What controls a region's climate, and what is the evidence for climate change?
Distinguish weather from climate, explain the factors that control climate (latitude, elevation, water, ocean currents, prevailing winds), and describe the evidence for climate change and the enhanced greenhouse effect (Virginia 2018 Earth Science SOL ES.9).
A SOL-level answer on climate for the Virginia Earth Science EOC: the difference between weather and climate, the factors that control climate (latitude, elevation, proximity to water, ocean currents, prevailing winds), the evidence for climate change, the enhanced greenhouse effect, and its impacts on Virginia, with worked exam questions.
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What this topic is asking
Virginia Earth Science SOL standard ES.9 asks you to distinguish weather from climate, to explain the factors that control climate, and to describe the evidence for climate change and the enhanced greenhouse effect. The EOC tests this with the weather-versus-climate distinction, climate-factor reasoning (why two places differ), and evidence and human-impact items, several of which connect to Virginia (coastal flooding, warming). It draws together the atmosphere, the ocean and the resources content.
Weather versus climate
The factors that control climate
These factors explain why two places at the same latitude can have very different climates, a frequent EOC comparison.
Climate change and the enhanced greenhouse effect
The evidence
Scientists draw on many independent lines of evidence that Earth is warming: measured rising global average temperatures; melting glaciers and shrinking ice sheets and sea ice; rising sea level (from warming, expanding ocean water and melting land ice); warming oceans; shifts in the timing of seasons and the ranges of species; and ice cores that record past atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature, showing today's carbon dioxide is unusually high. No single measurement proves it; the strength is in many lines of evidence agreeing, a good nature-of-science point.
Impacts on Virginia
For Virginia, a warming climate means sea-level rise along the coast, more frequent coastal flooding (notably in low-lying Hampton Roads), saltwater intrusion into freshwater supplies, and shifts in the timing and intensity of storms and seasons. These tie the climate topic back to the Chesapeake Bay and coastal content.
Try this
Q1. Explain the difference between weather and climate. [2]
- Cue. Weather is the short-term state of the atmosphere at a place; climate is the long-term average of weather over many years.
Q2. Explain why a city near a warm ocean current has a milder climate than one far inland at the same latitude. [2]
- Cue. The warm current and the ocean moderate the coastal city's temperature (water changes temperature slowly), so its summers are cooler and winters warmer; the inland city has more extreme temperatures.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of VDOE exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
VA Earth Science SOL 2023 (style)1 marksWhat is the difference between weather and climate? (A) they are the same thing. (B) weather is the short-term state of the atmosphere; climate is the long-term average over many years. (C) climate changes daily; weather stays the same for decades. (D) weather is only about temperature.Show worked answer →
A 1-point multiple-choice item on weather versus climate.
The correct answer is B. Weather is the short-term (day-to-day, hour-to-hour) state of the atmosphere at a place; climate is the long-term average of weather over many years (typically 30 or more). Option C reverses them, and weather is more than temperature (D).
The test rewards the distinction: weather is short-term, climate is the long-term average.
VA Earth Science SOL 2024 (style)2 marksTwo cities are at the same latitude, but one is on the coast and one is far inland. (a) Explain why the coastal city usually has milder temperatures (cooler summers and warmer winters). (b) State one line of evidence that scientists use to show Earth's climate is warming.Show worked answer →
A 2-point item on climate factors and evidence.
(a) 1 point: water heats and cools more slowly than land, so the ocean moderates the coastal city's temperature, keeping its summers cooler and winters warmer; the inland city, without that moderating water, has more extreme temperatures.
(b) 1 point for any one: rising global average temperatures, melting glaciers and shrinking ice sheets and sea ice, rising sea level, warming oceans, or ice-core records of past carbon dioxide and temperature.
Markers reward the moderating effect of water in (a) and one valid line of climate-change evidence in (b).
Related dot points
- Describe the composition and layers of the atmosphere and explain how energy is transferred by radiation, conduction and convection, including the greenhouse effect (Virginia 2018 Earth Science SOL ES.8).
A SOL-level answer on the atmosphere for the Virginia Earth Science EOC: the composition (mostly nitrogen and oxygen), the layers (troposphere, stratosphere with the ozone layer, mesosphere, thermosphere), and the three ways energy moves (radiation, conduction, convection) plus the greenhouse effect, with worked exam questions.
- Describe air masses and the weather at cold, warm, stationary and occluded fronts, and explain how thunderstorms, hurricanes and tornadoes form (Virginia 2018 Earth Science SOL ES.9).
A SOL-level answer on weather systems for the Virginia Earth Science EOC: how air masses get their properties from their source region, the weather at cold, warm, stationary and occluded fronts, and how thunderstorms, hurricanes and tornadoes form, including their hazards in Virginia, with worked exam questions.
- Explain surface currents (driven by wind and deflected by the Coriolis effect into gyres), deep density-driven circulation, and upwelling, and describe how currents transfer heat and affect climate (Virginia 2018 Earth Science SOL ES.10).
A SOL-level answer on ocean currents for the Virginia Earth Science EOC: wind-driven surface currents and gyres, the Coriolis effect, the difference between warm and cold currents, deep density-driven (thermohaline) circulation, upwelling and marine productivity, and how the Gulf Stream affects climate, with worked exam questions.
- Describe estuaries and the Chesapeake Bay, including brackish water and its role as a nursery, and explain how watershed land use, runoff and sea-level rise affect coastal Virginia (Virginia 2018 Earth Science SOL ES.10 and human impact).
A SOL-level answer on the Chesapeake Bay for the Virginia Earth Science EOC: what an estuary is and why the Bay's brackish water makes it a nursery, the threats from nutrient runoff and eutrophication, the role of the watershed, sea-level rise and coastal flooding, and conservation, with worked exam questions.
- Distinguish renewable and non-renewable resources, describe the major energy sources and Virginia's mineral and energy resources, and evaluate the environmental impacts and conservation of resource use (Virginia 2018 Earth Science SOL ES.3 and ES.4).
A SOL-level answer on Earth's resources for the Virginia Earth Science EOC: renewable versus non-renewable, how fossil fuels form, nuclear and the alternatives (solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal), Virginia's coal, limestone, sand and gravel, and the environmental trade-offs and conservation of resource use, with worked exam questions.
Sources & how we know this
- 2018 Science Standards of Learning (Earth Science) — Virginia Department of Education (2018)
- SOL Practice Items (All Subjects) — Virginia Department of Education (2024)