Climate Processes

Question 1

What are the 3 characteristics of systems

Answer 1

-components (hill slope, river channels)
-a flow of energy which powers the components (inputs or outputs)
-internal regulation of their functioning (positive/negative feedback)

Question 2

What is the different in climate and weather

Answer 2

Climate: average temperature/ weather of any area over 30yrs
Weather: day to day events in a climate system

Question 3

What are the 4 layers of atmosphere

Answer 3

-troposphere (layer which we live, weather occurs and ghg are trapped)
-stratosphere (temperatures increase with height due to ozone layer
-mesosphere: no absorption of heat so temperature cools
-thermosphere: temperature rise again due to being heated by the sun

Question 4

The ghg effect

Answer 4

-the natural ghg effect makes the earth warmer and livable, natural ghg keep earth at 33 degrees however extract ghg enhances these effects and increases temperature

Question 5

Global ocean circulation patterns

Answer 5

-warm water from tropical equatorial regions into the north or south hemispheres in colder water
-the same the other way round

Question 6

Facts about the suns main energy source

Answer 6

-solar energy: 1 trillion megaton atomic bomb per second
-energy emitted from the sun 3.9 x 10 (26) watts

Question 7

Boltman law

Answer 7

-the total energy radiated per unit surface area of a black body per unit time is directly proportional to the fourth power of the black body’s thermodynamic temperature
-5.67 x10(-8) wm (-2) k(-4) X temperature

Question 8

Weirns law

Answer 8

-the relationship between the temperature of a black body and the wavelength at which it produces the greatest amount of light
-constant equal to 2897 X temperature

Question 9

What are the seasonal changes in the earths axis tilt

Answer 9

-there is a change in a radiation distribution from summer to winter due to the change in the earths axis tilt.
-longer radiation distribution is in January (perihelion) and shortest in July (aphelion)
-energy is highest in northern hemisphere in July and highest in Southern Hemisphere in January

Question 10

Milankovitch cycle:

Answer 10

-periodic change in the orbital characteristics of earth
-axial precession: when the axis wobbles
-charge in obliquity: tilt in the axis (41yrs temp changes from 21.5-24.5 degrees)
-eccentricity: change in orbital shape (circle to oval)

Question 11

What is direct and diffuse solar radiation

Answer 11

-direct: shortwave radiation taht passes uninterrupted through the atmosphere
-diffuse: shortwave radiation that is scattered or reflected downwards that has a interrupted path to the surface but does make it

Question 12

Net radiation wave lengths equations:

Answer 12

Shortwave length: incoming SW-reflected SW
Net long wave: incoming LW-reflected LW
Net radiation: net SW + net LW

Question 13

Energy balance equation

Answer 13

Net radiation: sensible heat + latent heat + subsurface heat

Question 14

What happened to radiation in day and night

Answer 14

-moist day: most radiation goes into latent heat with little sensible heating of the atmosphere
-moist night: night has no SW radiation. Atmosphere is warmer and moist

Question 15

What are the changes in relative humidity with temperature increase

Answer 15

Of teh temperature increases the water vapour amount stays the same but the relative humidity decreases

Question 16

What is potential and actual evaporation

Answer 16

Potential: the amount that would be evaporated if there was no limit of water available
Actual: the amount actual evaporated

Question 17

What is lapse rates and atmospheric stability

Answer 17

-rate of change in temperature with height through the lower layers of teh atmosphere
-adiabatic LR: what occurs as a parcel of air rises, decreases in pressure and temperature but increases in volume. Opposite for returning to earth

Question 18

What happens with adiabatic relationships

Answer 18

-temp of parcel of air > surrounding air than the parcel of air is lighter than its environment it will rise
-temp of parcel of air = surrounding air than the parcel remains the still
-temp of parcel of air < surrounding air temp gah parcel of air is heavier and it will sink

Question 19

Direct causes of precipitation

Answer 19

-air mass mixing (warm and cool air)
-increased water content
-dynamic cooling (cooling/warming due to expansion/compression or no heat added or subtracted

Question 20

Causes of parcels of air to uplift

Answer 20

-convective lifting (thunderstorms)
-orographic lifting (over mountains)
-frontal wedging (contrasting air masses meeting)
-convergence (bumping of two opposing streams of air )

Question 21

What are the visible signs of atmospheric moisture

Answer 21

-global cloud amount
-precipitation
-effective precipitation
-soil moisture
-global run off

Question 22

What is the coriolis effect

Answer 22

-the wind deflects right in the northern hemisphere and left in the Southern Hemisphere causing a direction of wind. Wind speed increases closer to teh poles

Question 23

What is the influence of surface friction

Answer 23

-friction reduces the wind speed whcih reduces coriolis force
-northern hemisphere: surface winds blow counter clockwise and inward into a surface low, and clockwise and out of surface high in the NH
-Southern Hemisphere: coriolis force acts to the left rather than the right. Causes winds of teh Southern Hemisphere to blow clockwise and inward around surface lows and the counter clockwise and outward around surface highs

Question 24

What are teh cells in the atmospheric circulation systems

Answer 24

-polar (driven)
-Ferrell (movement of air from the other cells)
-Hadly (driven)

Question 25

Causes of jet streams

Answer 25

-streams of air taht move up or down. Polar or subtropical jet streams
Causes:
-planets rotation, atmospheric heating
-latitudinal and vertical large gradients of temperature and pressure at the intersection of a colder air mass from the north with a warmer air mass from the south

Question 26

What are rossby waves

Answer 26

Meandering jet streams in the upper westerlies

Question 27

Upper and lower level convergence

Answer 27

-air sinks from zone of convergence (2 flows meet) towards the surface creating an area of high pressure. Therefor down wind of a ridge and up wind of a trough subsidence generally leads to good weather in the area of high pressure
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Question 28

What are air masses

Answer 28

-large volumes of air with homogeneous thermal, moisture and stability characteristics formed by air sitting over an ocean or land surface for several days

Question 29

What is a cold/warm/occluded front

Answer 29

-A cold front is defined as the transition zone where a cold air mass is replacing a warmer air mass
-A warm front is defined as the transition zone where a warm air mass is replacing a cold air mass
-An Occluded Front forms when a warm air mass gets caught between two cold air masses

Question 30

Importance of oceans for climate

Answer 30

-ocean holds a large amount of heat, water and carbon dioxide
-global ocean circulation transports heat, water and co2 over large distances compared to the atmosphere
-compared to land, oceans are thermally conservative, no large variations in temperature and need 4x the heat required to raise the temperature of water compared to air

Question 31

What happened in ocean acidification

Answer 31

-when co2 dissolves in the seawater it forms carbonic acid and as more co2 is taken up by the oceans surface the ph balance decreases moving towards a less alkaline and therefore more acidic state.
-rising acidity can drop she’ll formation and impact the ecology

Question 32

The relationship between phytoplankton, dimeyhyl sulphide and cloud condensation nuclei

Answer 32

When P evaporate it goes into the atmosphere as DS with additional iron creating sulphate aerosols which form into a cloud

Question 33

What is the CLAWS hypothesis of global climate regulation

Answer 33

-the hypothesis describes a feedback loop that begins with an increase in the available energy from the sun acting to increase the growth rates of phytoplankton by either a physiological effect or enhance photosynthesis
-clouds reflect sunlight into space-> cooling temperature Lower phytoplankton, less DMS->less clouds-> sunlight reaches earth->warmer temperatures more phytoplankton and DMS-> more clouds

Question 34

How to observe data from the oceans

Answer 34

-bucket method: sample first few meters and deeper waters tk compared temperatures
-observing ships collect SST data
-ocean observing systems: forecast further conditions of teh sea
-Argo floats: robotic floats that are below surface, measured temperature, salinity, pressure and biochemical measurements)

Question 35

Ocean circulation

Answer 35

-global wind patterns
-surface ocean circulation
-ocean gyres: large systems of circular ocean currents formed by global wind patterns and forced created by earths rotation. 5 major ones in major oceans
-equatorial and counter currents
-momentum transfer to ocean surface
-areas of upwelling cold water

Question 36

What is Elkman current

Answer 36

-surface current that develops from steady wind at the ocean surface. As wind blows over the ocean a surface current develops due to the drag at the wind water interface.
-ekman spiral: indicates that each moving layer is deflected to the right of the overlaying layers movement
-as wind blows across the ocean it moves water because of friday ion at the ocean surface. It moves surface water away from the coast and replaces this water upwelling cold water

Question 37

Deep ocean thermohaline circulation