Factors influencing temperature/ insolation received

1) Latitude
At higher latitudes, the Sun hits the Earth at a lower angle of incidence (oblique) and hence insolation
is more diffuse, with the Sun ray’s spread over a larger area. The rays also travel through a longer
distance of atmosphere, hence the more insolation is absorbed by the atmosphere before reaching the
Earth. This causes places at higher latitudes to receive less insolation that those at lower latitudes.
Comparatively, places at 23.5°N and 23.5°S, which are at the Tropics, receive insolation at a higher
angle of incidence, causing the Sun rays to be more concentrated over a smaller area, hence causing
higher temperatures. The Sun’s rays also travel through a shorter distance of atmosphere, hence the
Tropics receive higher insolation. Short wave radiation reaches the Earth, and is converted to Long
wave radiation (heat) which increases the temperature. Latitudes that receive higher insolation not
only differ across space, but also across time. Since the Equator is at 0°, countries at the equatorial
region do not experience much change in temperature throughout the year. However, places at the
Tropics and at higher latitudes experience seasonal variations in temperature. In June, the Sun is
overhead at the Tropic of Cancer at 23.5°N, the region hence heats up considerably and experiences
highest temperatures at this time of the year. In December, the Sun is overhead at the Tropic of
Capricorn at 23.5°S, and thus countries at this area experience their highest annual temperature at this
time.
2) Cloud cover varies from day to day and it affects the amount of insolation that reaches the Earth’s
surface, as well as the temperature of each day. Places with higher cloud cover have lower
temperatures in the day as the SWR that reaches the Earth is often reflected or scattered back by the
clouds. Hence, less of the Sun ray’s reach the Earth. However, at night, heat from the Earth is
absorbed by the clouds and reemitted back to Earth, while some heat escapes back to space. This
causes higher temperatures. On the other hand, places with less cloud cover have no clouds to absorb
the SWR in the day, hence the Sun’s rays reaches the ground directly, causing the temperatures to be
higher than places with cloud cover. At night, the heat from the earth escapes back to space with no
cloud cover. The temperatures at night are hence lower than temperatures at night in places with cloud
cover. Since the amount of cloud cover depends on the rate of evaporation, cloud cover tends to be
higher in summers and lower in winters, hence places with seasonal variations tend to experience
differences in cloud cover at different times of the year. In places in the equatorial region, temperature
is high all round and there is high rates of evaporation, and hence there is more cloud cover in
equatorial regions.

Headlands are formed due to differential erosion, where less resistant rocks are being eroded away,
causing the remaining harder rocks to extend out to sea as the headlands. The headlands shelter the bays
from high energy waves but are vulnerable to destructive waves. There is a higher wave energy
concentrated at the headlands due to wave refraction and this continuously erodes the headlands. As the
sea attacks areas of weakness in the headlands, such as the cracks and faults at the base of the headland
with an undercutting wave action, the cracks grow larger to form small sea caves. As erosion continues,
the waves are widened and deepened, until an arch is form when the cave is eroded all the way through,
or when two caves are eroded into the back of each other. The waves attack the bottom of the arch while
weathering due to rain and wind (climatic factors) attack the roof of the arch, weakening the arch and
eventually, the roof of the arch collapses and a stack is formed. Undercutting at the base of the stack and
the concentrated wave action causes the stack to collapse, forming a stump.

Erosion attack lines of weaknesses and joints to produce a notch. The continual erosion of the notch
produces a cave, which is then eroded to form an overhanging cliff. Due to gravity, the top of the cliff
collapses over time. As this process repeats, the cliff retreats further inland, leaving behind a gently
sloping platform known as the wave cut platform.

Temperature

1) Latitude
Spatial
51.5°N England, -18°C – 32.5°C in 2013
1°N Singapore, 22°C - 36°C in 2013

For comparison in tropical regions only: Singapore (1°N) has a mean monthly temperature range of
24-30°C while Kolkata (22.5°N) has a mean monthly temperature range of 15-36°C.
Temporal
22.5°N Kolkata, India average high of 35°C during Summer (May-July)
12°C in January, when the Sun is overhead the Tropic of Capricorn

2) Cloud cover
Sahara Desert (22.0°N) has a very low cloud of about 5-10% cover due to the dry conditions there
while Kolkata (22.5°N) has a cloud cover of 50%. The diurnal temperature range for Sahara Desert
is 38°C whereas for Kolkata, it is only about 4-6°C.

3) Albedo
Antarctica (South Pole), majority of the land covered with snow, with high albedo, reflecting
insolation: annual average temperature of -49.5ºC, lowest recorded temperature of -82.8ºC on June
23 1982 and highest recorded temperature of -12.2 ºC in Dec 25 2011

4) Altitude
 Quito and Barcelos have similar latitudes of about 2°S. Mean annual temperature of Quito (3000m
above sea level, located on Andes) is 12°C whereas for Barcelos, the mean annual temperature is
24.7°C.

5) Distance from sea

For example, both Valentia Harbour and Orenburg lie on the same latitude (50°N), but Valentia
Harbour is located along the coast whereas Orenburg is located further inland. Valentia Harbour has
an annual temperature range of 7°C while Orenburg has annual temperature range of 38°C.

Rainfall

1) Summer monsoon
Sun is overhead at the Tropic of Cancer. Temperatures in Thar Desert, Central Indian subcontinent is
high. Hot air expands and rises, creating a region of low pressure. Australia experiences low
temperatures. Cool air contracts and sinks, forming a region of high pressure. Air moves from a
region of high pressure to a region of low pressure. Hence, winds leave Australia as the SE monsoon
winds, which then are deflected to the left in the SH. The winds are then deflected to the left as they
reach the NH and arrive at the Indian sub-continent as the SW monsoon. Monsoon brings moist
onshore-laden winds from blowing across the Indian Ocean, causing high rainfall in India. Australia
receives dry offshore winds and hence experiences a dry season.
From June to August, India has an average rainfall of 306mm/month whereas Australia has an
average of only 6.1mm/month.
2) Winter monsoon
From November to February, India has an average rainfall of 55mm/month whereas Australia has an
average rainfall of 337.5mm/month.
3) Convectional rain
The earth’s surface is heated up rapidly. Heat is transferred to the overlying air parcels and the air
rises as it is warmer than surrounding air. Air expands and rises with less pressure as altitude
increases. Air mass cools, and RH rises. The air continues to rise as long as it is warmer than the
surrounding air, and there is an upward force. RH reaches 100% saturation at dew point temperature
and water vapour begins to condense on particles above the cloud base. Hygroscopic particles act as
condensation nuclei for water vapor to become water droplets.
Singapore has a low-lying latitude of 1°N and it receives high insolation all year round with no
seasonal variations. As a result, it receives frequent localised and torrential convectional rain with
high annual rainfall over 2000mm.
4) Relief rain
When NE Monsoon is forced to ascend windward (eastern) side of Peninsular Malaysia, namely the
Cameron Highlands, approximately 1370m above sea level, and thus receives about 5080mm of
 rainfall during NE monsoon season. However, the leeward side (western) receives only about
2500mm of rainfall.

Factors affecting river volume

1) Climate
Why the Mississippi flooded in 1993
Record-setting rainfall levels during Spring and Summer period in 1993. Several parts of USA had
over 200% more rain than was usual for the time of the year. Ground became saturated. Rain ran off
the saturated ground as saturation overland flow. People believed that the flood was under control,
but the time and ferocity of the flood took everyone by surprise
2) Vegetation
The Amazon River has a drainage basin area of 6,144,727 km2 and has an average discharge of
219,000m3/s.
3) Size of drainage basin
4) Rock permeability
Canon’s Brook basin, Harlow (Essex)
Building for Harlow New Town began in late 1951. By 1968, 16.6 per cent of the drainage basin was
covered by impermeable surfaces which drained into sewers directly to the Canon’s Brook. A 15%
stone paving of the drainage basin increased runoff by 59.4mm, i.e. an increase of about 30 per cent
above a rural drainage basin runoff

Factors affecting river velocity

1) Channel roughness
2) Gradient

Jinsha River and Nujiang river flow side by side. They flow in the Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yangtze China
which is believed to be one of the deepest gorges in the world, with a steep mountain side of 70-90°.
Nujian river has a velocity is so great that using the gorge as a site for a future hydro-electric power

station was suggested. The river discharge is 4,471 m3/s

3) Shape of channel - Hydraulic radius

River management

1) Resectionning and realignment

Isar River Project in Munich, Germany. From 1995 to 2000, the overflowing of the Isar River caused
many negative impacts on Munich and its residents. In February 2000, the Isar Plan was developed
to help to reduce flooding. Expansion measures to the riverbed and the realignment of the Isar river
improved the discharge of the floodwater and created room for structural measures both in and along
 the river, to effectively channel the floodwaters away from the residential regions and hence prevent
flooding.
2) Dams
Three Gorges Dam, China – cost US$22.5 billion
47 endangered species in the Three Gorges Dam area – Chinese River Dolphin and Chinese Sturgeon
3) Bank protection
Flood control in the Netherlands is an important issue as about two thirds of the country is
vulnerable to flooding while at the same time the country is among the most densely populated on
earth. Natural sand dunes and dikes, dams and floodgates provide the defense against storm surges
from sea. River dikes prevent flooding from water flowing into the country by the major rivers Rhine
and Meuse. Local dikes to protect villages were connected to create a ban dike to contain the river at
all times
4) Vegetation
To tackle the flooding in River Avon, England, channel vegetation was removed due to the clogging
and waterlogging, and once again the replanting of riparian vegetation took place. The downside is
that planting vegetation may take a while as time is needed for vegetation to mature before the results
can be seen.
5) Floodplain zoning
The flood which hit the Devon village of Lynmouth on August 15th 1952 was one of the worst in living
memory in Britain. Following the Lynmouth flood was flood management plans put in place to try
and prevent such a disaster. Floodplain zoning was used to identify areas around the river most at
risk from flooding.

Hydrographs

1) Rainfall characteristics
Intense rainfall
On 16 August 2004, 200.2mm of rainfall, the equivalent of three normal months, was recorded in
Boscastle. The result was a wall of water over 3m of height swept through the village.
Mississippi: Record-setting rainfall levels during Spring and Summer period in 1993. Several parts of
USA had over 200% more rain than was usual for the time of the year. Ground became saturated.
Rain ran off the saturated ground as saturation overland flow. People believed that the flood was
under control, but the time and ferocity of the flood took everyone by surprise

2) Drainage basin characteristics

Shape of drainage basin
Mackenzie River Basin, a circular basin in Canada and Yangtze River Basin, an elongated basin in
China has differences in their hydrographs, where Mackenzie river has shorter lag time, with higher
peak discharge and steeper rising limb than Yangtze River. Since both basins have the about the same
area, the amount of overland flow, throughflow and baseflow will all be the same. However, these
flows reach the Mackenzie River faster for they travel a shorter distance, resulting in a shorter lag
time and steeper rising limb. Because the overland flow for circular basins reach the river across a
shorter period of time, the peak discharge will be higher too. Therefore, different basin shapes have
varying effect on the flows to and within the river channel.
Size of drainage basin
Slope/ Gradient
Rock/ Soil type
Kennet basin is largely permeable with limestone and gravel rock type has a river discharge of
9.75m3/s, while the River Loddon is underlain mostly by impermeable rocks (shale and granite) has a
river discharge of 2.16m3/s.
Drainage density
Vegetation
Estimates suggest that tropical rainforests intercept up to 80% of rainfall wheras arable land may
intercept only 10%. Tropical rainforests intercept up to 80% of rainfall and 30% may evaporate.
River Severn flows over an area of coniferous forest – longer lag time and lower peak discharge of
66m3/s as compared to river Wye which flows over grassland and has a peak discharge of 100m 3/s.
Urbanisation
Canon’s Brook basin, Harlow (Essex)
Building for Harlow New Town began in late 1951. By 1968, 16.6 per cent of the drainage basin was
covered by impermeable surfaces which drained into sewers directly to the Canon’s Brook. A 15%
stone paving of the drainage basin increased runoff by 59.4mm, i.e. an increase of about 30 per cent
above a rural drainage basin runoff