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Air density decreases with
- Height.
- (Atmospheric pressure highest at earth's surface)
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Earth's Atmosphere Layers
- 1. Troposphere
- ------tropopause
- 2. Stratosphere
- ------stratopause
- 3. Mesosphere
- ------mesopause
- 4. Thermosphere
-
Troposphere
- decreasing temp w/ increasing altitude
- (includes 75% of atmospheric mass as mainly water vapor)
-
Tropo/strato/mesopause temp
boundary between layers w/ constant temp w/ increasing altitude
-
Stratosphere
temp increase w/ altitude
-
O3 formed how?
Photodisassociation - uv radiation splits O3 bonds
-
Ozone layer
region in Stratosphere w/ high concentration of O3
-
Ozone Hole
- Depletion of O3 in a zone
- Make worse by bromine, chlorine, and especially chlorofluorocarbons
-
Montreal Protocol
1987- phased out production of ozone harming substances
-
Why do temps increase w/ altitude in the stratosphere?
Ozone absorbing sunlight, and the higher up portions of O3 absorb more
-
Makeup of Earth's atmosphere:
- 78% Nitrogen
- (connected by triple bond)
- 21% Oxygen
-
Where oxygen comes from:
- Photosynthesis:
- 28% Rainforests
- 70% Marine Plant
-
ppmv
parts per million by volume
-
Electromagnetic Radiation
radiant energy traveling at speed of light as waves in electric and magnetic fields
-
Wavelength & color
- Red = longer/lower wavelength
- Green = medium/middle
- Blue = shorter/higher
-
Electromagnetic spectrum
Visible light/non-visible waves
-
2 Laws in relation to solar radiation:
Stefan-Boltzmann Law- Radiation = functon of the 4th power of an object's absolute temp.Therefore, the warmer an object, the more intense its emitted radiation
Wien's Law- wavelength of max. radiation is inversely proportional to an objects absolute temp. Therefore the warmer an object, the max. radiation occurs at shorter wavelengths
-
Shortwave:
- energy from sun
- peaks in visible wavelengths
- greater intensity
-
Longwave
- energy from earth
- peaks in thermal wavelengths
- lesser intensity
-
Solar radiation's interaction with Earth's atmosphere:
- Reflection
- Scattering
- Absorbtion
- Transmission
-
Albedo
% of solar energy reflected from the Earth back into space
- Factors: Sun angle, surface color, surface texture
- High: Clouds, Water
- Low: dirt, forests, black roads
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Scattering
- "Rayleigh" scattering- the process of diffusion
- - Small particles and gas molecules re-orient direction of radiation. For solar energy, this approximates a random process
Amnt & direction = function of: radius of scattering particle & wavelength of the energy
-
Absorption
Retaining radiation energy to another form of energy (ex. heat)
-
Transmission
proportion of solar radiation passing through the atmosphere
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