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Climate Systems > Midterm > Flashcards

Midterm Flashcards

1
Q

Why doesn’t gravity collapse the atmosphere?

A

Pressure Gradient Force

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2
Q

How does PGF function?

A

Exerted upwards by atmosphere which balances gravity / air is directed from high pressure to low pressure

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3
Q

How are molecules attracted to Earth’s surface?

A

Gravitational Force

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4
Q

Force Equation

A

Mass x acceleration

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5
Q

What is pressure?

A

Force over a given area

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6
Q

How does the vertical profile of atmo behave?

A

Pressure decreases with altitude in the atmo.

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7
Q

What is hydrostatic balance?

A

The balance between the downward gravitational force and the upward PGF

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8
Q

Pressure equation

A

force/area

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9
Q

What does isothermal atmosphere assumption mean?

A

constant temperature of entire atmosphere

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10
Q

What is the solar luminosity value?

A

3.87 x 10^26

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11
Q

What is the solar constant?

A

1368

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12
Q

Solar luminosity definition

A

the total rate of energy released by the sun

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13
Q

How do we find solar constant?

A

using mean distance between Earth and the sun, we get a constant solar irradiance value

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14
Q

How do we use solar constant?

A

Represents the annual average solar irradiance value

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15
Q

How does Earth maintain a constant temperature?

A

Energy In = Energy out

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16
Q

If the energies do no equal what happens?

A

Earth’s temperature changes

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17
Q

What does disk Earth do?

A

receives solar radiation over the area of the disk

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18
Q

What does sphere Earth do?

A

Emits radiation over the surface area of a sphere

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19
Q

What is the emission temperature of Earth?

A

255K

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20
Q

How is most of radiation emitted?

A

Most are emitted to space via the atmosphere, not the surface (to maintain energy balance)

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21
Q

Zero dimensional energy balance model?

A

Transparent atmosphere, the surface temperature would equal the emission temperature

22
Q

Single-layer atmosphere model

A

Assuming that the atmo is completely transparent to incoming radiation and completely opaque to outgoing radiation

23
Q

What does the single-layer atmo model show?

A

The surface temp increases by a factor of 2 and 1/4 times the emission temperature.

24
Q

What are “Atmospheric Windows”?

A

Places where energy passes through to space

25
Q

What is Planck’s Law of blackbody emission?

A

Emission from a blackbody has a characteristic frequency distribution that depends on the object’s temperature.

26
Q

What kind of wavelength does the Earth emit?

A

Longwave

27
Q

What kind of wavelength does the Sun emit?

A

Shortwave, can pass through the atmosphere without being absorbed (scattered)

28
Q

Why is a greenhouse gas a greenhouse gas?

A

Dipole molecular makeup

29
Q

How are they able to absorb?

A

By rotating and vibrating

30
Q

How do greenhouse gases interact with electromagnetic radiation?

A

molecular vibration and rotation

31
Q

How does the molecule vibrate?

A

Dipole moment, causes it to vibrate and then absorb the radiation as kinetic energy

32
Q

Why is is CO2 still able to be a greenhouse gas?

A

Even though it is not a dipole, the double polar bonds can cause it to become asymmetric and then vibrate.

33
Q

Can CO2 absorb via rotation?

A

No, rotation does not induce a dipole moment

34
Q

What does the blue jagged line on MODTRAN show?

A

The intensity of radiation at different wavelengths coming from the Earth/atmosphere that reaches the satellite

35
Q

Why does the blue line not follow theoretical black body curve?

A

atmosphere emits energy at different frequencies, lower intensity because the atmosphere is colder

36
Q

What are absorption bands?

A

when energy is remitted at a colder temperature (example CO2 window)

37
Q

Why do gases absorb different wavelengths of infared energy?

A

Each gas molecule has different vibrational and rotational frequencies

38
Q

What does a temperature profile tell us about IR radiation absoption?

A

radiation at wavelenghts is emitted to space from the top of the troposphere due to the cold temperatures

39
Q

What is band saturation?

A

complete absoption of radiation at a specific wavelength band

40
Q

When adding CO2, why does the window widen?

A

Broadening

41
Q

Doppler broadening

A

Movement of molecules relative to photons allows a broader range of frequencies of radiation to interact with the molecule

42
Q

Pressure broadening

A

Collisions between molecules transfer energy during radiative transitions, allowing photons with a broader range of frequencies to interact with the molecule

43
Q

Where is pressure broadening most important?

A

Lower atmosphere

44
Q

How does the greenhouse effect flow?

A

Logarithmically

45
Q

Shortwave via clouds

A

Cloud impacts on incoming solar radiation

46
Q

Longwave via clouds

A

Cloud impacts on outgoing longwave radiation

47
Q

Which cloud warms the climate?

A

High clouds

48
Q

Low Cloud emission temperature?

A

High

49
Q

High cloud emission temperature?

A

low

50
Q

Why does the low cloud have a high emission temperature?

A

it is closer to the surface, so the outgoing radiation from the surface versus the cloud will be similar

Climate Systems (2 decks)

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