Lecture 2: Variation

Question 1

What drives the climate cycle?

Answer 1

The sun

Question 2

What cycle is not driven by the sun?

Answer 2

Deep sea life.

Question 3

What kind of star is ours?

Answer 3

White dwarf

Question 4

How old is our Sol?

Answer 4

4.6 billion years old

Question 5

How long dose it take for light to go from the sun to earth?

Answer 5

8 secounds

Question 6

How much energy hits the earth?

Answer 6

340.4 watts/min at any location on earth.

Question 7

How much energy is absorbed by the atmosphere?

Answer 7

77.1 watts/min

Question 8

How much energy is reflected by the clouds and atmosphere?

Answer 8

77.0 watts/min

Question 9

How much energy is reflected by the surface?

Answer 9

22.9 watts/min

Question 10

is the amount of solar energy hitting the earth uniform?

Answer 10

No, earth is on a 23* axis so we have an uneven distribution of solar energy.

Question 11

What causes seasons?

Answer 11

How far earth is from the sin

Question 12

What is the periapsis

Answer 12

When the earth is closest to the sun

Question 13

What happens when you are in Apoapsis?

Answer 13

The earth is furthest from the sun.

Question 14

Periapsis in the southern hemisphere is…

Answer 14

Summer

Question 15

How long is one earth orbit?

Answer 15

365.4 days

Question 16

Why is the equator warmer

Answer 16

The route sunlight has to take is shorter and spread out over a more narrow surface.

Question 17

What is the cause of the longer distance of light having to travel in the north and south?

Answer 17

The solar angel of instadence.

Question 18

What is the result of the Solar Angle of Incidence?

Answer 18

Uneven warming of the planet.

Question 19

What happens to temperature as you go higher up on the planet?`

Answer 19

It will be cooler the higher up you go than at the base.

Question 20

What makes it colder at the top of the mountain than at the bottom?

Answer 20

The amount of pressure in the upper atmosphere is far lower than what seen at sea level.

Fewer molecules per given area that are moving far apart

Question 21

What is adiabatic lapse rate?

Answer 21

The amount of heat given off by molecules

it is variable as a function of how much moisture is in the air

Question 22

When you are in a humid environment what happens as you go higher up in elevation?

Answer 22

You lose a lot more heat that in a arid environment. `
10C per Km in wet

6 per Km in dry air

Question 23

What is a rain shadow?

Answer 23

at the coast there is warm moist air being blown up the side of a moutian where it decreases in pressure and cools.

it then condenses and falls on the “wind” side of the moutian.

The air then continues over the mountain as dry air, making a rain shadow of dry cold air.

Question 24

Windward side of mountains tend to be_____

Answer 24

wetter

Question 25

True or false:

Edmonton is in a rain shadow:

Answer 25

true

Question 26

What causes rain shadows?

Answer 26

Mountains.

Question 27

What drives circulation of air on the planet?

Answer 27

The sun heating the air, and hot air rising, while cool air falls.

Question 28

What happens when air begins to cool and condense?

Answer 28

You get rain.

Question 29

Where do we find most of the worlds major desserts?

Answer 29

At 30 Degrees latitude on either side of the Equator

Question 30

What are the cells of air circulation from the equator to the poles called?

Answer 30

They care called Hadley cells.

Question 31

What is a polar cell?

Answer 31

A air flow at 60 degrees north that has warm air coming from the south and cool air coming from the north. `

Question 32

What is a ferrel cell?

Answer 32

less stable than the polar or hadley cell.

They occur at mid-latitude locations and travel in opposite directions.

Question 33

What direction dose the planet rotate?

Answer 33

east to west

Question 34

What is the Coriolis effect?

Answer 34

What drives the major wind directions in the northern and southern hemispheres

Question 35

What happens in the northern Hemisphere as in respect to the Coriolis effect?

Answer 35

Apparent deflection of winds to the right of their direction of travel (clockwise)

• this causes storms to spin counterclockwise

Question 36

What happens in the southern Hemisphere as in respect to the Coriolis effect?

Answer 36

• Apparent deflection of Winds to the left of their direction of travel (Counterclockwise)
• This causes storms to spin clockwise