Topic 6.1 Flashcards
What type of system in the atmosphere?
Dynamic system (with inputs, outputs, flows and storages) that has undergone changes throughout geological time.
Heat and pollutants carried across the Earth by…
air currents in the atmosphere
What gases does the atmosphere contain a mixture of?
predominantly nitrogen, oxygen, smaller amounts of carbon dioxide, argon, water vapour and other trace gases.
What are the factors influencing climate?
Abiotic factors - mainly temperature and precipitation
Biotic factors - plants and animals
What alters the inputs and outputs of the atmospheric system?
Human activity impacting the atmospheric composition
Which parts of the atmosphere has the most reactions affecting life? e.g. ozone and cloud formation
stratosphere (10-50km)
troposphere (less than 10 km)
What caused the presence of oxygen?
The photosynthesizing of plants.
What is the greenhouse effect?
A natural and necessary process that maintains suitable temperatures for living systems or keeps the Earth warm.
What is the Greenhouse effect?
When GH gases allow short wave radiation from the sun to pass through the atmosphere but trap an increasing proportion of outgoing long wave radiation from the Earth. This trapping of energy in the atmosphere by GH gases is essentially the greenhouse effect that keeps the atmosphere warm.
What percent is incoming radiation?
55%
What percent of solar radiation is reflected off the earth?
4%
What percent of solar radiation is absorbed by the earth?
51%
What are the main GHGs?
water vapour, carbon dioxide and methane
Discuss the role of the albedo effect from clouds in regulating global average temperature.
As there are more clouds, more longwave radiation that is re-radiated back into space gets reflected off the clouds, warming the Earth’s temperature. When there are less clouds, long wave radiation gets re-radiated into space, therefore cooling the Earth’s atmosphere as there are less clouds to intercept outgoing long wave radiation, making all the heat escape.
