EESB03H3 Lecture Notes - Frostbite, Occluded Front, Middle Latitudes
30 Jan 2013
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Document Summary
Stars are hot, glowing balls of gas that generate energy by converting hydrogen into helium near their centers. Our sun is an average size star situated near the edge of the milky way galaxy. At an average distance from the sun of nearly 150 million kilometers (km) or 93 million miles (mi), the earth intercepts only a very small fraction of the sun"s total energy output. However, it is this radiant energy (or radiation)* that drives the atmosphere into the patterns of everyday wind and weather and allows the earth to maintain an average surface temperature of about 15 c (59 f). The earth"s atmosphere is a thin, gaseous envelope comprised mostly of nitrogen and oxygen, with small amounts of other gases, such as water vapor and carbon dioxide. Nestled in the atmosphere are clouds of liquid water and ice crystals.
