geo Flashcards
What are Convection Cells?
Convection cells are areas within a fluid where warm material is rising in the center and cold material is sinking.
How do convection cells work?
Eventually the air cools down enough to sink back towards the Earth’s surface.
This creates an area of high pressure where the air is pushing down on the surface of the planet.
The sinking cool air moves the air below to the side where it begins to warm up again and rise.
This creates a circular movement of air known as a convection cell.
How many convection cells are around the earth
6 convection cells
where are the convection cells
3 in the southern hemisphere and 3 in the northern hemisphere
Convection cell names
Hadley, Ferrel, Polar
Where is the Hadley Cell
0-30 degrees South and North
Where is the Ferrel Cell
30 – 60 degrees South and North
Where is the Polar Cell
60 – 90 degrees South and North
What happens in the Hadley Cell
In the Hadley cell, air rises up into the atmosphere at or near the equator, flows toward the poles above the surface of the Earth, returns to the Earth’s surface in the subtropics, and flows back towards the equator.
What happens in the Ferrel Cell
In the Ferrel cell, air flows poleward and eastward near the surface and equatorward and westward at higher altitudes
What happens in the Polar Cell
Air rises, diverges, and travels toward the poles.
What is Air Pressure
the weight of the air above us pushing down.
When warm air rises, the pressure “_____”.
falls
When cooler air sinks, the pressure “_____”.
rises
What is weather
Weather is the current state of the atmosphere.
It is constantly changing and is different all over the world.
Features of Weather
Temperature
Precipitation
Wind direction and strength
Air pressure
What causes weather?
The main cause of the weather is how heat is moved around the Earth.
The Earth does not receive heat from the sun “______”.
evenly
Heat must be moved around the Earth, from “___” areas to “____”.
“hot” areas to “cold”
Why does the solar radiation heats up larger surface areas
so that the energy is spread out more and heats up the surface less.
how does that atmosphere get heated up
The radiation coming from the sun is absorbed the Earths surface, due to convection cells, the atmosphere is then heat up.
does every place on Earth receive the same solar radiation
yes
no
How would Earths temperature be if heat was not moved around Earth?
Places along the Equator would get hotter and hotter and the poles would get colder and colder.
Why are convection cell useful?
They help to move the warm and cold air around the planet.
How many atmosphere’s are there, what are there names, and what order are they found in, from lowest to highest?
5 atmosphere’s, from lowest to highest, the major layers are the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere
Where does all the weather happen
1st layer, the troposphere, between 0km and 12/13km up.
What is climate
Climate is the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area.
