week 2 - climate systems

Question 1

What is Electromagnetic Radiation?

Answer 1

Electromagnetic Radiation
* Does not require medium to
travel through.
* Spectrum of wavelengths.
** Radiation lawsRadiation laws – show that the
amount of radiant energy
emitted by an object is much
greater as temperature
increases and is wavelength
dependent.
* Solar (shortwave) regime vs
terrestrial (longwave) regime
* hotter objects emit more
energy at shorter wavelengths

Question 2

What is Isolation over the globe?

Answer 2

Insolation over the Globe
* insolation (incoming solar radiation)
* measured in units of watts per square metre (Wm-2)
* varies by latitude and by season
Strahler (2013) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fd03fBRsuU&feature=emb_logo

The angle of the
Sun’s energy determines the
intensity of insolation on the
ground
for square B, the same
amount of energy as
represented by square A is
spread over a larger area (b x
c) on the ground and
therefore represents a lower
insolation intensity than area
a x c
Strahler (2013)
Lockwood (2017)

Question 3

What are the Three States of Water

Answer 3

• water vapour
• water
• ice

Question 4

What are Sensible Heat and Latent Heat?

Answer 4

sensible heat - – the quantity of heat
held by an object that can be
sensed by touching or feeling

latent heat - Latent heat - heat that is used and
stored when a substance changes
state from a solid to liquid (or
directly to a gas) or liquid to gas
(e.g. evaporation of water)

Question 5

What are latent heat transfers

Answer 5

Latent heat transfer – the transfer
of heat from an evaporating surface
to the atmosphere.
* Heat transfer processes
* Conduction - molecular impact
without the transfer of matter itself
(heat transfer in solids)
* Convection – involves the movement
of large volumes of the substance
itself (mode of heat transfer in fluids)
Sensible Heat and Latent Heat Transfer
Three States of Water