life on a rotating planet Flashcards
what is the latitudinal imbalance in the earths rotation?
• Net radiation gain at low latitudes, such as the tropics
• Net radiation loss at high latitudes, the poles.
Heat must be transferred from equatorial regions towards the poles for global balance.
what are the 2 ways to produce net radiation?
• There are 2 ways to do this- latent heat of water and sensitive heat through the atmosphere.
what planet cannot hold a latitudinal imbalance?
• Mercury has no atmosphere or ocean, so cannot do this.
what are the 3 single cells of rotation?
Hadley and Polar and Ferrel
which of the cells are thermally direct?
hadley and ploar
which of the cells is thermally indirect?
Ferrel
what do the cells cause?
Causes the salinity of the ocean to vary and affect circulation.
Determines the rotation of rainforests and deserts
Rain occurs where the winds converge and where warm air rises. Near the equator, and at higher temperature latitudes.
Drying evaporation occurs where wings diverge.
how does the tilt affect the axis?
Due to the tilt, or obliquity of axis to normal to ecliptic.
how is light intensity changed in ocean water?
In clear ocean water, light intensity is reduced to about 1% at 100m depth.
Red and violet ends of the spectrum are absorbed faster than blue and green
Based of photic zone is defined at 1% light level
Coincides with max depth of mixed layer based.
how does the atmosphere and ocean surface later separate?
Separating; atmosphere and ocean surface layer- ocean deep layer. Sea surface- air water interface. There is a mixing process, and thermocline and pycnocline interface.
why is the earth rotating annoying?
The earth rotates; this is terribly inconvenient since it makes analysing and predicting motion much more difficult.
stratosphere
beginning at the troposphere and continuing up form 10 km, the temperature stays the same. Then it slowly rises reaching a maximum of 0 degrees, at the elevation of 47km, a boundary called the stratosphere. The layer between the troposphere and the stratopause is called the stratosphere, as it doesn’t convect and thus remains stable and stratified. The stratosphere doesn’t and mix with the underlying troposphere, because at the tropopause hotter air already lies on the top of the cooler air. Most of the ozone in the earths atmosphere resides in the stratosphere. Heating in the stratosphere happens because the ozone absorbs solar radiation.
mesosphere
the temperature decreases in the interval called the mesosphere. From 47 to 82 km. At the mesopause, the top of the mesosphere, tempertaure has dropped by about -85 degrees. The mesosphere doesn’t absorb much solar energy, and thus cools with increasing distance from the hooter stratosphere below. Most meteors being burning here, and have vaporised by the time they reach the altitude of 25 km.
what provides the centripetal force?
The vertical component of centripetal force needed to act on an object on earths surface is easily supplied by gravity.
what is the troposphere
this layer starts at the surface of the earth, and rises to an elevation of 9 km at the poles, and 12km at the equator.
what is the stratosphere
beginning at the troposphere and continuing up form 10 km, the temperature stays the same. Then it slowly rises reaching a maximum of 0 degrees, at the elevation of 47km, a boundary called the stratosphere.
what is the mesosphere
the temperature decreases in the interval called the mesosphere. From 47 to 82 km. At the mesopause, the top of the mesosphere, tempertaure has dropped by about -85 degrees.
what is the thermosphere
the outermost layer of the atmosphere, contains very little of the atmospheres gas, less than 1%. The temperatures increase with elevation in this layer, because gases of the thermosphere absorb short-wavelength solar energy., because the thermosphere has so little gas, it contains very little heat, even though it registers a high temperature.. Thus, an astronaut walking in space at an elevation of 200 km doesn’t feel hot.
how strong are the densities of gas in the 3 lower levels of the atmosphere?
The densities of gases in the lower 3 levels of the atmosphere are great enough that moving atoms and molecules frequently collide. They bounce off each other, and shoot off in different directions. This constant motion stirs the gases sufficiently to make a homogenous mixture, so that the air in the lower 3 layers has essentially the same proportion of different gases, regardless of location.
what is the homosphere?
atmospheric scientists refer to the troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere together, as the homosphere. In contrast, the atoms and molecules in the low density thermosphere, collide so infrequently that this layer doesn’t homogenize.
what is the ionosphere
is the internal between 60 and 400 km, and includes most of the mesosphere, and the lower part of the thermosphere. It was given its name due to short-wavelength solar energy strops nitrogen molecules, and oxygen atoms of the electrons and transforms them into positive ions.
what does the ionosphere host?
The ionosphere also host a spectacular atmospheric phenomenon, the auroras. (aurora borealis in the northern hemisphere, and aurora Australis in the southern). This looks like undulating, ghostly curtains of varicoloured light in the night sky.
examples of wind in todays weather
We can feel the wind, due to the impact of air modules as they strike us. The existence of wind illustrates that the lower part of the atmosphere is in constant motion, swirling and overturning at rates between a fraction of a kilometre and a few hundred kilometres per hour. This circulation happens on 2 scales- local and global.
Local circulation refers to the movement of air over a distance of ten to 10000 kilometres.
Global circulation refers to the movement of volume of air in oaths that ultimately carry it around the entire planet.
what is the rate of pressure in the atmosphere?
The rate of pressure change over a given horizontal distance, called a pressure gradient, can be represented by the slope of a line on a graph plotting pressure on the vertical axis and distance on the horizontal axis.
how does air circulation work?
Air circulation, like the movement of water in a heated pot, results from convection, heated air expands and becomes less dense, so it rises to be replaced by sinking cooler denser air. In the case of the earths atmosphere, the energy comes from solar radiation.
why dont all areas recieve the same amount of solar energy?
Beacuse the earth is a sphere, not all areas receive the same amount of incoming solar energy, or insolation, portions of the earths surface hit by direct rays of the sun receive more energy per square metre than portions hit by oblique rays.
jwhy are polar regions cooler at the surface than equatorial regions?
The contrast in the amount of solar radiation received by different latitudes means that the polar regions are cooler at the surface than the equatorial regions. This contract could cause global air to circulate by convection.
what does the coriolis effect produce?
In sun, because of the Coriolis effect, circulating air in the troposphere splits into three globe-encircling convection cells in each hemisphere. The low-latitude cells, extending from the equator to a latitude about 30 degrees, are called HADLEY CELLS. The mid-latitude cells are called FERREL CELLS. The high latitude cells are called POLAR CELLS.
