Final Blog: Give or take 100M years

Lima Peru, 100 Million years ago was relatively at the same location except for maybe a few degrees more south latitude of where it is today. The weather of Lima was very much similar to what it is today. Since it is till in the southern hemisphere it experiences the wind patterns created by the core-oles effect.

Earth 100 million years ago. with Lima shown as star. source :http://www.cpgeosystems.com/mollglobe.html

The climograph for the area would look much like it does today. There would be minimal variation in the temperature much like today's weather.  It would still get minimal precipitation because the Andes mountains are still far enough from the city create the elevation necessary elevation to cool the air mass enough to reach the dew point. The air mass that also comes to the city is the cold polar air-mass which does not carry much moisture. 

Climograph of Lima 100 millin years ago. 

100 Years from now however Lima will be in a very different place. It would be located almost at the equator which gives it a whole new climate. There will be even less variation in the temperature through out the year and would have a lot more precipitation than it does now. It would have a climate much similar to Quito Ecuador today. 

Earth 100 Million years in the future with lima shown as star source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGACbD4zbWs

The climograph of Lima would look like the following. The main difference from the previous being the amount of precipitation it receives.  This is due to the maritime equatorial air-mass that would be prevalent through out the year.  It would have a tropical climate characterized by high temperatures with little variation in temperature between seasons. 

Climograph of Lima 100 millions years into the future.

 

Reflection #2 Chicago, Il vs Lima, Peru

The major climate control factors that make the climate in Chicano and Lima so different and so similar at the same time are latitude and the air-masses that are prevalent to each area.  The climatology graphs below show the temperature and precipitation patters of different cities as they co-relate with lattitude. All maps and graphs courtesy of: (http://cwx.prenhall.com/bookbind/pubbooks/lutgens3/medialib/abcontrol/pages/question.html)

The above patterns can give an explanation to the difference in the climographs between Chicago and Lima. Their difference in latitude is a factor to the amount of sunshine each place receives and the the angle at which it receives sunlight in the summer and winter solstice. The higher the latitude the greater the difference in the in the sun angle resulting in the greater changes in temperature between the seasons. 

Another factor that makes the climates of these two places so different is the air masses that are prevalent in each area. In Chicago, the continental polar (cP) air mass that makes the bitter cold winter is replace by maritime tropical (mT) air mass that brings with it the mild temperature and a lot of precipitation. In contrast Lima does not get any of the maritime equatorial (mE) air-mass coming down from the Caribbeans because of the Andes to the east of the city, instead the colder weather is only relived by the retreating maritime polar (mP) air-mass. 

Air mass classifications (cities highlighted by stars) source: www.meted.ucar.edu/

Post 3: Climatology

Climate controls ranging from the macro or global scale to the micro or local scale dictate the long term climate for any location. For Lima, the global factors are that it is located at a latitude of about 12 S. This puts it in the a region that has a high sun angle and therefore high energy zone. This also classifies the region as subtropical which is characterized by Dominantly warm, dry summers, and cool, wet winters.  Winter rains come from cyclonic disturbances associated with the Polar Front (Climate slides). On the regional level the climate controls are features such as the Andes Mountain Range and the Pacific Ocean. There is also the dominant air mass which is the Maritime Polar air mass that is constantly blowing in from the south.

The mP air-mass located to the south Of Lima, Peru is the dominant air-mass that affects the temperature and precipitation for this weather station.

Lima peru, is classified as BWh under the Koppen-Geiger Climate Classification. The classifications is denoted as  B:Arid, W: desert and h: Hot arid. This is pretty much saying that Lima has a hot arid desert climate. This is surprising in that this is the same classification that is assigned to the Sahara Desert and Great Victoria Desert in Australia. The Geiger classificatin is based on a 49 year record spanning from 1951 to 2000.

Koppen Map for South America, Lima, Peru Shown as Star. Source:Wikipedia