2. Radiation Basics Flashcards
What is Allen’s rule?
In warm/dry weather animals will have more surface area donated to the cooling of the systems compared to cold areas where animals have a very small surface area donated to the cooling (ie. The rabbit: big ears to very small ears)
In warm/dry areas there is more pigmentation of the animals versus less pigmentation of animals in colder areas. (Ie. brown rabbits in warm/dry versus whit in cold)
What is Bergman’s rule?
As the latitude increases so does the size of animals.
Females are almost always smaller than males are.
What is the principal source of energy for life on earth?
The sun
What is latitude?
Set of imaginary lines that run from west to east around the earth, paralleling the equator and each other.
Measured as the angle between the equator (0) and the poles (90).
Is there a global pattern of diversity?
Yes. There is more diversity in species of plants and animals near the equator and more productivity near the equator.
Perihelion v aphelion.
Earth receives 7% more energy from sun at perihelion.
Perihelion: January 4
Aphelion: July 4
What is the axial tilt (inclination)?
23.5
What is atmospheric attenuation?
Maximum energy is found at the point where the Suns rays are perpendicular to the surface, the subpolar point. Intensity of energy decreases with increasing latitude.
What is axial parallelism?
The tilt of the earths axis does not change and is parallel regardless of orbital location.
What are the solstices and equinoxes?
Spring equinox: March 21
June solstice (summer): June 21
Autumn Equinox: September 23
December solstice (winter): December 21
What is a solstice?
Shortest day or shortest night
End member of the seasonal calendar
What is an Equinox?
Day and night are the same length
Mid period of solar calendars
What is photoperiodism?
The physiological reaction of organisms to the length of day or night
How does day length affect organisms?
With temp changes photoperiod provokes changes in color of fur and feathers, migration, entry to hibernation, sexual behavior, and resizing of sexual organs.
What are log day plants?
They flower when day length increases beyond critical threshold
What are short day plants?
They flower when day length decreases below some critical threshold
What are day neutral plants?
They do not initiate flowering based on photoperiod. Flowering is related to development stages or age.
What is the difference between obligate and facultative photoperiodic plants?
Obligate: absolutely require a long or short enough night before flowering
Facultative: more likely to flower under appropriate light conditions, will eventually flower regardless of night length
What is electromagnetic radiation?
Radiant energy traveling at the speed of light and manifesting as waves in electric and magnetic fields
What is the electro magnetic spectrum?
The full range of all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation
How are energy waves measured?
- Wavelength measures full cycle of a single wave.
- Measured between 2 corresponding pints such as crests or troughs
- Measured in hertz - number of wave cycles per second
What is an energy budget?
It describes the balance between shortwave radiation received from the sun and infrared (long-wave) radiation transferred back into space
What is the difference between shortwave and longwave radiation?
Short: energy from sun - peaks in visible wavelengths - higher temps and higher energy
Long: energy from earth - peaks in thermal wavelengths - lower temps and lower energy
What is Stefan Boltzmann law?
States that energy radiated from an object is directly proportional to the objects temperature raised to the fourth power.
What is insolation?
Incoming Solar Radiation - more a the equator
Explain the percentages of short and long wave radiation.
Incoming radiation = 100% -29% is reflected by clouds, atmosphere, particles, & earth's surface -48% absorbed by earth's surface -23% absorbed by the water Of 48% absorbed radiation -25% evaporation -5% convection -18% longwave radiation
What is convection?
Convective heat transfer involves the combined processes of conduction and advection.
What is sensible heat flux?
A process of which through direct conduct, the earth’s surface heats the adjacent atmosphere
What is evaporation?
Evaporative heat loss involves the phase change of water from a liquid to a gas
What is latent heat flux?
A process where heat energy is stored in random motions of water vapor molecules.
What is the green house effect?
The trapping of the sun’s warmth in the lower atmosphere because greater transparency of atmosphere to visible radiation from the sun, than to infrared radiation emitted from the planets surface.
*moon receives the same but little atmosphere so fluctuation from -170 to 130C
What makes up earth’s atmosphere?
78% nitrogen
21% oxygen
1% multiple others
What are the contributions and life times of water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane to the greenhouse effect?
water vapor - 36-71%, roughly 9 days
carbon dioxide - 9-26%, roughly 35-90 years
methane - 4-9%, roughly 10 years
What does albedo mean?
the % of energy reflected back of the total amount received at earths surface
What does energy radiant mean?
it describes the direction and rate that the amount of net energy changes between one place and another.
What is a desert?
region that doesn’t receive enough moisture to support the growth of most plants, often averaging less than 10 inches in precipitation a year.
Why does temperature decrease with elevation?
- low density and kinetic energy higher up = cooler; more dense and high kinetic energy lower = warmer
- convection - 117% heat radiated by earth’s surface
What are the layers of the atmosphere?
troposphere, tropopause, stratosphere, **, **
What is the troposphere?
75% of the atmospheric mass and almost all of the water vapor, temps decrease with altitude increase
What is the stratosphere?
temps increase as altitude increases, 90% of ozone is contained here, 20% of the atmospheric mass
What is the tropopause?
the boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere, the height where temps no longer decrease with altitude, where most of the weather systems are
