The Atmosphere Flashcards
What are the different layers of the atmosphere, in order from bottom to top?
Troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere.
With regards to X-axis and Y-axis what’s the best way to plot, for example, height against temperature on a graph of atmospheric profiles?
It is usually to plot the the dependent variable (the thing being measured, or output; temperature, in this case) on the Y-axis and the independent variable (the factor that is being controlled in an experiment, or input; altitude, in this case) on the X-axis. But since atmospheric height altitude/height, is difficult to measure, with atmospheric profiles, it is best to plot height on the Y axis - since it is increasing, thus seems natural - and temperature on the X-axis.
What is the lapse rate?
It is the average temperature decrease of a pocket of air as it rises through the tropopause.
If the temperature of a pocket of air rising from the earth’s surface drops at 6ºC km-1 (the observed background lapse rate), at what atmospheric section does it begin to warm? and why?
The temperature begins to increase at the stratosphere because it is a thin, stable ozone layer that absorbs solar radiation.
What is a trace gas?
One that makes up a small proportion of the sample, like Argon.
What is the latitude of the Equator, North Pole and South Pole?
Equator: 0˚
North Pole: 90˚
South Pole 90˚
What is a hemisphere?
Each half of the Earth, either north or south of the equator, is a hemisphere (hemi is greek for ‘half’, latin for ‘semi’)
When does a solstice and a equinox occur?
A solstice occurs when the sun is overhead a tropic at midday and an equinox when it is overhead the equator at midday.
How much time does it take the Earth to orbit around the sun? i.e a gregorian year?
365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds
Who introduced the leap year, how long ago, and why does it happen?
Julian Cesar introduced the leap year 200 years ago and it happens to keep our calender up-to-dat with the
