LIFESCI 1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 48: Circumstellar Habitable Zone, Ocean Current, Ecolo
Document Summary
Biomes are broad geographic areas with similar sets of communities. Climate exerts a major influence on the nature and distribution of biomes across the globe. Climate can be thought of as long-term average weather. Climate around the world, is determined by solar radiation, global patterns of wind and ocean circulation, and earth"s varying topography. Earth is the goldilocks planet: just the right distance from the sun so that, in conjunction with the greenhouse effect of the atmosphere, solar radiation maintains surface temperatures that can keep water in its liquid form. As we look across earth, we see that climate varies markedly from one region to another. This variation also reflects the relationship between earth and the sun, modified by the physical features of earth and the circulation of air and seawater. Sunlight strikes equatorial regions directly, but, at higher latitudes, earth"s surface is tilted at an angle to incoming radiation.
