EARTH'S CLIMATE SYSTEM - Chapter 2 Flashcards

Flashcards covering key vocabulary terms related to Earth's climate system, including heat transfer, greenhouse effect, ocean circulation, atmospheric circulation, and the role of ice and the biosphere.

Greenhouse Effect

Traps about 95% of longwave radiation emitted from the Earth’s surface, maintaining Earth's temperature at ~15C instead of -16C.

Shortwave Solar Radiation

Incoming radiation from the sun (342W/m²) that is either reflected, scattered, or absorbed by Earth's atmosphere and surface.

Longwave Radiation

Radiation and heat transferred away from Earth's surface and atmosphere, with some trapped by the greenhouse effect.

Albedo

The measure of how various aspects of the climate system, such as clouds and ice, reflect and absorb incoming solar radiation.

Water Vapor (H2O)

An atmospheric gas constituting less than 1% of the dry atmosphere, acting as a greenhouse gas.

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

An atmospheric gas, approximately 0.04% of the atmosphere, acting as a greenhouse gas.

Methane (CH4)

An atmospheric gas, approximately 0.00018% of the atmosphere, acting as a greenhouse gas.

Heat Capacity

The ability of a substance to store heat, leading to differences in temperature response time between materials like oceans and landmasses.

Oceans

Provide most of the fuel to run the Earth’s climate system due to the large amount of heat they store.

Specific Heat of Water

A characteristic of water that significantly impacts temperature change, leading to more stable temperatures in coastal areas compared to inland areas.

Thermohaline Circulation

Deep ocean circulation driven by differences in seawater salinity and temperature, causing denser water to sink and circulate over approximately 1000 years.

Deepwater Formation

The process where dense ocean water, due to its temperature and salinity, sinks to the deep ocean, initiating thermohaline circulation.

Upwelling

The process by which deep ocean water eventually comes back to the surface, influenced by thermohaline circulation.

Hadley Cells

Atmospheric circulation patterns characterized by warm air rising at the equator and sinking at approximately 30° latitude (subtropics).

Coriolis Effect

An apparent force that deflects moving air and ocean currents due to Earth's rotation, influencing global circulation patterns.

Monsoons

Seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation patterns, driven by differential heating between land and ocean surfaces.

Sea Ice

Ice formed from freezing ocean water that helps trap heat in the water and impacts albedo; it can persist for several years in the Arctic but melts and reforms annually in the Antarctic.

Mountain Glaciers

Masses of ice found in mountainous regions, which can extend for several kilometers in length and hundreds of meters in width and thickness.

Continental Ice Sheets

Vast, thick masses of ice (1 to 4 km thick) covering large land areas like Greenland and Antarctica, holding ~70m of potential sea level change.

Biosphere

The global sum of all ecosystems; it impacts climate by removing or adding atmospheric CO2 through plant growth and decay, and by adding water vapor via transpiration.