| microclimate_enquiry.pptx |
Objective: To plan and carry out a microclimate investigation to find a suitable site for the new BISH outdoor swimming pool.
Situation 2022: Mr Wilson has agreed to allow a 25 metre outdoor pool to be installed in the school grounds. This will allow students the chance to improve their swimming skills and provide a refreshing alternative to the indoor pool.
Mr Wilson would like to utilize the help of Year 8 to present his ideas for the location of the pool to the Board of Directors. He has one chance to get this right and so your help is crucial.
Situation 2022: Mr Wilson has agreed to allow a 25 metre outdoor pool to be installed in the school grounds. This will allow students the chance to improve their swimming skills and provide a refreshing alternative to the indoor pool.
Mr Wilson would like to utilize the help of Year 8 to present his ideas for the location of the pool to the Board of Directors. He has one chance to get this right and so your help is crucial.
What is a microclimate?
A microclimate is a region or space that has a different climate than the area around it. Microclimates are both large and small. They can extent for miles and occur within a garden. A microclimate can be warmer or cooler and wetter or drier than its environs.
Geography and topography are the main causes of microclimates. Large bodies of water cool the air and make it damp. Wind dries up the soil on exposed mountaintops. Concrete, brick and asphalt absorb the sun's energy and heat up the atmosphere.
Tall buildings create shadows and channel wind making streets cooler than the air above. Valleys are cooler than hillsides on winter nights as lighter warm air rises and heavier cool air falls.
The south face of a mountain is warmer than the north as it gets more sunlight. (In the Southern Hemisphere, the opposite is true.)
A microclimate is a region or space that has a different climate than the area around it. Microclimates are both large and small. They can extent for miles and occur within a garden. A microclimate can be warmer or cooler and wetter or drier than its environs.
Geography and topography are the main causes of microclimates. Large bodies of water cool the air and make it damp. Wind dries up the soil on exposed mountaintops. Concrete, brick and asphalt absorb the sun's energy and heat up the atmosphere.
Tall buildings create shadows and channel wind making streets cooler than the air above. Valleys are cooler than hillsides on winter nights as lighter warm air rises and heavier cool air falls.
The south face of a mountain is warmer than the north as it gets more sunlight. (In the Southern Hemisphere, the opposite is true.)
Textbook Research
Task 1. Turn to page 18 & 19 of Key Geography Foundations. Read the text very carefully and study the images so that you understand the causes of microclimates.
Task 2. Take notes on each of the five causes in your notebooks.
| Microclimates theory- from Geographical foundations |
Task 3. Copy and paste the picture underneath onto a Word document. Add the title 'BISH Microclimate'. Label our school building and grounds using the image above and the 'five causes' as a guideline. You will need a compass to work out the prevailing wind direction. See under the photo for more information.
Prevailing Wind Information - Katy
Task 4.
In Katy, the main prevailing wind direction is from the south (Feb-Nov). From Dec-Jan is is typically from the north. Using a compass (or Google Earth), can you add:
1. The north direction arrow
2. Both the prevailing wind direction arrows
Path of the sun.
Task 5.
The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. From your own experiences, can you label the classrooms that are particularly hot in the morning and those that are hot in the afternoon?
Task 4.
In Katy, the main prevailing wind direction is from the south (Feb-Nov). From Dec-Jan is is typically from the north. Using a compass (or Google Earth), can you add:
1. The north direction arrow
2. Both the prevailing wind direction arrows
Path of the sun.
Task 5.
The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. From your own experiences, can you label the classrooms that are particularly hot in the morning and those that are hot in the afternoon?
The Outdoor Fieldwork - Out & About!
You are going to be required to go out into the field and collect data to determine which of four pre-determined sites will be the best. Your first task is to download and annotate the school plan and choose four sites for investigation. Think carefully about what you have done above.
When you have chosen your sites, you are going to need to pick up the following pieces of equipment:
Six plastic cups filled with tap water (let the tap run for 5 seconds before filling the first cup)
Thermometer
Anemometer
| year_8_geography_data_collection.docx |
| school-enquiry_instructions.docx |
Data presentation
Success criteria:
•Varied (annotated photos, graphs, maps etc.)
•Is the most appropriate method to show the results effectively
•Shows how data varies spatially
•Is clearly and neatly presented
•Has clear titles, figure numbers, axis labelled etc.
Success criteria:
•Varied (annotated photos, graphs, maps etc.)
•Is the most appropriate method to show the results effectively
•Shows how data varies spatially
•Is clearly and neatly presented
•Has clear titles, figure numbers, axis labelled etc.
| how_do_i_display_data-_microclinate.pptx |
Analysis
Success criteria:
- Describe the data you have presented. You should refer to figure numbers and quote the results found.
- You should explain why you got this data. This should link to features of the school site (locational context) that may have influenced the results in that area (link to microclimate theory)
- Are there any anomalies (results that don’t fit the expected pattern)? Why may we have got these unexpected results?
- Use this information to explain the pros and cons of each site for locating an outdoor swimming pool.
- Using the information from your analysis come to an overall conclusion: which site is the best for the outdoor pool at BISH?
| writing_an_analysis_for_microclimates_assessment.docx |
Sample analysis written by 8GJo
