Week 7 Flashcards
Earth’s External Energy
- Sun drives two vital systems on Earth: Weather, Climate
Weather
The short-term state of the atmosphere at a given time and place
Climate
The long-term average weather conditions for a given region of Earth.
Earth’s Greenhouse
- Most Common: Carbon Dioxide, Methane
Venus Greenhouse
- 2X Solar Radiation then Earth
- Sun is not only factor since 460 cannot be explained
- CO2 intensifies
Earths Impacts
- Most go unnoticed
- 100 to 1000 daily
- Huge ones are devastating
Layers of the Atmosphere
- Troposphere
- Stratosphere
- Mesosphere
- Thermosphere
Troposphere
Densest layer, ranging from 8-18km thick
Stratosphere
Ozone-enriched, reaching up to 50km
Mesosphere
Asteroids burn up, reaching up to 80km
Thermosphere
Northern Lights produced by ionization, up to 500-700km
Dynamics of the Atmosphere
- Weather, the controlling factor is activity of water in the troposphere
- This includes the way water is absorbed or released
- This also involves the way water exists as a solid (ice), liquid, or gas (steam/vapour) on Earth
- As temperature increases, and liquid water is boiled to vapour, energy is absorbed during the reaction
- As temperature decreases, and liquid water is frozen to ice, energy is released during the reaction
Latent Heat
- The amount of energy released or absorbed by a material during a change of chemical state
- The unit of measurement for Latent Heat is Joules per gram (J/g)
- Most reactions have known Latent Heat values, so predicting whether the absorption or release of Energy will occur
Latent Heat and the Atmosphere
- The Water Cycle is a rudimentary but accurate depiction of liquid water interacting with the atmosphere to produce storms
Convection in the Atmosphere
- With water being both evaporated and condensed all over the world, complex cells of air motion form
- The air in the troposphere moves in Convection Cells, Complex air motion is in response to:
- Air Temperature changes
- Air Density changes
- Air Pressure changes
- Density is the most important measure of an airmass, as this determines how it interacts with other airmasses, and is most-dependent on temperature and humidity
Atmospheric Density
- We measure Atmospheric Density as grams per cubic metre (g/m3)
- As pressure increases, the density increases;
- As temperature increases, the density decreases.
Atmospheric density is low when
- At high elevation
- At high temperature
- At low air pressure.
- Example: A humid, hot day at a mountain-top
Atmospheric density is high when
- At low elevation;
- At low temperature;
- At high air pressure.
- Example: A dry, cold day in a low valley
Adiabatic Heating and Cooling
- If Air Pressure decreases, air density and air temperature must decrease
- The less-orderly atomic arrangement requires more energy to hold the ‘relaxed’ chemical bonds
- If Air Pressure increases, air density and air temperature must increase;
- As density increases, temperature must also increase, releasing heat energy
Adiabatic Process
- The change in properties without an addition or removal of heat
- As an airmass increases elevation, pressure decreases and it is allowed to expand ‘adiabatically’ (increasing volume)
Atmospheric Humidity
- Humid air is actually less-dense than dry air
This is because the addition of water vapour to the atmosphere replaces some of the heavier gases - Evaporation happens close to the surface
- From here, water vapour heated by the Sun differentiates upwards through the troposphere, due to the low density
- The water vapour will continue to differentiate upwards until it cools and condensation occurs; when this happens, the density of the water vapour increases, destabilizing the airmass
Convection Cells
- Because of the spherical shape of the Earth, the Sun does not heat the planet evenly
More heat is received at the equator than at the Earth’s poles - This causes turbulence in the global troposphere, bringing rise to convection currents
- Convection cells force warm air up at the equator and bring cool air down towards the poles
- Factors such as continental landmasses and oceanic currents can affect the ideal global air circulation
Coriolis Effect
- The force imparted by the spinning Earth on a material, including the flow of air or water
Coriolis Effect splits Cells into 3
- Hadley Cells
- Ferrel Cells
- Polar Cells
- The effect is based on the angular momentum provided by the Earth’s rotations on-axis and around the Sun