Seasonal & Latitudinal Variation Flashcards
Day and night occur because of
Earths anticlockwise rotation. A full rotation is 24 hours.
Seasonal: (2)
Earths axis tilt of 23.5’ means that one hemisphere is closer to the sun, whilst the other is further away.
Latitudes higher than 67’ experience either 24h daylight or darkness.
At higher latitudes, terrestrial radiation lost to space is
More than the amount of SR received.
Vise versa for lower latitudes.
Outgoing terrestrial radiation and incoming SR is equal at
Around 35’ N and 40’ S
In a frontal depression, the magnitude of flow =
Wind strength x air temperature
Latitudinal variation: (3)
Poles receive less SR, equator receives more.
At high latitudes, the sun is never directly overhead, meaning the SR is spread over a greater surface area.
The SR has to pass through more atmosphere at polar regions, therefore the atmosphere adsorption is increased.
The radiative excess equator ward means that
More SR is absorbed than TR is lost.
The radiative deficit polewards means that
More TR is lost than SR is absorbed.
The inbalance of SR and TR needs to be balanced:
Heat is transported from the tropics to the poles, thus warming the poles and cooling the tropics.
The annual excess and deficit vary with seasonal change,
SR varies greatly in higher latitudes, with the shift from polar day to polar night.
In winter, the atmosphere has to work twice as hard to transport heat to the poles, this results in
Deeper frontal depression systems and therefore windier conditions.
