ENV100Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Warm Front, March Equinox, Northern Hemisphere

• School: UTM
• Department: Environment
• Course: ENV100Y5
• Professor: Barbara Murck

Document Summary

> a thin layer of gases that surround the atmosphere. > others : permanent gases, variable gases (water vapour: moderates climate; protects earth from radiation and uv, transport pollutants, heat, moisture etc, vertically structured-> have layers, human activity-> changing the composition. Atmospheric pressure-> as altitude increase, air pressure decreases. Water vapour-> saturated cold air has much less water than saturated warm air: thermosphere->warmed from above by solar radiation, mesosphere, stratosphere->o3 blocks uv radiation, troposphere->80% of all gases ; tropopause limits mixing between troposphere and stratosphere. Auroras-> nitrogen & oxygen atoms are ionized by colliding with particles; lose energy by emitting a photon. Solar energy heats the atmosphere: heats and moves the air, causes evaporation, creates seasons, influences weather and climate, drives photosynthesis. Weather = atmospheric conditions over short time periods and small geographic areas climate. = patterns of average atmospheric conditions across large geographic regions and long periods of time.