Student Worksheet

Thought-starters: Most of Australia’s bananas grow in north Queensland in places where tropical cyclones occur. In the future, these storms may get even stronger, and cause damage to banana plantations.

Weather cycles have serious effects on food production and the productivity of agricultural land. Australian farmers are already feeling the effects of altered weather patterns in some regions of Australia, including north Queensland.

The drought is back

This map shows how far-reaching the effects of climate change have been across Queensland. And unfortunately, the drought situation seems to be worsening. At present, two-thirds of Queensland and much of northern NSW is officially drought-declared. For the past few months, both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the USA and Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) have been predicting that an El Nino system is likely to develop in the Pacific later this year. If this El Nino develops as scientists predict, Australia will be facing severe drought conditions - on a par with the conditions experienced during the 2002 - 2006 drought. As the drought worsens, climate change will likely become a higher priority issue for all Australians, but especially those living in drought-declared areas.

Click here to see the latest drought maps.

Calculating temperature statistics

Check that you understand the following mathematical procedures for calculating temperature statistics:

To calculate the temperature range experienced in a place during a single day - subtract the lowest temperature from the highest temperature recorded on that day.
To calculate the seasonal range of temperature for a place, find the difference between the highest and lowest monthly temperatures.
To calculate the average monthly temperature for a place, find the total of all the monthly temperatures then divide it by 12.

1. Express the procedure for calculating the day’s temperature range as a mathematical formula, using this key:

h = highest temperature, l = lowest temperature, r = temperature range

Answer:

2. Circle the correct answer to this problem:

To calculate the average temperature for a region in which six towns provide temperature readings, we would …

A) … add the 6 figures and divide by 6?	B) … divide each figure by 6?
C) … multiply each figure by 6?	D) … report each one separately?

3. Circle the correct answer to this problem:

To calculate the average monthly rainfall for a given area, the average annual rainfall figure needs to be:

A) … multiplied by 12

B) … divided by 12

C) … subtracted from 12

Ways of describing and comparing rainfall

4. How might a meteorologist measure and calculate “daily rainfall”?

5. What about “average annual rainfall”?

Interpreting temperature and rainfall statistics

Climate statistics are often presented in the form of a table. The one below shows temperature and rainfall statistics for the Australian city of Darwin, Northern Territory.

6. Answer these questions, referring to the tabulated information above.

(i) In which four months of the year does most of the rain fall in Darwin?

(ii) Which two months show the greatest range between temperatures?

(iii) What is the relationship between temperature and rainfall in Darwin?

Reading a climograph

7. Create a climograph (also called a composite graph). In your graph, present the climate statistics for Darwin, as provided in the table from Question 1.

LS Student Activity Sheet

1 - Measuring weather phenomena

Complete the table by filling in the spaces to show which weather phenomena these units can be used to measure:

Unit of measurement	Symbol	Weather phenomena
millimetres		amount of fall
c _ s	cm	amount of snowfall
metres above sea level	m	height of w s and t d _ s
hectoPascals	hPa	barometric pressure
kilometres per hour	/ _	w _ speed
degrees Celsius	_ C	air t

2. Different climatic conditions in Australia

Complete the table by naming an example of each environment, its home state or territory and its usual climate.

Ecological environment	Name of an example	State or Territory	Description of the climate
a sandy desert
a rainforest area
an alpine region
a farming area
a tropical island

3. Recycling letters

EARTH HOUR

How many four-letter words can you make from this phrase? You may use each letter more than once per word.

Can you make any five-letter words?

Can you make any six-letter words?

Can you make a seven-letter word?

Earth Hour - Temperature and Rainfall Statistics

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