GPHY 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Altocumulus Cloud, Supercooling, Cirrocumulus Cloud

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Geography
• Course: GPHY 102
• Professor: Ryan K Danby

Document Summary

Oceans act as a reservoir for heat redistribution and storage reservoir for dissolved compounds. Fresh water falling from earth causes weathering and erosion, moving soils and rock debris from one location to another. Water in air moves large quantities of heat from one place to another. The hydrosphere: components of the hydrosphere include water in all of its forms. Mean annual global water balance (1000s km^3: water vapour precipitates onto land and oceans, on land runoff heads to the ocean or evaporates, in ocean, evaporates. Specific humidity: actual quantity of water vapour in the air. Grams of water vapour per kilogram of air: determines water available for precipitation, warm air can hold much more water than cold. Specific humidity and global temperature: mean air temperature increases towards equator, thus, specific humidity increases towards equator. Dew point: temperature at which water vapour condenses to liquid.