EART 2 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Evaporation, Planetshine, Water Cycle
Document Summary
Heating from above varies with latitude, with height in atmosphere, and seasonally. Earth"s rotation, surface topography and variable surface albedo (ice; land/sea), complicate it all. Atmospheric dynamics control climate zones; desert/ice caps. Atmosphere plays central role in water cycle; storms/hurricanes. Weather: events with duration of minutes to weeks, ex. Climate: average atmospheric conditions that change over much longer time scales (years to decades to millennia to millions of years) ex. Average properties for an annual cycle, el nino cycles, ice ages, global warming. O3 (ozone): 2 to 12 ppm in the stratosphere. Oceans have 300x more water than the atmosphere. Expands out in all directions from sun; electromagnetic radiation of energetic particles and light (photons) of varying wavelengths. Light arrives at top of earth"s atmosphere non-uniformly (more at low altitudes, less at high latitudes) Power flow to and from earth (in x10^12 joules per second) Water transport in oceans at atmosphere: 370. Reflection from light-colored surfaces, clouds, snow, ice.
