Rain clouds moving from west to east are blocked by a mountain range and cause rain only on the western side. This makes the climate on the western side rainy and the eastern side dry. Which of these Earth systems interact to produce this difference in climate? (2 points)
Answers
Explanation:
A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from oncoming winds — known as its leeward side.
Effect of a rain shadow
The Tibetan Plateau (center), perhaps the best example of a rain shadow. Rainfalls from the southern South Asian monsoon do not make it far past the Himalayas (seen by the snow line at the bottom), leading to an arid climate on the leeward (north) side of the mountain range and the desertification of the Tarim Basin (top).
Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) are carried by the prevailing onshore breezes towards the drier and hotter inland areas. When encountering elevated landforms, the moist air is driven upslope towards the peak, where it also condenses into nimbuses and starts to precipitate. If the landforms are tall and wide enough to block or sufficiently delay the passage of these rain-producing weather systems, most (if not all) of the humidity will be lost to precipitation over the windward side (also known as the rainward side) before ever making it past the top, and the air also forms foehn winds on the leeward side that absorb moisture downslope, therefore casting a broad "shadow" of dry climate region behind the mountain crests, usually in the form of shrub-steppe, xeric shrublands or even deserts.