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Bonjour! I'm Jennifer Pulley, and welcome to NASA Connect, the show that connects you

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to math, science, technology and NASA. On today's episode, we're filming on location

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in France. Voila! As you can see, France is a beautiful European country that is rich

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in culture and history. Here's a quick tour of some of the places we've seen during our

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trip to France.

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As you can see, France is a great place to visit, especially when you have nice weather.

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Speaking of the weather, what is one of the first things you want to know when you wake

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up in the morning? Well, if you're like me, you'll think, hmm, I wonder what the weather

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is going to be like today. You depend on information about the weather for a variety of reasons.

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You need to decide what to wear to school, and you need to plan for after-school activities

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if they're outdoors. Do you realize that the weather in the United States can have a significant

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effect on what the weather will be like here in France? Storms heading eastward from the

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Atlantic coast can bring wind and rain to Europe a few days later. We truly live in

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a global society where we all are interconnected in some way.

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Today's program will focus on predicting weather and climate change. You will learn that we

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need to work together internationally to answer some of the questions that Earth scientists

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from around the world ask every day. But before we get to those questions, let's first learn

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about the fundamentals of weather and climate.

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During the course of the program, you will be asked to answer several inquiry-based questions.

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After the questions appear on the screen, your teacher will pause the program to allow

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you time to answer and discuss the questions. This is your time to explore and become critical

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thinkers. Students working in groups take a few minutes to answer the following questions.

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How is weather different from climate? List and discuss various kinds of weather you have

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experienced. What are some factors that determine weather? What climate do you live in? It's

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now time to pause the program and answer the questions.

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Okay guys, let's talk about weather. Basically, weather is the daily condition of the Earth's

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atmosphere. Weather is produced by the interaction of several factors, which include heat, air

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pressure, winds, and moisture. Let's briefly look at each one of those factors.

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Heat transferred from the sun is absorbed by the Earth and spread through the atmosphere.

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Air temperature varies from place to place because the sun's rays strike the Earth at

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different angles.

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Air pressure is the measure of the force of the air pressing down on the Earth's surface.

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Air pressure depends on the density of the air. Denser air exerts more pressure than

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less dense air. Air pressure on the Earth can vary considerably from location to location

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due to unequal heating of the atmosphere. These air pressure differences cause the movement

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of air, which we call wind. Finally, the amount of moisture in the air, called relative humidity,

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also influences weather. Moisture in the atmosphere condenses, causing clouds to develop

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and precipitation to fall to the Earth.

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So, have you come up with a difference between weather and climate? I said earlier that weather

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is the daily condition of the Earth's atmosphere. But what about climate? Well, for most of

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us, climate means a location is hot, cold, wet, or dry.

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You see, climate is the average weather conditions for a specific region over an extended period

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of time. The climate of any place is determined by two main factors, temperature and precipitation.

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The Earth is divided into three major climate zones based on the average temperature of

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these zones. They are the tropical, temperate, and polar zones. Can you determine what climate

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zone you live in?

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To learn more about weather and climate, check out the following NASA website.