As you will recall, the lithosphere is the solid part of the earth. It includes landforms like mountains and valleys. Landforms have a big influence on an area's weather and climate. You may not have thought about it before, but the location of a landform is probably the greatest factor to consider when it comes to determining the weather and climate of an area. As you learned earlier in the lesson, temperature can be affected by latitude. Landforms that are near the equator receive more solar energy than do landforms that are closer to the poles. The more solar energy an area receives, the warmer that area is. Can you find Australia on Figure 4.3.1? Now locate Greenland. Based on what you know about the relationship between temperature and latitude, what assumptions can you make about these two locations? Could you say that Australia is probably warmer than Greenland? Since Australia lies considerably closer to the equator than does Greenland, it is safe to assume that Australia is warmer.