climate questions

Question

Which location is closer to a large body of water and how does this help explain its climate using Alice Springs, Australia and Portland, Oregon.  Use the concept of specific heat in the anwer.

 

thanks

Answer 1

Alice Springs is landlocked in the middle of Australia. Portland Oregon is along the Pacific Ocean.

The specific heat of water is very high. The specific heat of land is lower.

This means it takes more heat/energy to change the temperature of water. In other words, the temperature of water is harder to change.  So I would expect temperatures of cities next to large bodies of water to remain relatively constant while landlocked cities temperatures to fluctuate more at the same latitudes.  

 

Another factor comes into play for cities next to water. Because there is a difference between the temperature of land and water, interactions between temperatures can have effects such as winds and fog.