Met1010 Exam 1 Study Guide Chapter 1 The atmosphere is made up of several different gasses These gases are divided up into 2 types 1 Permanent Gases E g nitrogen oxygen argon 2 Variable Gases E g water vapor carbon dioxide ozone pressure mass gravity area density kg m3 mass kg volume m3 pressure Pa or N m2 force N area m2 weight N mass kg gravity m s2 Water is the only substance that exists in all three phases i e solid liquid gas at temperatures and pressures that are commonly found near Earth s surface Melting solid water liquid water Evaporation liquid water water vapor Sublimation solid water water vapor Condensation water vapor liquid water Freezing liquid water solid water Deposition water vapor solid water warming processes cooling processes Greenhouse Gasses an atmospheric gas which absorbs some of the outgoing radiation emitted from Earth Greenhouse gasses keep us at a comfortable temperature and without them we wouldn t survive Greenhouse Effect certain gasses in the atmosphere greenhouse gasses absorb and emit infrared radiation back toward the Earth Without greenhouse gasses the average estimated temperate is 0 with greenhouse gasses however the average temperature is 59 Lapse Rate the rate at which temperature decreases with height To find lapse rate you calculate the difference between the two temperatures and divide it by how many units you re moving vertically Ex If the temperature at the surface 0 km is 20 C and the temperature at 2 km is 16 C then the lapse rate would be 2 C km 20 C 16 C 4 C then divided by 2 km you get 2 C per km Temperature Inversion the lapse rate when temperature increases with height This is calculated the same way as lapse rate except since we are warming instead of cooling our answer will be negative Ex If the temperature at the surface is 20 C and the temperature at 1 km is 23 C then the lapse rate would be 3 C km 20 C 23 C 3 C then divided by 1 km you get 3 C per km Layers of the Atmosphere As a general rule temperature and pressure decrease with height but there are some variances in temperature within each layer 1 Troposphere lowest layer of the atmosphere 0 km 11km Weather air temperature air pressure humidity clouds precipitation visibility wind occurs here Temperature decreases with height Tropopause 2 Stratosphere 11km 50 km Temperature increases with height There is a temperature inversion because the highest concentrations of ozone are here Ozone absorbs the sun s UV radiation warming this layer 3 Mesosphere 50km 85km Temperature decreases with height Air density and air pressure very low Stratopause Mesopause 4 Thermosphere 85km 120km Temperature increases with height but varies day to day Chapter 2 Heat the energy in the process of being transferred from one object to another due to the temperature difference between them Energy the ability to do work on a given amount of matter We talked about 2 types of energy 1 Potential Energy the amount of energy stored in an object which has the potential to do work PE mgh where m mass g gravitational acceleration and h height above ground 2 Kinetic Energy energy of motion Every moving object has kinetic energy KE mv where m mass and v velocity Temperature is a measure of the kinetic energy of a substance Specific Heat The amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance one degree Celsius Different substances have different specific heat values because for some substances it takes less heat to raise the temperature one degree Celsius than it does for others Latent Heat The heat energy required to change a substance from one state to another When substances undergo phase change they require energy Latent heat measures exactly how much energy they need Sensible Heat heat we can measure with a thermometer and feel as a temperature change Radiation energy spread in the form of electromagnetic waves Conduction the transfer of heat by molecular activity from one substance to another or through a substance The transfer in conduction is one from warm to cold Convection the transfer of heat by the mass movement of a fluid such as water or air In meteorology this has to do with the vertical movement of air through the atmosphere that leads to rising air currents from surface heating Electromagnetic Radiation radiation emitted from all objects with a temperature above Is either reflected by absorbed by or passed through an object 0 Kelvin Radiation emitted from Earth is mainly in the Infrared band Radiation emitted from the Sun is mainly in the Visible light band https www youtube com watch v bjOGNVH3D4Y Radiative Equilibrium when the rate of energy absorbed from the sun equals the rate of energy Albedo the percentage of radiation that is reflected from a given surface emitted by the earth Chapter 3 Seasons are determined by Earth s tilt on its axis Earth s tilted axis of rotation also determines The angle at which sunlight strikes the Earth s surface The length of that daylight longer daylight more heat Therefore the tilt of the axis also determines the solstices and equinoxes June 21st Sun directly over the Tropic of Cancer Northern Hemisphere NH summer solstice Southern Hemisphere SH winter solstice September 22nd Sun directly over the equator NH autumn fall equinox SH vernal spring equinox December 21st Sun directly over Tropic of Capricorn NH winter solstice SH summer solstice March 20th Sun directly over the equator NH vernal spring equinox SH autumn fall equinox If the Earth were tilted more seasonal variation would be much greater Earth s elliptical orbit around the sun determines its temperature response to seasons Perihelion Earth s closest distance to the sun occurs in early January Aphelion Earth s farthest distance from the sun occurs in early July Radiational Cooling each evening the amount of energy emitted by the earth exceeds the amount of incoming solar radiation insolation and the temperatures at the earth s surface begin to cool Since the atmosphere is a poor conductor of heat the surface cools faster than the atmosphere above it This causes the temperature to increase with height causing a temperature inversion In this particular circumstance it is called a nocturnal inversion or a radiation inversion Daily Temperature Cycle The average daily temperature cycle looks basically as follows The minimum daily temperature usually occurs in the early morning hours Temperatures then steadily rise through the afternoon hours until it reaches maximum
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