GPHY 103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Westerlies, Hadley Cell, Latent Heat
22 Dec 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Topic: hydrological cycle climate and weather (cech chapter 2), continued. Latent heat =heat stored or released during a phase change. Approximately 4x more energy is released during condensation or required for evaporation. Saturation vapour pressure (esat) = how much moisture air can hold. Saturation curve shows saturation vapour pressure at different temperatures: air masses cool higher potential for precipitation. Climate is the average weather conditions of a location. Air little moisture; not enough coalescence seldom precipitates: when air"s saturated; precipitation is possible currents, ocean currents, tilt of the earth"s axis determine climate. Earth tilt and rotation about the sun large seasonal changes especially near the poles. Air currents are driven by spatial variation in energy; leads to persistent zones of high and low pressure. At equator; intensive radiation; evaporation heating and rising moist air (low currents pressure); convection, buoyant air rises.
