U2L2 Continents and Climate

Question 1

What happens to visible light when it hits land?

Answer 1

On land the surfaces are usually opaque to visible light, and so the incoming energy is not transmitted down into deeper layers. Instead, the land surface either reflects the incoming electromagnetic energy back into the atmosphere, or absorbs the energy in the thin layer at the surface.

Question 2

What is the definition of opaque?

Answer 2

Absorbing or reflecting all of the incident electromagnetic energy

Question 3

What happens to electromagnetic energy when it is absorbed by a surface?

Answer 3

When electromagnetic energy is absorbed by a surface, it excites the atoms or molecules in that surface, raising the surface temperature.

Question 4

What happens when the air is warmer than the land surface?

Answer 4

Then the energy transfer will go the other direction, and heat will be conducted from the air into the top layer of the group until it is the same temperature as the air.

Question 5

Why does the air just above a hot surface seem to shimmer?

Answer 5

This is due to the hot surface transferring heat to the atmosphere just above it. The heated air transmitters light differently than the cooler air above, leading to the haze or shimmer.

Question 6

Energy flows into land surfaces as electromagnetic radiation in sunlight, mostly in the visible spectrum and near infrared. It flows out from land surfaces in three ways…
What are these three ways?

Answer 6

1. The evaporation of water uses energy. When water molecules at the surface absorb energy to change from liquid to gas, the energy used to evaporate the water is latent in the motion of the water vapor molecules. When the water vapor condenses again at high altitude, the heat is released into the atmosphere.
2. A hot surface will heat the cooler air just above itself. The warmer air will rise in convection, carrying heat away from the ground.
3. Any object not at absolute zero will radiate thermal, or infrared, radiation. It will also absorb or reflect any incoming thermal radiation. If an object is warmer than its surroundings, the net energy flow will be from the warmer to colder areas until the temperatures are equal. Note that the incoming electromagnetic radiation to Earth’s surface is largely at visible and near infrared wavelengths; the outgoing far infrared radiation from the Earth’s surface is at longer, lower energy wavelengths outside the visible spectrum.

Question 7

What is the definition of evaporation?

Answer 7

The phrase change from liquid to gas when a substance absorbs enough energy

Question 8

Just a fun fact that will probably be on the test :D

Answer 8

Water has a much higher heat capacity than rock, dirt, or other materials that make up the land’s surface. This means that water is slow to absorb heat and slow to release it. In contrast, dry ground heats up more quickly and then cools more quickly.

Question 9

How do oceans and land masses interact with sunlight in different ways?

Answer 9

The oceans are roughly the same color and transparency everywhere, and they interact with incoming sunlight in the same way. In contrast, land masses are made of many different materials which reflect and absorb energy in different ways. Rougher surfaces absorb more energy than smooth surfaces, and dark surfaces absorb more energy than light surfaces.

Question 10

What is albedo?

Answer 10

Albedo is the proportion of light reflected from a surface, given as a number between 0 and 1 or a percentage between 0 and 100.

Question 11

How is albedo represented?

Answer 11

A white shiny surface will have a albedo close to 1, while a dark rough surface with have an albedo close to 0.

Question 12

What will keep you cooler, a white T-shirt or a black T-shirt? Why?

Answer 12

You would wear a white T-shirt.

Lighter colors reflect and scatter more of the sun’s electromagnetic radiation. Dark colors absorb more electromagnetic radiation, heating up.

Question 13

What is Earth’s albedo? What does it mean?

Answer 13

Earth’s average albedo is about 0.3, meaning it reflects about one-third of the light from the sun.

Question 14

Why is the disappearance of glaciers and snow bad?

Answer 14

Ice cover on Earth’s continents has a high albedo of nearly 0.9, reflecting almost all of the sun’s energy into space, keeping the land cooler. However, as climates change and the atmosphere heats up, Earth is beginning to lose much of its glacier cover. As this happens, more rock and soil are exposed beneath the ice.
The rock and soil have a low albedo and absorb more of the sun’s energy. They heat up, adding more heat to the atmosphere. This forms a feedback loop, accelerating the loss of ice and glacier cover.

Question 15

Is the albedo of urban areas high or low? Why?

Answer 15

The albedo of urban areas is also low, but they transform more solar energy into heat, creating the urban heat island effect.

Question 16

What is the albedo of land that is covered in plants?

Answer 16

Areas of land covered in plants, such as forests or grasslands, tend to have a fairly low albedo. They absorb solar radiation, but much of the energy is used to power photosynthesis.

Question 17

True or False.

Albedo has a notable effect on weather and climate.

Answer 17

True

Question 18

Albedo shifts with the seasons, describe why.

Answer 18

The seasons (haha given reference 👀).

Over much of the world’s land masses, the color of the land changes over the course of the year. This yearly variation in albedo is most pronounced in the boreal forests, which cover 12 percent of Earth’s land area and are dark in the summer and white in the winter. As albedo shifts with the seasons, the amount of incoming energy reflected or absorbed also shifts.

Question 19

What is the definition of albedo?

Answer 19

The amount of light reflected by a surface.

Question 20

Why does albedo shift with different latitudes?

Answer 20

At the snow-and ice-covered poles, albedo is high. Near the equator, mostly covered by dark blue ocean, albedo is much lower. Earth’s overall albedo is highest when the land in the northern latitudes is largely covered in snow. There is another, smaller peak in albedo when Antarctic sea ice is at a maximum.

Energy input and output are different at different latitudes. In the tropics, more energy is absorbed than is radiated back. At the poles, more energy is radiated than absorbed. For Earth’s overall temperature and climate to be stable over time, these inputs and outputs must balance.

Question 21

What causes albedo to shif?

More than one thing 👀

Answer 21

The seasons (given reference 😫) and different latitudes

Question 22

Don’t know how to turn this into a question so just read it 🙃

Answer 22

Different heating patterns of different land surfaces affect weather and climate patterns. Differences in surface heating lead to rising air over warmer regions and sinking air over cooler areas, driving wind patterns.

Question 23

Why is the changing in weather so pronounced for land next to bodies of water?

Answer 23

Over the course of a day the temperature of the water will stay fairly constant, due to water’s high heat capacity. In summer, the adjacent land will heat quickly during the day, warming the air above the surface. This air rises, drawing in a sea breeze which cools the land. At night the land cools rapidly as the water remains at the same temperature, and the effect is reversed.

The climate for settlements along the edges of the oceans is mediated by the ocean’s ability to absorb and release large amounts of heat. A settlement along the coast will tend to have milder summers and winters, while a settlement hundreds of miles inland at the same latitude will likely have larger swings in temperature.

Question 24

How do humans impact albedo?

Answer 24

When human activity alters the landscape, the amount of heat reflected and absorbed by the surface can change. Different plants reflect light in different way. For example, grassland has a higher albedo than forest. Replacing wilderness with farmland will alter the albedo of a region. When people build cities, this alters both the albedo of the land surface and the presence of water to absorb some of the heat. In the summer, cities can be several degrees hotter than the surrounding countryside and can also be drier.

Question 25

Describe how raising albedo help to counter the heat island effect.

Answer 25

The rough black asphalt of roofs and streets can be covered with a paler, more reflective gray coating.

Question 26

Describe how replacing impermeable surfaces with permeable ones help to counter the heat island effect.

Answer 26

Materials that allow water to flow through them
take advantage of water’s high heat
capacity to absorb excess heat.

Question 27

Describe how adding trees help counter the heat island effect.

Answer 27

By adding more trees, planners increase shade, decreasing the heat taken up by the pavement below. Transpiration from the plants increases the water in the air.

Question 28

Describe how plant green roofs help counter the heat island effect.

Answer 28

Much of the horizontal surface area in a city is roofs. While dark roads can’t be replaced by greenery, roofs can.

Question 29

Idk but I think this explains the ice age…

Free 5 points :D

Answer 29

When snow melts in the spring, the effect is reversed. As Earth’s climate warms, this effect is amplified—ice melts earlier and more widely, so more dark soil is exposed and exposed earlier in the year, so more energy is absorbed, and therefore the region is warmed further. In Earth’s distant past the reverse happened, with spreading ice reflecting more energy so that the planet cooled more, leading to more ice. Long ago, Earth’s surface may have completely frozen over during these extreme cycles.

Question 30

Xavier’s town is discussing ways to alleviate heat in the summer. He suggests increasing the amount of green space. What effect will this have?

Answer 30

The amount of moisture in the air will increase; this causes the temperature of the air to decrease.

Question 31

How does global warming alter the albedo of the Arctic?

Answer 31

Melting sea ice to reveal darker water.

Melting glaciers to reveal darker soil.

Question 32

Which are ways in which heat energy leaves the surface of land masses? Select the three correct answers.

animal activity

evaporation

plant growth

radiation of infrared energy

conduction to air, which then rises in convection

Answer 32

Evaporation

Radiation of infrared energy

Conduction to air, which then rises in convection