EVSC 2800 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Cryosphere, Hydrosphere, Lithosphere

• School: University of Virginia
• Department: Environmental Sciences
• Course: EVSC 2800
• Professor: Alan Howard

Document Summary

Solar forcing the cyclical variation in the input of solar energy. Climate the average conditions at a point on earth"s surface and their variation during these cycles of solar forcing. Whole climate system is dependent on the atmosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. Troposhere layer closest to earth"s surface with of the atmosphere"s mass: convects rigorously and produces the prevailing winds that circulate the air from equatorial and polar regions. Stratosphere dry layer above the troposphere (50 km: stratospheric ozone ilters out incoming uv rays, protecting the biosphere. The hydrosphere: all liquid water on, over, and under earth"s (cid:1) surface. Water can store heat very well ocean currents transport energy very efectively. Prevailing winds cause surface currents that circulate warm water within the ocean basins. Because salt and cold water are more dense, they sink to the bottom of the ocean and form a sort of subsurface current that lows southward: thermohaline circulation (cid:1) (cid:1)