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What are the nuclear processes?
Nuclear, fussion, gravity materials, impact, evolution
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What are the internal processes?
temperature, radioactivity, gravity
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What are the surface processes?
Solar heat, gravity, Water/air transport: life impacts large
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Earth's Atmosphere/Ocean: A dynamic system
-Heating from 'above' varies with latitude, with height in atmosphere, and with seasons
-Earth's rotaion, surface topography, and variable surface albedo (ice; land/sea) complicate it all
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Atmospheric issues..Why do we care?
- -Atmosphere is life sustaining
- -Atmospheric dynamics control climate zones
- -atmosphere plays central role in water cycle
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What is the earth's atmosphere composed of?
- 78% nitrogen
- 21% oxygen
- 1% mixture of minor gases dominated by argon.
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Atmospheric layers
- Ninety-nine percent of the total mass of the atmosphere is contained in the first 40 to 50 miles (65 to 80 kilometers) above Earth's surface.
- The atmosphere can be divided into layers based on atmospheric temperature and pressure
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exosphere:
Final layer of the atmosphere, extending from the top of the thermosphere thousands of miles into space
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Ionosphere:
A subregion within the thermosphere, extending from about 50 miles (80 kilometers) to more than 150 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth and containing elevated concentrations of charged atoms and molecules (ions)
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Mesosphere:
The third layer of the atmosphere, extending from the stratosphere to about 50 miles (80 kilometers) above Earth
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Radiation:
Energy in the form of waves or particles
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Stratosphere:
The second layer of the atmosphere, extending from the tropopause, or top of the troposphere, to about 30 miles (50 kilometers) above Earth.
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Thermosphere:
The fourth layer of the atmosphere, extending from the top of the mesosphere and extending about 400 miles (640 kilometers) above Earth
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Troposhere:
The atmospheric layer closest to ground level, extending up 5 to 10 miles (8 to 16 kilometers) above Earth.
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Climate vs. Weather
- Weather is short term
- Climate is long term
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ATmospheric Trace Gases
- Carbon dioxide : (CO2) :360ppm
- Water vapor : 1-4%
- Ozone (O3) : 2-12ppm in stratosphere
- Methane (CH4) : ~2ppm
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Solar radiation
- Expands out in all directions from sun
- ligth arrives at top of earths atmosphere non-uniformly
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Reflection:
- Incident light can boucne back into space
- Reflection from light colored surfaces: clouds, snow, ice
- ALBEDO:
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ALBEDO
- ration of outgoing/incoming radiation
- EARTH albedo is about .33
- ANTARTIC is about .96
*one way to measure earths albedo is when earthsine lights up back side of moon
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Scattering
Deflection of light from its path
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Absorption
when photons impart energy or are absorbed by atmosphere or land
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What kind of waves does earths atmosphere absorb?
- Very short UV
- Long Infrared Radiation
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