Secondary resources > Geography KS3 > Africa
Overview - Climate - Water - Cities - Resources - Sustainability - Fashion
An introduction to the weather and climate of the continent of Africa.
If you think about Africa, you maybe think of a very hot and dry place. But the climate and weather on this great continent is amazingly varied.
The Sahara desert can often reach temperatures of 50 degrees Celsius…but some of the mountains in Tanzania and Kenya hold glaciers!
Savanna regions only receive rain during one wet season every year – but the rainforest of the Congo is one of the wettest places on Earth!
The climate of a region, and its weather patterns, depend on a range of factors. And the equator, which crosses the middle of Africa, is one of the most significant!
And to the north and south, there are two other important zones – the Tropic of Cancer, and the Tropic of Capricorn.
They’re not just lines that have been drawn on the map, though! Satellite views show us some distinct patterns. Across this band here, rainforests are dominant. And to the north and south, there are clear bands of desert. That’s because insolation - the energy received from the sun - is greatest at the equator.
That energy creates strong currents of rising air. And they don’t just rise – they become circular currents, called convection cells, streaming off to the north and the south.
The rising air at the equator is charged with water – so in those areas, there’s a lot of clouds, rainfall, and thunderstorms. All that heat and precipitation creates the rainforest biome of the Congo Basin.
So the air that keeps moving around the convection cell has lost all its water, but it still has a lot of heat energy! And the areas whereall that hot, dry air descends are the deserts which we can see around 30 degrees to the north, and the south, of the equator.
And being divided by the equator means that when it’s summer in North Africa, it’s winter in Southern Africa…the seasons are always opposite. As the Earth tilts on its axis, one end of Africa, or the other, is always tilted towards the sun.
But local climates, and biomes, are formed by far more than just how close to the equator they are. Africa’s great rivers - such as the Nile, the Congo, or the Zambezi - channel huge quantities of water, shaping the ecosystems of the land that they run through.
Water stores solar energy, so rivers and lakes and oceans actually influence the weather of their surrounding areas, creating coolersummers and warmer winters.
Altitude helps to determine local weather too. At higher altitudes, the air is less dense, and holds less moisture, so it’s not so goodat retaining heat. That means that high altitude areas are usually cooler and dryer.
So across Africa, terrains are being shaped by climate patterns. But Africa is being severely affected by climate change, as the planet heats up. Some countries are experiencing droughts year after year, while some regions in the desert are starting to receive far more rain, and across many parts of Africa floods are becoming more frequent.
In the coastal regions of South Africa, we usually have great weather: not too hot in the summers, not too cool in the winters. And from where I’m standing, I can see exactly how one geographical feature shapes the climate.
That’s Table Mountain and here - in Cape Town - it literally makes our weather. That’s because moist air is blown up the slopes, cools quickly and creates clouds. That creates rainfall for the area all around and creates a rich biome.
But if it wasn’t for Table Mountain giving us clouds and rainfall, this whole area would be almost as dry as a desert!
Overview of climate zones and biomes.
Download/print a transcript of this episode (pdf).
Join presenter, Chioma, as she explains the variety of weather and climate experienced in different parts of Africa.
The video explores the factors that determine the weather and climate across a range of locations in Africa, including distance from the equator, convection cells and altitude.
The video returns to Cape Town to investigate how Table Mountain impacts the local weather and climate.
Teacher Notes
Download/print the Teacher Notes for this episode (pdf).
Teacher Notes prepared in partnership with the Geographical Association.
Before watching the video
- Explain that Africa is a vast continent of 54 very different countries each their own physical and human features.
- Locate Africa on a map and identify the equator and the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Ask students how Africa’s vast size and location may affect the weather, climate and biomes - for example, which biome is found on the equator?
- Introduce key terms such as:
Glacier: a slow-moving river of ice.
Insolation: the amount of solar radiation reaching a given area.
Convection cell: an area in which warm and cold air circulate within the troposphere. There are three convection cells either side of the equator.
Altitude: the height above sea level.
Climate change: The long-term shift in temperature and weather patterns.
While watching
You may wish to stop at relevant points during this short film to pose questions and check understanding, or wait until the end. Useful questions might include:
- How hot does the Sahara Desert get?
- Why might there be glaciers in locations such as Tanzania and Kenya?
- Why is the Congo rainforest so wet?
- What type of biome can we see in the areas bisected by the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn?
- Why are the deserts much drier than the tropical rainforests?
- What impact does the Earth’s tilt have on the seasons?
- What impact does Table Mountain have on Cape Town?
After watching
- Discuss the variety of factors that affect the weather and climate across Africa. Students could create a table of them to help them to explain how those factors affect the weather and climate in Africa.
- Using climate graphs of Cape Town and London compare the weather and climate of the two cities. What similarities and differences can students see between the two locations? Look back at the factors that affect climate to decide on which factors are likely to cause those similarities and differences.
- Students could create a biome map and add in the three convection cells either side of the equator to help them to understand the impacts of these cells on the weather, climate and biome distribution.
Where next?
- Climate change is having a huge impact on Africa with some countries experiencing widespread droughts, whereas others are receiving greatly increased rainfall leading to flooding.
- One impact of climate change is increased tropical storms. The southeast of Africa experiences tropical cyclones - for example Chido in December 2024 and Idai in March 2019.
- Research the causes and effects of tropical cyclones on Africa. Why are they increasing due to climate change?
Links
Global atmospheric circulation:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zpykxsg/revision/1
Weather:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zx38q6f/articles/zqnb3j6
Climate:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zx38q6f/articles/zqqvf82
Climate change:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zx38q6f/articles/z773ydm
Curriculum notes
This clip will be relevant for teaching Geography at KS3 in England and Northern Ireland, 3rd/4th Level in Scotland and Progression Step 4 in Wales.
In the English National Curriculum this video can be used to help teach the following:
- Using maps of the world to focus on Africa, focusing on the environmental regions, hot deserts, key physical features, countries and major cities.
- Physical geography relating to weather and climate.
- How physical and human processes interact to influence and change environments and the climate.
Resources
Teacher Notes
Download/print the Teacher Notes for this episode (pdf).
Transcript
Download/print the transcript of this episode (pdf).
Secondary resources > Geography KS3 > Africa
Overview - Climate - Water - Cities - Resources - Sustainability - Fashion
