GEOS126 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Earth'S Energy Budget, Latent Heat, Atmospheric Circulation
28 Nov 2018
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Document Summary
Climate and weather is a function of ocean currents. Ocean currents are almost solely controlled by wind and atmospheric interactions. The atmosphere is heated from below through emission of longwave radiation. Earth"s surface is a) partially reflected b) partially absorbed and converted to heat energy by land and oceans. Similar to shining a torch on a basketball, the light is more concentrated at the middle/equator. The global radiation budget is in balance globally but not locally. Heat is transported latitudinally in two ways: atmospheric circulation, more important for mid latitudes, oceanic currents. The model fails to account for the rotation of the earth (coriolis effect) and the difference of heat capacity between land and water. Seasonal movement of convection cells is shown by the shift in itcz, wind bands, and high/low pressure positions. Impact of high heat capacity of ocean relative to land. Land heats faster than water over a set period of time.
