Earth Science 7 Africa 4
Contents
Africa
Earth Science 7- Regions Countries: Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Canary Islands Cape Verde Central African Republic Ceuta Chad Comoros Côte d'Ivoire Democratic Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Madeira Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Melilla Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Republic of the Congo Réunion Rwanda Saint Helena São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Western Sahara Zambia Zimbabwe [1]
Latitude Range and Longitude:
Range:38°N-34°S; 17°W-49°E [2]
Elevation Range:
Highest Spot: Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (19,334 ft) Lowest Spot: Lake Assal, Djibouti (-509 ft) [3]
Large Bodies of Water:
Longest River: Nile River 4125 mi. Largest Lake: Victoria Lake 26,834 sq. mi [4]
Major Topographic Features:
Mountain Ranges: Atlas Mountains, Drakensburg Mountains Large Basins:The Lake Chad Basin, The Congo Basin, The Niger Basin,The Nile Basin, The Orange Basin,Zambezi Basin [5]
Bordering Oceans and Seas:
Red sea, Mediterranean sea,Arabian sea, Atlantic Ocean, Indian ocean [6]
South Africa
Climate Zone
The climate zone of the southern region of Africa is classified on the Köppen climate classification chart as Cwa, BSh, BWh, Aw, CWb, Csb, Cfb, and BSk.
There are many cities in South Africa, so the average monthly precipiation, rainfall, and high/low temperatures may differ. Here are a few examples of the averages in a southern town called Cape Town.
Cape Town Monthly Temperatures; Maximum and minimum:
| Cape Town Temperature | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Annual | |
| Avg. Max Temperature in ºF | 77 | 78 | 76 | 72 | 67 | 64 | 62 | 63 | 65 | 69 | 72 | 75 | ||
| Avg. Min Temperature in ºF | 63 | 63 | 60 | 56 | 52 | 48 | 47 | 48 | 51 | 54 | 58 | 61 | ||
Average Precipitation in Cape Town
| Cape Town Precipitation | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| Precipitation (inches) | 0.60 | 0.60 | 0.80 | 1.60 | 2.70 | 3.70 | 3.30 | 3.00 | 1.60 | 0.10 | 0 | 0.70 | |
Factors that affect the climate of South Africa:
Latitude: South Africa latitude of 29° 00' S The specific latitude of South Africa suggests its position in Northern Hemisphere and its moderate proximity to the equator. South Africa is located towards the southern point of the African Continent.
The topography of South Africa is filled with almost plain and flat high land while the coastal regions are thin. There are a few areas with high elevation, like the Lesotho Highlands, while places like the Limpopo Plain are low. The climatic condition of South Africa is mainly arid and dry. Regions that make contact with the ocean are usually have temperate conditions and weather. The eastern coastline is dominated by sub tropic weather. The days are usually filled with sunlight and nights are cold. [9]
Prevailing Winds
The prevailing winds are moist winds from the NE and dry winds from the SE causing a varied climate. [10]
Vegetation
There are more than 20,000 different plants located in South Africa.The fynbos vegetation zone mainly consists of evergreen hard-leave plants with usually fine, needle-like leaves. The by far biggest part of South Africa is grassland. the plant cover is dominated by different grasses, low shrubs and acacia trees, mainly camel-thorn and white-thorn.Towards the north-west the vegetation becomes - due to the low precipitation - sparse. [11]
Proximity of Water
Africa is bounded by the Atlantic ocean in the West, and the Indian Ocean in the East. [12]\
Ocean Currents
The water to the West of South Africa spins in a counter-clockwise motion. While on the Eastern side in the Indian Ocean,the currents veer towards the Cape of Good Hope, but if you go out to far, they veer sharply towards Australia. [13]
Recent News
October: high temp, over 112 degrees Fahrenheit
References
- ↑ [1] http://www.hmnet.com/africa/1africa.html
- ↑ [2] http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/testmaps/latslongs.htm
- ↑ [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Africa
- ↑ [3] http://lasauniversity.tripod.com/water.htm
- ↑ [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremes_on_Earth
- ↑ [5] http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_oceans_border_Egypt
- ↑ http://www.uwmc.uwc.edu/geography/100/koppen_web/koppen_map.htm
- ↑ http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/SFXX0010
- ↑ http://www.mapsofworld.com/lat_long/south-africa-lat-long.html
- ↑ http://www.fortunecity.com/oasis/skegness/394/geogra.htm
- ↑ http://www.southafrica-travel.net/pages/e_plants.htm
- ↑ http://traveltips.usatoday.com/major-bodies-water-near-south-africa-62845.html
- ↑ http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Mi-Oc/Ocean-Currents.html
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Made by: Matthew, Sophia, and Wade
