GEOB 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Shortwave Radiation, Sensible Heat, Latent Heat

• School: UBC
• Department: Geographical Biogeosciences
• Course: GEOB 102
• Professor: Greg Henry

Document Summary

Clouds can relect and absorb shortwave radiaion, but can also absorb longwave radiaion. What happens to net radiaion where there are more high clouds: relecion < absorpion, high clouds= warmer, relecion > absorpion, low clouds= cooler. We can measure or calculate a global energy budget; an accouning of all the energy lows into and between the surface and the atmosphere. This includes both radiaive and non-radiaive transfers of energy. Convecion: taking energy from surface and move it up the atmosphere. The individual budgets for the atmosphere and the surface are not balanced, but the budget for the enire earth-atmosphere is balanced. Clouds can absorb both longwave and shortwaves, and also relect. The imbalance of net radiaion between the tropics and the polar regions drives the global circulaion of the atmosphere and the oceans.