter, the opposite of the windward position. You can compare this to the
Island of O’ahu, where the leeward position is on the west coast, where the
temperatures are hotter in summer and colder in winter, compared to the east
coast. Without this effect the summer temperature in Canberra would be colder and winter temperature milder.
There
are many factors that control the temperature in Canberra, but there is one factor
that we have learned in class that I don’t think has any relation to this city,
and that is ocean currents. Although this city is located on the east coast, it
is still located far from the sea, approximately 150 km inland. I don’t think
the ocean currents affect the temperature in Canberra.
The
global change trend has led to a warmer earth, and by increasing the Earth’s average
temperature a little bit can lead to major consequences. I think Canberra will
be influenced in a lot of ways if the temperatures keep increasing. A warmer
climate will also warm the ocean, and that will make the water molecules bigger
and the water level eventually will increase. An increased water level will definitely
affect Canberra, and the lands around, because I know there is a lot of
agriculture in Australia. There are also
other factors that can happen. Maybe the differential heating between land and
ocean will change, and that will definitely have some affect.
Sources:
https://snl.no/Canberra
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_070282.shtml
http://www.bom.gov.au/nsw/canberra/climate.shtml
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_070282.shtml
http://www.australia.com/about/key-facts/weather/canberra-weather.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canberra
