Lesson Plans
Create a Climograph for My Location
Overview
Download monthly precipitation and temperature data from the Earth System Data Explorer and copy it into a ready-to-use spreadsheet which will automatically generate a climograph in addition to yearly combination graphs. Use the climograph to understand local climate. Use the climograph with the yearly files to explore yearly variability compared with thirty year average data.
Procedure
- Have students read the Weather and Climate Background, or go over it with them.
- Follow the Create a Climograph for My Location Turn-by-Turn Instructions to access data and copy it into the Climograph Data Spreadsheet.
- The spreadsheet will automatically generate a climograph for the thirty years of data which will be displayed on the Raw Data tab. If it is printed out, there is a place to write the latitude and longitude on the graph.
- Have students answer the following questions about the climograph.
- What does the climograph for the location show?
- How does the average monthly precipitation change over a typical year?
- How does the average monthly temperature change over a typical year?
- The spreadsheet will also generate graphs for each individual year which can be found in the Individual Years tab. Select an individual year for comparison. If it is printed out, there is a place to write the latitude, longitude, and year on the graph. The year can be found on the x-axis.
- Have students answer the following questions about individual years.
- How is the average monthly precipitation for the individual year during each month different from the climograph?
- How is the average monthly temperature for the individual year during each month different from the climograph?
- How does averaging the data over thirty years impact the overall climograph?
- What is the difference between weather and climate?
Source:
Disciplinary Core Ideas:
- ESS2D: Weather and Climate
Crosscutting Concepts:
- Patterns
- Systems and System Models
Science and Engineering Practices:
- Analyzing and Interpreting Data
- Construct a climograph using monthly temperature and precipitation data.
- Explain the difference between weather and climate.
- Make inferences about a location's climate based on data.
- Identify patterns and seasonal trends shown in a climograph.
- Use a climograph to justify a claim about a region’s climate zone.
- Interpret climate data to describe stability or variability over time.
- What is the climate like in my location?
- What does a climograph show?
- How does a thirty year climograph differ from the data for individual years that go into the climograph calculations?
- What variability is there in the thirty years of data which comprise the climograph for my location?
This lesson is based on the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment lesson, Making a Climograph: A GLOBE Data Exploration. The except below is taken from that lesson.
Weather refers to the day-to-day atmospheric conditions in an area over a short period of time frm seconds to weeks. Climate is the weather of a place averaged over a longer period of time (typically over 30 years). Climate refers to statistical averages of temperature, precipitation and other aspects of the atmosphere.
Climographs (also called climatographs) are a graphic way of describing how temperature and precipitation vary through the year. Climatologists require 30 years of temperature and precipitation data to adequately capture a location's climate.
A graph of on year of temperature and precipitation data can be helpful for understanding the weather that took place within a given year; however, it can fail to capture climate patterns for a location, especially when there have been unusual weather events during that year. In this activity, Students explore the distinction between on year's weather data and the average of 30 years of weather data, learning that long-term measurements are important for describing the "normal" climate patterns of a place.
For the person creating the climograph (teacher and/or students)
- Familiarity with accessing the internet and using a spreadsheet
- Understanding of latitude and longitude
This can be used in a variety of ways. The climograph for a chosen location can support investigations into habitats, plant growth patterns, biomes, and any number of other activities.
Explore NASA Mission Biomes for climographs related to different biomes.
