After studying this chapter, you should be able to accomplish the following outcomes.

Climate and the Biosphere

1. Explain how solar radiation produces variations in Earth's climate.
2. Describe how global air circulation patterns and physical geographic features help produce various patterns of temperature and rainfall about the Earth.

3. Contrast the Earth's major terrestrial biomes: tundra, forests (coniferous, temperate deciduous and tropical), shrublands, grasslands (temperate grasslands and tropical savannas), and deserts.

4. Characterize the Earth's two major aquatic ecosystems: freshwater and saltwater.
5. Discuss how ocean currents affect the climate and the weather over the continents.