Chapter 6: The Atmosphere and the Oceans

Flashcards for reviewing key concepts from the lecture notes.

What is Earth's heat budget?

It's the balance between heat loss and heat gain, maintaining a relatively constant average temperature.

What is albedo?

Reflectivity of a surface; clouds are more reflective, while the ground is more absorptive.

How does warming affect albedo?

Warming reduces snow and ice cover, exposing darker surfaces, lowering albedo, and causing more warming (positive feedback loop).

What causes the variation in average daily solar radiation with latitude?

Earth's wobble around the sun.

What is the difference in specific heat between rock/soil and water?

Rock and soil have low specific heat, leading to greater temperature changes on land than in the ocean.

What is sea ice?

Frozen seawater that can form ice floes and pack ice.

How are icebergs formed?

Made from glaciers breaking off from land (e.g., Greenland) or getting stuck in channels (e.g., Alaskan).

What happens in the troposphere?

Temperature decreases with altitude, and nearly all weather occurs here.

What happens in the stratosphere?

Temperature increases with altitude due to ozone absorbing UV radiation.

How does temperature, humidity, and altitude affect air density?

Density decreases as temperature and humidity increase, and as altitude increases.

Why is CO2 significant in the greenhouse effect?

It lets in short-wave radiation from the sun but blocks and absorbs long-wave radiation from earth.

What are the active reservoirs of CO2?

Oceans, terrestrial environments, and the atmosphere.

What are the major impacts of increasing CO2?

Increased global temperatures, melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and potential changes to climate patterns.

What are the types of UV radiation and their effects?

UV-A (sunburn), UV-B (DNA damage, cancer), UV-C (high-energy, helps form ozone)

What is the role of ozone in the stratosphere?

Protects from UV radiation.

What is the atmospheric pressure?

The force a column of air presses on Earth’s surface.

How does air move in relation to pressure?

Air moves from high to low pressure, creating winds.

What are winds caused by?

Differences in air density and pressure due to unequal solar radiation, water presence/absence, and surface material heating properties.

What is the Coriolis effect?

The apparent deflection of objects due to differences in rotational speeds of earth’s surface.

How does the Coriolis Effect influence the motion in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres?

Northern Hemisphere to the Right, Southern Hemisphere to the Left

Where do air masses rise and sink; what is the impact on precipitation?

Air rises at the equator and sinks and 30 degrees N/S; sinking air is dry and leads to high evaporation; rising air is wet and leads to high precipitation

What are doldrums?

Wind Zones Near the equator with vertical air motion

What are horse latitudes?

Wind Zones located at 30° N/S with vertical air motion

What causes sea breezes?

Land is warmer (low pressure) than ocean (high pressure) during summer, causing onshore winds; the opposite occurs in winter.

What is ITCZ?

Intertropical Convergence Zone; The location shifts based on where the land is warmer.

How do mountains affect wind and rain?

Mountains block wind, forcing it upwards, causing cooling, condensation, and rain on the windward side, and a rain shadow on the leeward side.

Where do Hurricanes form?

1. Warm water (>27.8 °C/82 °F) in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) 2. Strong low-pressure system with lots of rising air and latent heat release 3. Coriolis effect (not on the equator)

What is storm surge?

Rising of the sea surface during a hurricane, caused by pressure and winds.

What is ENSO?

El Niño-Southern Oscillation: anomalous climatic conditions at tropical Pacific Ocean.

What happens during El Niño?

Surface pressure is high in the Indonesian Low area and low in the South Pacific high area; southeast trade winds weaken or reverse.

What are common El Nino effects?

Often causes droughts or floods, warmer winters in the northern U.S., more rain in the eastern U.S., and less intense hurricanes.

What is La Niña?

Opposite of El Niño; east Pacific colder than normal, stronger trade winds, surface waters off Peru unusually cold.

How is ENSO measured?

Using the Multivariate ENSO index (MEI), measuring sea surface temperature, surface pressure, wind speed, and cloud cover.