CAS ES 351 Lecture 5: Feb. 1
2 Feb 2019
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Document Summary
342 degrees is the average radiation at the top of the atmosphere. Net surplus of energy at low latitudes is going to rise up a lot of air, and transfer heat to high latitudes. There is a net loss of energy at high latitudes, meaning they are colder. The atmosphere and the ocean both try to even out the differential heating. As lower air is warmed by conduction, it expands and rises, driving upward motion of air in part of the earth"s surface where there is a lot of heating. The heat is going to diverge and move towards the north and south poles. A lot of the energy absorbed by the surface is given to evapotranspiration (this takes a lot of energy to transform liquid water into water vapor) The vapor will enhance the rising of air. Air diverging to the poles is driven a lot by water vapor.
