Weather

What is the wavelength of maximum emission?

.5 micrometers greenlight, wavelength of maximum energy given off earth surface

5 different ways in which a temperature inversion may occur

1) radiation inversion 2) air drainage inversion 3) frontal inversion 4) advection inversion 5) subsidence inversion

1st EMR Principle

1. All things, no matter how big or small emit electromagnetic radiation

As solar radiation attempts to pass through Earth's atmosphere to Earth's surface, what may happen to it?

1. Scattered 2. Reflected 3. Absorbed 4. Transmitted

Energy is transferred into/through the atmosphere by five main processes:

1. radiation 2. conduction 3. convection 4. advection 5. the latent heat of evaporation and condensation

What four things may happen to solar energy as it attempts to reach the Earth's surface?

1. scattered 2. reflected 3. absorbed 4. transmitted

The energy present in a body/substance (its internal energy) consists of (1) ___ and (2) _____

1. the total kinetic energy created by molecular movement as well as 2. the potential energy stored in the molecular bonds

2nd EMR Principle

2. The temperature of an object determines how much radiation is emitted and at what particular wavelength

How many principles are there of electromagnetic radiation?

4

How much of the energy is absorbed by Earth?

50%

How much of the energy that reaches the top of the Earth's atmosphere is actually absorbed directly or indirectly by the Earth's surface?

50%

Do all wavelengths of electromagnetic energy have the same properties?

Different wavelengths have different properties

Do all wavelengths interact with the Earth's components in the same way?

Different wavelengths interact with Earth's components in different ways

What may happen when insolation strikes the Earth's surface?

Either reflected or absorbed by it depending on the surface albedo

The lower atmosphere is warmed by the absorption of ____ coming off the Earth's ______

Energy Surface

Is solar energy distributed over the Earth's surface equally?

Energy is not distributed evenly. Certain climates are able to absorb more energy than others depending on numerous factors

What is heat?

Heat is a form of energy transferred between bodies in response to a difference in temperature

The shorter the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation, the ___ is its energy level?

Higher

What is reflection and what is highly reflective in the atmosphere to visible light?

Ice and snow are extremely reflective to visible light

What must eventually happen to the energy that reaches the Earth's surface?

Must be utilized or be returned back to space

Will most energy reaching the Earth's surface at a particular location be returned to space from that same particular location?

No , usually it is transferred back to space after being moved to a new location.

Can the Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere absorb all wavelengths of infrared radiation?

No, neither water vapor or CO2 readily absorb wavelengths between 8-12 um near the peark of infrared intensity

Energy from the sun is in what form?

Solar radiation

What does sunlight (visible solar radiation) actually warm?

The Earth's surface

What is the meaning of albedo? Give and example of a low and high albedo.

The amount of energy that is reflected by a surface is determined by the reflectivity of that surface, called the albedo. A high albedo means the surface reflects the majority of the radiation that hits it and absorbs the rest. Example- Clouds are reflectors of incoming visible light. The thicker the cloud the more it reflects light. As clouds get thicker and thicker, the incoming sunlight is reflected back to space

What is meant by absorption?

The energy conversion process whereby a portion of the radiation incident on an object is converted to heat energy -represents an energy transfer to the absorbing molecule

4th EMR Principle

The radiation intensity received from a source depends not only on the intensity emitted and the distance from the source, but also on the angle at which the radiation strikes the surface

The North Atlantic Drift

an extension of the warm Gulf Stream -keeps wintertime temperatures in Great Britain and much of W Europe warmer than would be expected for their latitudes

heat disorders

disorders due to environmental exposures of heat. ex. -skin rash -heat stroke -heat exhaustion -hyperthermia

When water vapor is transferred through the atmosphere, not only is water being moved, but ____ is also being moved

energy

subsidence inversion

forms in an air mass when a large body of air subsides and spreads out above a lower layer

Heat always refers to the TRANSFER of energy between bodies, not to energy contained within the bodies. When two objects/substances come into contact, heat is always transferred from the ____ object to the ______ object.

from the warmer object to the colder object

Wind chill

is the lowering of body temperature due to the passing-flow of lower-temperature air.

Electromagnetic Radiation (radiation)

travels in the form of waves at the speed of light that release energy when they are absorbed by an object

Heat energy is always transferred from ___ to _____ substances/objects

warmer to colder

frontal inversion

when 2 air masses with different temperatures come together, the denser colder air pushes under the less dense warmer air and replaces it

hypothermia

when your body loses heat faster than it can produce heat, causing a dangerously low body temperature. Normal body temperature is around 98.6 F (37 C). Hypothermia (hi-poe-THUR-me-uh) occurs as your body temperature falls below 95 F (35 C).

What is kinetic energy?

-All matter is composed of atoms or molecules that are in continual vibrational, rotational, and/or translational motion

Does the atmosphere treat visible light and infrared radiation the same?

-Atmosphere is unable to absorb visible light, not warmed by direct sunlight -Atmosphere absorbs a proportionally greater amount of outgoing infrared radiation emitted by the Earth's surface

4th EMR Facts Cont.

-For these reason, the ground is warmed very little by sunlight near sunrise and sunset and is heated most strongly at local noon -Also, winter is colder than summer because the sun is generally low in the winter sky

What is a Greenhouse gas?

-Gases that absorb and emit infrared radiation and contribute to the greenhouse effect

4th EMR Principle Facts

-If the radiation arrives at right angles to the receiving surface, the radiation energy received by that surface area is maximum -The more oblique the incident radiation, the smaller the amount of energy received at any given point

8 Controls of Temperature

-Latitude -Contrast in Heating and Cooling between land and water -cloud cover -ocean currents -horizontal air movement -altitude and aspect -geographic position on the continent with respect to the prevailing winds -mountain barriers or lack of mountain barriers -urbanization

radiation inversion

-when the Earth's surface loses more heat by radiation than it gains by any of the energy transfer processes

2nd EMR Principle Facts

-The higher the body's temperature, the more radiation emitted and the shorter the peak wavelength of the emissions -Hotter objects radiate more total energy per unit are than do colder objects -As the temperature of an object increases, more total radiation is emitted each second -A small increase in temperature results in a larger increase in the amount of radiation emitted because doubling the absolute temperature of an object increases the maximum energy output by a factor of 16 (2^4)

What is the Greenhouse Effect

-The warming of the atmosphere by its absorption and emission of infrared radiation coming off of the Earth's surface while allowing sunlight to pass through without absorbing it

air drainage inversion

-because of its greater density, cold air from hilltops and slopes tends to flow downslope to collect in valley bottoms, creating an inverted lapse rate up the slopes as well as in the free air over the valley floor

urbanization

-cities give off large quantities of heat from buildings, factories, and cars -cities have a larger surface area to absorb solar radiation -more carbon dioxide over cities to absorb earth's radiation -countryside is cooler due to greater evapotranspiration over vegetated surfaces

Cloudy days are _____ than clear days. Why?

-cooler, bc presence of clouds tends to keep daytime temperatures lower

What is meant by advection?

-horizontal heat transfer within the atmosphere

What is meant by the (infrared) atmospheric window?

-infrared radiation between wavelengths of 8-12 um pass upward through the atmosphere and out into outer space

Contrast in heating and cooling between land and water

-land surfaces are rapidly and intensely heated under the sun's rays, whereas water surfaces are only slowly and moderately heated -land surfaces cool off more rapidly and reach lower temperatures than water surfaces when solar radiation is cut off or significantly reduced

ocean currents

-on a global scale, the vast ocean current systems aid in the exchange of heat between low and high latitudes and are essential in sustaining the global heat balance

Is the atmosphere a good conductur of heat?

-only a thin layer of the atmosphere in contact with the Earth's surface gains heat by conduction

Main categories of categories of electromagnetic spectrum

-radio waves -microwaves -infrared waves -visible light waves -ultraviolet waves -x-rays -gamma rays

Solar radiation is often referred to as ____-wave radiation whereas Earth radiation is often referred to as _____-wave radiation.

-short -long

Latitude

-single greatest cause for temperature variation = differences in the receipt of solar -it is variation in sun < & length of daylight hours that controls the receipt of solar radiation from place to place and from time to time

Differentiate between the concept of heat and that of temperature

-temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of the individual atoms and molecules of a substance -heat is a form of energy transferred between bodies in response to a difference in temperature

What is scattering, and what wavelengths are most easily scattered in the atmosphere?

-the process by which aerosols and molecules disperse radiation in all directions -

What is meant by atmospheric transmission?

-the process whereby electromagnetic waves pass completely through a medium -the atmosphere is transparent to a portion of incoming visible light from the sun-the atmosphere allows this light to be transmitted to the Earth's surface

Why is the sky blue?

-the sky appears blue because light that stimulates the sensation of blue color reaches your eyes -this happens because of the influence of atmospheric scattering of incoming solar visible light

What is meant by conduction?

-transmission of heat energy by point-to-point contact of neighboring molecules

What is meant by convection?

-transport of heat within a fluid via motions of the fluid itself

Characterize the oceans surface albedo to visible solar radiation?

-under clear skies, the albedo of a water surface increases with decreasing sun angle -when the sky is completely cloud covered, only diffuse sunlight is incident on a water surface and the albedo changes little with sun angle and is uniformly low

What causes convection in the atmosphere?

-unequal heating at the Earth's surface creates a local hot spot -air in contact warms by conduction, expands and rises -rising air cools adiabatically to dew point temperature

The sun radiates much of its energy as _____ whereas Earth radiates most of its energy as ______.

-visible light -infrared radiation

Cloudy nights remain ______ than clear nights. Why?

-warmer, bc the presence of clouds tends to keep night-time temperatures higher

What is overwhelmingly the most important Greenhouse Gas?

-water vapor

Explain the latent heat of evaporation and condensation.

-when condensation occurs (e.g., cloud formation), energy is released and heats the atmosphere

Is the sky always blue?

-when somewhat larger, but still small particles such as fine dust, salt, pollutants, tiny water droplets, ice crystal, etc. become suspended in the air, the color of the sky begins to change from blue to milky white

Which of the five heat transfer mechanisms is most responsible for the significant changes in temperature in the Youngstown region over the span of a day or two or even over the span of several hours?

Advection

Why does the average temperature of Earth remain almost the same from year to year?

An equal amount of heat leaves the Earth-atmosphere system, mainly via infrared radiation, as enters the system from the sun

temperature inversion

As you go up in atmosphere temperature increases instead of decreases per the norm

Does the atmosphere have a fairly good capability to absorb ultraviolet rays, and if so, where and by what gases?

Atmospheric gases are selective to absorption. Depending on wavelengths! When absorbed caused molecules to vibrate making temperature rise. unlight warms earth's surface and after the earth radiates the energy back as infrared . On the way out, water vapor in the atmosphere is warmed.

what is meant by latent heat

The heat required to turn a solid into a liquid or vapor, or a liquid into a vapor, without change of temperature

What is meant by insolation?

The incoming solar radiation that reaches the Earth's surface

Do clouds have a capability to absorb outgoing infrared radiation being emitted from the Earth's surface?

They are good absorbers and emitters of infreared radiation

If the middle latitudes (think Youngstown) are losing more energy to space than these latitudes gain directly from the sun, why are these latitudes not getting progressively colder?

Unsure but i believe it is because energy from the gulf is moved north east into the latitude regulating temperature and energy

What two categories of electromagnetic radiation are more important for the heating and cooling of the Earth's surface and lower atmosphere (troposphere)?

Visible Light & Infrared Radiation

Does the atmosphere have a good capability to absorb light?

Visible light does not warm the atmosphere because nothing has ability to absorb

What Earth surface material has teh lowest albedo (reflectivity) to visible solar radiation?

Water (high solar altitude)

What Earth surface material has the greatest albedo (reflectivity) to visible solar radiation?

Water (low solar alititude)

heat waves

a prolonged period of abnormally hot weather.

heat index

a quantity expressing the discomfort felt as a result of the combined effects of the temperature and humidity of the air.

advection inversion

advection of warm air over a cold surface creates an inversion in the lower layers of the air mass as the warm air is cooled by conduction

During cloud formation, energy is released to the environment or is absorbed from the environment?

released into the environment because it is converting from vapor to liquid

The higher an object's temperature, the more radiation it emits and the ___ is the peak wavelength of the emissions

shorter

Direct Insolation

solar radiation taht is transmitted directly through the atmosphere to the Earth's surface

Diffuse Insolation

solar radiation that is scattered and/or relfected to the Earth's surface

Are the oceans strong absorbers or reflectors of incoming visible light?

strong absorbers -average albedo of the ocean surface is 8%

Temperature is a measure of

the average kinetic energy of the individual atoms and molecules of a substance

Electromagnetic spectrum

the complete set of possible wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation