Biology 2483A Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Subsidence, Seagrass, Himalayas
28 Jul 2020
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Document Summary
Climate - long term trends in temp, wind, precip. Energy that drives the climate system is from solar radiation: latent heat flux - heat loss due to evaporation, conduction - direct contact, convection - wind air currents. Atmosphere absorbs a lot of radiation emitted from the surface, then emits it back to the surface: greenhouse gases - water, co2, methane, n2o, without them - earth would be much cooler. Atmospheric and oceanic circulation: equator - sun rays strike earth perpendicularly, poles - rays become steeper so same amount of energy is spread over a larger distance. Summer - air over oceans is cooler so high pressure cells form over the oceans. Winter - air over land is cooler so high pressure cells develop over land. Since wind goes down p (pressure) gradient, seasons change the winds: more in the northern hemisphere bc there is more land there, decreases with higher altitude, warm air rises and expands bc of lower pressure.
