What is the difference between weather and climate?
Climate is based on observations of weather over many years. Weather is the state of the atmosphere at any time or place.
What are the major components of the atmosphere?
nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, argon, water vapor, ozone
Troposphere
bottom layer of atmosphere where 99% of weather takes place. Temp decreases with an increase in altitude.
stratosphere
the layer of the atmosphere where temps remain constant to 20 km. Then begins to rise until stratopause.
mesosphere
layer of atmosphere above stratosphere and has decreasing temps with increasing height. 90% of meteors burn up in this sphere.
thermosphere
region above mesosphere where temps increase greatly due to absorption of very short wave solar energy by oxygen. Auarora
auarora
interaction between particles being blown off from the sun are captured in the earths gravity and changes into light.
What are the earths two principal motions?
rotation and revolution
Why do seasons occur?
Earth's position relative to the sun continually changes as it travels along its orbit.
Summer solstice
solstice that occurs on june 21 or 22 in the northern hemisphere.
winter solstice
occurs on Dec. 21 or 22 in northern hemisphere.
autumnal equinox
occurs on september 22 or 23. equal amounts of light and dark.
spring equinox
occurs on march 21 or 22.
what is heat
energy transferred from one object to another because of a difference in the objects temp.
temperature
a measure of average kinetic energy of the individual atoms or molecules in a substance.
what are three mechanisms of energy transfer?
conduction, convection and radiation
conduction
transfer of heat through matter by molecular activity
convection
transfer of heat by mass movement or circulation within a substance.
electromagnetic waves
...
radiation
is the transfer of energy through space by electromagnetic waves that travel out in all directions. can travel through the vacuum of space.
True or False: all objects emit radiant energy
true
true or false: hotter objects radiate more energy per unit than colder objects do.
true
true or false: the coldest radiating bodies produce the shortest wavelengths
false: the hottest radiation bodies produce the shortest wavelengths.
True or false: objects that are good absorbers or radiation are not good emitters.
false, that are good emitters as well.
what are the 3 different results of radiation?
-some energy is absorbed,
-water and air are transparent to certain wavelengths,
-and some may bounce off with out being absorbed or transmitted.
reflection
occurs when light bounces off an object.
scattering
produces a larger number of weaker rays that travel in different directions.
what percent of solar energy is absorbed by earth's surface?
50%
greenhouse effect
heating of earth's surface and atmosphere from solar radiation being absorbed and emitted by the atmosphere, mainly by water vapor and carbon dioxide.
What are some factors that influence temperature
heating of land and water, altitude, geographic position, cloud cover, and ocean currents.
albedo
fraction of total radiation that is reflected by any surface.
Isotherms
lines on a weather map that connect points where the temperature is the same.