The previous questions strongly suggest that the distance of a city from an ocean is a very good indicator of the city’s seasonal temperature variation. Why do you think this is?
Worked Example
By referring to the specific heat capacity of water, explain why a city’s distance from the ocean is such a useful indicator of the seasonal temperature variation of the city.
Because water has a very high specific heat capacity, the ocean warms and cools much more slowly than air does. Therefore, the ocean is typically cooler than the air during the summer but warmer than the air during the winter. Then, in the summer, the ocean absorbs heat from the air but, in the winter, the ocean releases heat to the air. Overall, the ocean causes the air nearby to be cooler in summer and warmer in the winter. Consequently, cities which are close to the ocean experience this moderating effect and have relatively small seasonal temperature variations, but cities that are farther from the ocean do not experience the moderating effect and experience large seasonal temperature swings.
As the previous Worked Example explains, the large specific heat capacity of water allows the ocean to minimize the temperature variation of coastal cities.