Syracuse University EAR 111 Exam 1

What type of radiation comes from the Earth?

longwave radiation: thermal infrared (heat energy)

Western boundary currents

- Concentrated, narrow northward moving currents - Bring warm water from the tropics to higher latitudes

Radiation absorption diagram

- Water vapor absorbs the widest range of wavelengths. - The most effective wavelength to insert a new greenhouse gas would be between 8-15um.

Eastern boundary currents

- Wide, slower-moving currents that move south along the eastern edges of ocean basins - Bring cool water from high latitudes and encourage upwelling

What is happening to CO2 in the post-industrial era?

- burning 2 billion tons of coal a year; when added with oxygen, it adds 7 billion tons of CO2 to the atmosphere yearly - makes air a more effective blanket for the earth and raises its temperature -predicted the effects would be considerable in a few centuries

Gyres

A large-scale pattern of water circulation that moves clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere

Why is the ocean salty?

Because any erosion of minerals that occurs as the water runs to the ocean, will add to the mineral content of the water. When water evaporates from the ocean, it leaves minerals behind

How do Eastern and Western boundary currents relate to gyres?

Currents at the edges of the gyres are called boundary currents

Why is there a general circulation of Earth's atmosphere?

Earth's atmospheric circulation exists as a result of differences in incoming energy across Earth's surface

winds drawn on a map

Easterlies along equator, westerlies closer to poles

How are Eastern and Western boundary currents' temperature structure different?

Eastern: Bring cool water from high latitudes Western: Bring warm water from the tropics to higher latitudes

Coupling Diagram

Ex) Sign of Feedback (-1) x (+1) = -1, negative feedback

What is a coupling?

Flow of information/mass/energy from one component of the system to another

Why do greenhouse gases warm the atmosphere?

Greenhouse gases reabsorb and re-emit long-wave radiation coming from the Earth, increasing the total radiation coming into earth

Why does deepwater form?

Higher temperature deep water that is a little less dense flowing above colder water; this creates two distinct layers

Negative buoyancy

If a parcel is more dense than surrounding water; moves downward

Positive buoyancy

If a water parcel is less dense than the surrounding water; moves upward

Is the ITCZ exactly on the equator?

No, just North of the equator

Where does deep water form?

North Atlantic

Direction of spin of cyclones and anticyclones in Northern and Southern hemisphere

Northern: inwards/counterclockwise (cyclones) Southern: outwards/clockwise (anticyclones)

How do we know if a coupling is positive or negative?

Positive coupling: change in same sense Negative coupling: opposite sense of change

Ekman spirals

Shows that as we move down through a water column, the surface water moves 45 ∘ from the wind due to the Coriolis force. The next layer moves 45 ∘ from the layer above, but the stress on it is a little smaller, and so on.

What is the thermohaline circulation?

Sinking of salty, cold (dense) waters and upwelling in other regions (from Ekman transports)

Why is Venus so warm?

The dominant gas on Venus is CO2 which absorbs and emits infrared radiation

What is the ITCZ?

The intertropical convergence zone is where converging air masses meet near the thermal equator

How do pycnocline, halocline, and thermocline work together?

Thermocline + Halocline = Pycnocline

What are the westerlies?

Winds that blow from west to east -flow along lines of pressure in the upper troposphere, with a maximum at mid to upper levels -referred to as jet streams

Hadley Cell

an overturning atmospheric cell in each hemisphere caused by the low-level convergence and upper-level divergence of air

How do we name winds?

by the direction they are coming from

Fundamental forces

gravity, friction, pressure gradient force, Coriolis, buoyancy

Longwave radiation

infrared energy emitted by the earth and the atmosphere.

Density

more salty = more dense less salty = less dense

What is the direction of Coriolis deflection?

northern hemisphere: right southern hemisphere: left

Shortwave radiation

radiation emitted by the sun

Albedo

reflectivity of a surface to sunlight

What type of radiation comes from the sun?

short wave radiation: ultraviolet, visible, and shortwave infrared

Joseph Tyndall

showed that gases including carbon dioxide and water vapor can absorb heat and also that they radiated heat, the physical basis of the greenhouse effect

What drives the formation of deep water?

temperature, density, salinity, and buoyancy

Regions of ocean convergence due to winds

the ITCZ

Regions of ocean divergence due to winds

the equatorial Pacific

Eunice Foote

the first person to scientifically test CO2 as a greenhouse gas, determined CO2 warms the atmosphere and warned of global warming

Thermocline

the part of the ocean with the most rapid change in temperature with depth

Halocline

the part of the ocean with the most rapid change of salinity with depth

Pycnocline

the pycnocline encompasses both the halocline (salinity gradients) and the thermocline (temperature gradients)refers to the rapid change in density with depth.

Convergence

typically causes downwelling; transport into the middle of the basin

Divergence

typically causes upwelling; Net transport is away from the equator.

Downwelling

typically happens at places of convergence;

Upwelling

typically happens at places of divergence;

What is the driver of circulation in the mixed layer?

wind stress, the Coriolis effect, and consequent Ekman transports