Climate of Ankara, Turkey

Chelsea Natale

The main focus of this paper is to discuss the latitude, elevation, wind patterns/ocean currents, and landforms in Ankara, Turkey. All these factors influence the climate. Below is the reasoning behind each factor and why it has affected the climate.

Ankara , Turkey is in the middle latitudes. It is between the Artic Circle and Tropic of Cancer. Ankara is located in a mountainous area, but there are also green lands and valleys there, too. Since Ankara is located in the middle latitudes it experiences a temperate climate. Since Ankara is in the middle latitudes it gets warm masses of air from the tropics during the summer and cold masses of air from the high latitudes during the winter. The weather in the middle latitudes changes dramatically throughout the seasons, because the amount and strength of the sunlight is seasonal.

The approximate elevation of Ankara, Turkey is 2,800 feet above sea level. As a rule, for every 1000 feet gained you can expect the temperature to cool 3.5 degrees (F). Applying this to Ankara, elevation has a cooling influence of around 10 degrees (F).

The wind patterns in Ankara, Turkey are the westerlies, which blow from the west to the east. Ocean currents do not have an impact on Ankara's climate because it is far inland and away from any oceans.

Landforms are significant to Ankara, because it is inland. This means that it will experience more widely changing temperatures, because there is no large body of water nearby to collect heat and release it.

Ankara 's climate is determined by the mix of location, elevation, landforms, and wind patterns. In this case, the variation in Ankara's climate is most noticeably caused by elevation, latitude, and landforms.