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What is the biosphere?
The thin layer of the earth that has conditions suitable for supporting life
Consists of the atmosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere
All living things live here
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What is the atmosphere?
The layer of gases that surrounds the earth
Composed of 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, and 0.97% of other gases
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What are the four layers that the earth’s atmosphere?
Troposphere 0-10 km to the sky
Stratosphere 10-50 km to the sky
Mesosphere 50-80 km to the sky
Thermosphere 80-500 km to the sky
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How are the four layers of the earths atmosphere determined?
By average air temperature
By altitude (km into the sky)
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What is the troposphere?
Closest / 0-10 km
Contains about 80% of the atmosphere gases
15 - 60 degrees Celsius
Only part of atmosphere that can support life
Where most weather occurs
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What is the stratosphere?
Second closest to earth / 10 - 50 km
Contain ozone layer
-60 - 0 degrees Celsius
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What is the mesosphere?
Third closest / 50 - 80 km
0 - -100 degrees Celsius
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What is the thermosphere?
Furthest / 80 - 500 km
Contains very little gases
-100 - 1500 degrees Celsius
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What is the hydrosphere?
Consists of all the water
97% is salt water in oceans and 3% fresh water in lakes, rivers, groundwater, and glaciers
Warmed up mostly by solar radiation, sometimes by underground magma (geothermal energy)
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What is the lithosphere?
Solid portion of earth that sits above the earths mantle
Composed of rocks, minerals, and elements
Goes until 100 km underground
Warmed up mainly from the sun, sometimes by underground magma (geothermal energy)
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What is insolation?
The amount of solar energy received by a region of the earths surface
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What is angle of inclination?
The degree that the earths poles are tilted from an imaginary straight line going through the earth from top to bottom
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What is angle of incidence?
Angle between a ray falling on a surface and the line perpendicular to that surface
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What is the albedo?
The percent of solar radiation that it reflects
How well an object can reflect something
The HIGHER the albedo, the less solar energy it ABSORBS and vice versa
Eg. a mirror is 100% albedo
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What causes the air temperature being cooler on a CLOUDY day?
Cloud covers (Clouds)
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What reduces the amount of solar energy that reaches the lithosphere and hydrosphere?
Atmospheric dust
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What are examples of atmospheric dust?
Volcanic dust
Smoke
Nuclear fallout
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What is the NATURAL greenhouse effect?
The absorption of ongoing infrared radiation by NATURALLY occurring water vapour, carbon dioxide, and other gases such as methane and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere
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What is mostly responsible for the natural greenhouse effect?
Water vapour
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What do the effects of the natural greenhouse effect cause?
Retains thermal energy in the earths atmosphere, resulting in the average temperature on earth being warm enough to sustain life
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What is the net radiation budget?
The difference between the amount of incoming radiation and outgoing radiation emitted from the Earths surface and atmosphere
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What is incoming radiation?
All of the solar energy the reaches the Earths surface, NOT including the solar radiation that is reflected
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What is outgoing radiation?
Thermal radiation that is re-emitted by earths surface and atmosphere that is not absorbed by the greenhouse gases of the atmosphere
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What is net radiation budget deficit?
When outgoing radiation is greater than incoming radiation
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What is net radiation budget surplus?
When incoming radiation is greater than outgoing radiation
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What is thermal energy transfer?
The movement of the energy from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration
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What are the three ways thermal energy transfer occurs?
Radiation
Conduction
Convection
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What is convection?
Transfer of thermal energy through the movement of particles from one location to another
Only in liquids and gases
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What is conduction?
Transfer of thermal energy through direct contact between the particles of a substance without moving the particles to a new location
Only in solids
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What is radiation?
The emission of energy as particles or waves that may be reflected or absorbed by particles of matter
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What is atmospheric pressure?
Pressure exerted by the mass of air above any point on earths surface
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What is wind?
Movement of cool air from these areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure
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What is the coriolis effect?
Deflection of any object from a straight-line path due to the rotation of the earth
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What are global wind patterns?
Transfers thermal energy from areas of net radiation budget surplus to areas of net radiation budget deficit, warming areas further from the equator
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What are trade winds?
Deflects the rising currents of air to the northeast in the northern hemisphere and the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere
Caused by coriolis effect
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What are westerly winds?
Winds that are from the west and are warm
Troposphere
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What are easterly winds?
Winds that are from the east and are cold
In troposphere
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What is a jet stream?
A band of fast-moving air in the stratosphere that forms at the boundaries of warm and cold air
In stratosphere
Possible because of less friction in stratosphere
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What is a sea breeze?
As the sun rises, the land warms faster than the water and as the warmer air rises, cooler air from over the water moves in to replace it
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What is a land breeze?
At night, when the water is cools more slowly than the land and the breeze reverses itself
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