ATOC 181 Lecture 3: Chapter 3 Notes
10 Mar 2016
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Temperatures drop when air loses energy and rise when air gains it. - topics: 1) the role of the earth"s tilt/revolution/rotation in controlling the seasons; 2) regional and diurnal temperature variations: air temperature observations, measuring air temperature. Earth farthest from sun (152 million km) in july 4th aphelion; Fact: in the northern hemisphere (nh), colder in jan and warmer in july. Thus: nearness/distance (the consequence of earth"s elliptical path) is not the only factor impacting seasons / does not control the season. - annual variability in earth-sun distance: sun farther away in nh summer (receives ~6. 5% less radiation), but: nh summer is about a week longer than sh summer. A: 1) amount of solar energy that reaches earths surface -- insolation (incoming solar radiation intensity over a certain time period) mainly influenced by: - solar intensity: energy per unit area, differences due to earth"s tilt are much larger than differences due to varying.
