118 FIRST YEAR COURSE IN GENERAL SCIENCE 



the land has absorbed at 80. The water also retains its 

 heat longer than the land. 



At the beginning of the warm season, a large body of water 

 remains for some time cooler than the land, and "sea breezes " 

 temper the heat along its shores. At the close of the warm 

 season, on the other hand, the sea or lake cools more slowly 

 than the land. The general effect of a large body of water 

 is to make the climate of coast or island, both summer and 

 winter, less extreme than the climate of the interior at the 

 same latitude. The difference between the average winter 

 temperature and the average summer temperature of a 

 coast or island is smaller than the difference in the interior 

 of a continent. The climate of Bermuda or Hawaii, for 

 instance, is much more equable than that of the interior of 

 the United States in the same latitudes. (LABORATORY 

 MANUAL, Exercise XIII.) 



This third condition - nearness to the ocean has an 

 important relation to rainfall, which is another great factor 

 affecting climatic conditions. The amount of rainfall is 

 largely dependent upon the direction of winds, whether 

 coming from an ocean or from an arid region. 



Water on the surface of the ocean is constantly changing 

 to vapor and passing into the air. As this vapor-laden air 

 spreads over the continent and meets cooler air, or rises 

 over high lands, the vapor condenses and rain or snow falls. 

 Air from the ocean always carries vapor; the amount varies, 

 inasmuch as cool air absorbs less vapor than warm air. 

 Winds from the desert, on the other hand, contain so little 

 vapor that they bring no rain. 



128. Changes in Climate. Elderly people sometimes 

 remark, "The climate has changed since I was young." 

 The climate is doubtless the same, but the circumstances 

 under which people live and travel have changed so greatly 

 that it is natural that people should think there have been 

 changes of climate. 



