Earth System Science Exam 1

Front 2

Closed System

Back 2

Shut off from the surrounding environment
-energy and material conversions
-energy and material storage

Front 3

Earth's System

Back 3

Open-Energy
Closed System - materials and everything we use now was something before - we can never really get rid of something, just alter it's composition - burning paper

Front 4

Positive Feedbacks

Back 4

Further production in a system increase a growth of that system, feedbacks amplify response ex: savings accont

Front 5

Negative Feedbacks

Back 5

Further production in a system decreases growth of the system, feedbacks slow or dampen response
ex: thermostat

Front 6

Open System

Back 6

Inputs and outputs cross back and forth between system and surroundings ex: a car, leaf
Inputs for a car: fuel, oxygen, oil, water
Outputs: oil waste, mechanical motion, heat energy

Front 7

Closed System

Back 7

Shut off from the surrounding environment
-energy and material conversions
-energy and material storage

Front 8

Earth's System

Back 8

Open-Energy
Closed System - materials and everything we use now was something before - we can never really get rid of something, just alter it's composition - burning paper

Front 9

Positive Feedbacks

Back 9

Further production in a system increase a growth of that system, feedbacks amplify response ex: savings accont

Front 10

Negative Feedbacks

Back 10

Further production in a system decreases growth of the system, feedbacks slow or dampen response
ex: thermostat

Front 11

Feedback

Back 11

the situation when output from an event in the past will influence the same event in the present or future. When an event is part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop, then the event is said to "feed back" into itself.

Front 12

Positive Feedback

Back 12

a situation where some effect causes more of itself
-keeps going up--temporal for the time being
-a small change creates an effect that causes an even bigger change
-unstable
-results in the amplification of the original signal instead of stabilization
-on the earth there is no positive feedback system that keeps going on forever - will eventually hit a plateau and go back down
ex:A warmer atmosphere will, due to increased evaporation and decreased condensation, contain more water vapor which is a greenhouse gas so it will warm the atmosphere further.
ex: A colder climate will cause ice caps and glaciers to grow changing the albedo which further cools the atmosphere

Front 13

Negative Feedback

Back 13

occurs when the output of a system acts to oppose changes to the input of the system; with the result that the changes are attenuated. If the overall feedback of the system is negative, then the system will tend to be stable
-helps to maintain stability in a system in spite of external changes
-homeostasis

Front 14

Thermostat

Back 14

Negative Feedback
-Furnace turns off, house cools
-the house cools, the thermostat closes
-Furnace turns on, house warms
-house warms, thermostat circuit opens
--dampens response

Front 15

Wolves and Elks

Back 15

Both Positive and Negative
-population of elks goes up, pop. of wolves goes up
-pop. of wolves goes down, pop. of elks goes down
-pop. of elks goes down, pop, of wolves foes down

Front 16

Greenhouse Effect

Back 16

-carbon dioxide and methane released into the atmosphere
-temp goes up
-permafrost thaws
-more cfcs are released
-temp goes up

Front 17

Distance to the Sun

Back 17

Average - 150,000,000km
Perihelion - closest at Jan. 3 - 147,255,000km
Aphelion -farthest at July 4 - 152,083,000km
*distance of the sun has nothing to due with determining the seasons
-far from the sun in the summer
-seasons are the opposite in the southern hemisphere

Front 18

Revolution

Back 18

24 hours
-movement of the earth around its main axis

Front 19

Rotation

Back 19

365 days
-movement of the earth around the sun

Front 20

Earth's Axial tilt and Parallelism

Back 20

23.5° - the angle between the earth's rotational axis, and a line perpendicular to its orbital plane of ecliptic
-The axis remains tilted in the same direction towards the stars throughout a year

Front 21

The Tropic of Cancer

Back 21

the circle of latitude on the earth that marks the northernmost path of the sun — the apparent "equator" — on the day of the northern summer solstice or the southern winter solstice
-23.5N and 23.5S

Front 22

Subsolar point

Back 22

point on earth where the sun is directly overhead
-always in the tropics

Front 23

Winter Solstice

Back 23

December 21 or 22
-subsolar point: tropic of capricorn
-shortest day of the year, everything after that is longer

Front 24

Spring Equinox

Back 24

March 20 or 21
-subsolar point: the equator

Front 25

Summer Solstice

Back 25

June 20 or 21
-subsolar point: tropic of cancer

Front 26

Fall Equinox

Back 26

September 22-23
-subsolar point: the equator

Front 27

Equinox

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When the direction of the tilt and the direction to the Sun are perpendicular
-When we are at the equinox, we have 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night

Front 28

Latitude

Back 28

How far we are from the equator

Front 29

Equator

Back 29

an imaginary line on the Earth's surface equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole that divides the Earth into a Northern Hemisphere and a Southern Hemisphere
-at the equator, the sun rises and sets at the same time year round

Front 30

3 Things That Determine the Seasons

Back 30

1. Axial Tilt
2. Revolution
3. Latitude
-arctic circle: sun never sets in June
-antarctic circle: sun never comes up in december

Front 31

Axial Tilt and Seasons

Back 31

Because of the axial tilt of the Earth, the amount of sunlight reaching any given point on the surface varies over the course of the year. This results in seasonal change in climate, with summer in the northern hemisphere occurring when the North Pole is pointing toward the Sun, and winter taking place when the pole is pointed away

Front 32

Solstice

Back 32

the point in the orbit of maximum axial tilt toward or away from the Sun

Front 33

Revolution and the Seasons

Back 33

The Earth revolves around the sun so different parts of the Earth are more affected by the sun then other parts through out the year
---not tilt, no seasons

Front 34

Solar wind

Back 34

a stream of charged particles ejected from the upper atmosphere of the sun
-electromagnetic storms at the surface of the sun
Ex: northern lights, aurora borealis (northern), australis (southern)
-sun emits clouds of positively charged molecules that never hit earth, they are deflected by the atmosphere
-these particles are able to escape the sun's gravity because of the high temperature of the corona and high kinetic energy of the particles

Front 35

Auroras

Back 35

natural light displays in the sky, usually observed at night, particularly in the polar regions
-typically occur in the ionosphere
-solar wind - a flow of ions continuously flowing outward from the sun. The Earth's magnetic field traps these particles, travel toward the poles where they are accelerated toward earth. Collisions between these ions and atmospheric atoms and molecules causes energy releases in the form of auroras appearing in large circles around the poles

Front 36

Aurora Borealis

Back 36

also called the northern polar lights, as it is only visible in the sky from the Northern Hemisphere
-most often occurs near the equinoxes

Front 37

Electromagnetic Energy from sun to earth

Back 37

-concentrated in shorter wavelengths: ultraviolet, visible and short wave (near) infrared
-Input: solar radiation
-Output: Earth's infrared emission to space
-longer wavelengths: thermal infrared (heat energy)

Front 38

The Greenhouse Effect

Back 38

-our atmosphere contains gases that absorb and emit infrared radiation.
-these gases trap heat within the surface-troposphere system
-Our atmosphere lets short waves out, but leaves long waves in
-traps heat - heats up

Front 39

The Curvature of the Earth

Back 39

The farther away we are from the equator, the more the sunlight is at an angle - harder for light to get through the atmosphere because it has to pass through more of it
-why the equator and tropics are so productive

Front 40

Function of The Atmosphere

Back 40

-Shielding effect: protects us from harmful radiation from the sun
-Protective function: ionosphere traps x-rays, gamma rays, most harmful radiation
-ozone layer

Front 41

Composition of The Atmosphere

Back 41

Air is mainly composed of nitrogen, oxygen, and argon
-78.084% nitrogen
-20.946% oxygen
the greenhouse gases: water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone

Front 42

Trophosphere

Back 42

-Contains the biosphere-living things and most of the weather
-closest to the surface

Front 43

Sherry Rowland and Mario Molina

Back 43

-won the nobel peace prize in chemistry for discovering this:
-CLO --> O3 --> CL 2O2
CL+O3 --> CLO +O2
-Chlorine oxygen breaks apart ozone molecule
-O3: ozone
-O2: oxygen gas, also breaks up ozone
-Chlorine oxide from CFCs
-2O2: also breaks up ozone
-CLO: back to the start, can just keep repeating itself

Front 44

CFCs

Back 44

found in propellents - hairspray and reridgeration systems
-used a lot in the 1950's before they new the harmful effects
-is a gas that leads to ozone depletion
-they are hard to break up - trapped there in order to protect us (in the ionosphere) - when exposed to UV radiation, it dissolves
-chlorine lasts for around 100 years and the ozone can regenerate

Front 45

Ozone Concentration

Back 45

-Ozonosphere
-we have stopped using CFCs awhile ago, but the problem isn't getting any better - polution
-the hole in the ozone (above Australia) is getting bigger due to long time residue effects in the upperatmosphere
-the hole is the size of America

Front 46

Ozonosphere

Back 46

protects us from UV radiation which is harmful to out skin
-without CFCs, the ozonosphere still lets in some radiation, so now its even more

Front 47

Atmospheric Pressure

Back 47

how much atmosphere is there pressing down on us?
-the higher you go the, the less dense the atmosphere is - the amount of atmosphere decreases with elevation - run out of O2
-MB = measures atmospheric pressure

Front 48

Coors Field

Back 48

In Denver - The Mile High City
-more home runs are hit there because the baseballs travel faster due to thin air

Front 49

Pressure and Temperature

Back 49

-the higher you go, the colder it is
-air expands and gets cold due to low density
-when air comes out of a tire it is cool because it's expanding - going from higher density concentration, to a lower done

Front 50

Normal Lapse Rate

Back 50

Theoretical Average
-The decrease of an atmospheric variable with height, the variable being temperature unless otherwise specified

Front 51

Environmental Lapse Rate

Back 51

The rate of decrease of temperature with elevation in the atmosphere. Also known as atmospheric lapse rate.
-the ACTUAL temperature
-found by measuring - weather balloons
-change in temperature by latitude

Front 52

Lapse Rate Formula

Back 52

temperature final = temp initial - (6.4C/1000m x [elevation final - elevation initial])

Front 53

Scattering

Back 53

Deflection and redirecton of insolation by atmospheric gases, dust, ice and water vapor

Front 54

Refraction

Back 54

Bending effect that occurs when insolation enters the atmosphere or other medium

Front 55

Reflection

Back 55

Insolation is returned directly to space without being absorbed and converted into heat

Front 56

Transmission

Back 56

passage of energy through something

Front 57

Absorption

Back 57

Assimilation and conversion of radiation from one form to another
-most of atmosphere is nitrogen
-carbon dioxide concentration has increased over the years

Front 58

Pollution Sources

Back 58

Transportation is the biggest source of pollution
-carbon monoxide
-nitrogen oxide
-volatile organic compounds
-particulate matter and sulfur dioxide

Front 59

Solar and Terrestrial Energy
Wavelengths

Back 59

Ultra violet - shortest wavelength - emitted from the sun
Visible - highest point of energy of energy coming from the sun is here (green/blue)
Infrared - longest wavelengths
--shorter than the ones coming from earth

Front 60

Pathways of solar energy

Back 60

scattering, refraction, reflection, transmission, absorption

Front 61

Scattering (difuse radiation)

Back 61

-shorter wavelengths scatter more often
-when energy scatters, the wavelengths becomes more visible
-responsible for the sky being blue and the way we see sunrise or sunset
-determines the colors we see in the sky
ex: why does it look white?
--cloud particles and moisture
--all wavelengths of the visible spectrum are absorbed and the sky (clouds) looks white

Front 62

Refraction

Back 62

whenever energy moves from one medium to another
-during a sunrise - the sun is usually behind the horizon 4 minutes before - we see the sun before it gets here because what we are seeing is a bending affect of the sun
ex: rainbows after rain fall - refraction of moisture

Front 63

Albedo

Back 63

The measure of hoe much energy is reflected back
-creates the brightness
-if energy reaches the earth it is absorbed into the earth, instead of reflecting back
ex: the tar on the street is 30% hotter than the actual air because of its dark color
--lighter things have higher albedos, are cooler and reflect things back -- whatever is laying on the snow will most often be darker and absorb more energy, heating it up and sinking it

Front 64

Suns position and radiation

Back 64

-the more the sun is overhead, the more energy will be absorbed
- the more it is angeled, the more energy will be reflected

Front 65

Cloud-Albedo Forcing

Back 65

an increase in albedo caused by clouds
-clouds act as an insulator, trapping longwave radiation
-clouds reflect insolation and cool earth's surface

Front 66

Cloud-Greenhouse forcing

Back 66

an increase in greenhouse warming caused by clouds
-clouds absorb and reradiate longwave radiation emitted by earth - either going back to earth or to space

Front 67

High Clouds

Back 67

Net greenhouse forcing and atmospheric warming

Front 68

low clouds

Back 68

net albedo forcing and atmospheric cooling

Front 69

Earth-Atmospheric Radiation Balance

Back 69

-31% of solar radiation is absorbed by earth - albedo - most of which is due to clouds
-whichever hemisphere is experiencing winter has the highest albedo

Front 70

Daily net radiation

Back 70

already accounts for albedo
-having solar radiation that reaches the earth's surface

Front 71

Deserts and Radiation

Back 71

-have a high rate of radiation and insolation
-no clouds above - more solar energy gets through
-no vegetation - no evaporation - no clouds

Front 72

Pathways of solar energy

Back 72

flow of energy from equator to higher latitude

Front 73

Temperature

Back 73

The measure of kinetic energy

Front 74

Kinetic energy

Back 74

energy of movement
-molecule movement - the faster the movement, the higher the temp

Front 75

3 Ways to measure temperature

Back 75

Kelvin scale - 1 degree - o degrees k is when molecules stop moving
Farenheit - freezing point of water
Celcius - 0 degrees C - when water freezes, even at the lowest point, molecules are still moving

Front 76

Principles of Temperature Control

Back 76

-Cloud cover
-Latitude
-Altitude
-Land-water heating differencing

Front 77

Latitude and Heating

Back 77

-closer to equator = higher temp
-farther away - the lower the temp gets
--because of the same reasons of the variations in day light
-the range of temps, throughout the year, experienced at any place varies with latitude ex: london, buenos aires
-general pattern: for places further away: very long winters, very long summers, more variation
-closer to equator: consistent average temp all year
-Edinburgh doesn't fit because it's and island - coldish year round - not much variation

Front 78

Altitude and Temp

Back 78

-higher the elevation of sea level, the colder it gets
-altitude increase, temp decreases
--when all else is equal ex; concepcion and bolivia

Front 79

At Higher Altitude

Back 79

-average air temp is cooler
--density of atmosphere when we go higher up gets thinner and lose it's ability to absorb and retain heat - less molecules moving around - easier to cool off, harder to warm up
-night time cooling is greater
-greater differences between sun and shade
ex: snowline in andes mountians, alaska - lowest elevation that experiences consistent snow - its at sea level, farther from equator

Front 80

Land-Water Heating differences

Back 80

evaporation
transparency
specific heat
movement
marine vs. continental effects

Front 81

Evaporation

Back 81

changing of water from liquid to gas
-this requires a lot of energy to cool things off - energy is lost
-when the body's water starts heating up - its cooled by evaporation (sweating)
-it rises due to increasing molecule movement
-negative feedback - it reverses the effect - moderating effect
-keeps the oceans from getting to hot

Front 82

Transparency

Back 82

water is a lot more transparent than land
-solar radiation that reaches land can't stay at the surface, so all the energy stays there- why sand is so hot and then we bury our feet and it's less hot
-solar radiation can penetrate water because of it's transparency - much farther to travel - heat is spread out

Front 83

Specific Heat

Back 83

The amount of energy that is required to raise the temp 1 degree - 1 unit
-increase of temperature in a material per unit of energy absorbed
-more energy required to raise the temp of water over land
-water has a higher specific heat - harder to heat water - resists heat
-harder to cool water - resists changes in temp

Front 84

Movement

Back 84

Water moves more quickly than land (hot and cool water mixes
-contributes to water not heating up as quickly
-water mixes temperature - when land is heated up, the land doesn't move that fast, so different temps don't mix

Front 85

Marine and Continental Climates

Back 85

-variation annual temperature is greater in places farther away from water
ex: vancouver vs. winnipeg - vancouver, on the coast has a smaller variation. winnipeg is inland (continental) and has a larger variation - distinct seasons

Front 86

January Temperatures

Back 86

-when iso - lines reach a continent, they bend towards the south because in january the sun is above the tropic of cancer - the south
-pattern falls apart when they reach mountains

Front 87

Pressure Gradient force

Back 87

winds typically move from areas of high pressure - to areas of low pressure
-when isobars are far apart - gradual pressure gradient
-when isobars are close together - steep pressure gradient -winds move faster

Front 88

Coriolis Effect

Back 88

apparent deflection of objects to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere
-acts on things that travel long distances through the air
-the equator is traveling more quickly than other parts of the earth during one rotation - longer distance to travel in 24 hours
ex: jump from moving truck, land where truck would have been
-if no rotation, no coriolis effet
-no deflection along equator

Front 89

Hurricanes

Back 89

-the eye is an area of low pressure - things get sucked into it
-initial counter clockwise

Front 90

Geostrophic winds

Back 90

-winds that occur in higher elevations
-parallel to isobars

Front 91

Friction force

Back 91

-surface winds
-affected by the roughness of the surface
-diagonal effect - move across isobars at a 45 degree angle
-dragging effect

Front 92

Prevailing Winds

Back 92

direction from which wind typically blows

Front 93

Inter-tropic convergence xone

Back 93

low pressure around equator

Front 94

Subtropical high pressure cells

Back 94

-cool air is dry, warm air has moisture-humid
-climate is determined by the circulation of these winds
-cool air sinks, warm air rises
-clockwise circulation from high pressure cells

Front 95

Land-sea Breeze

Back 95

-on the beach during the day - warm air is coming towards you
-on the beach at night - air is blowing away from the beach towards the water
--because land and water heat up differently
-during the day land is hotter than water
-at night, land cools off more quickly - air is cooler - air over water rises and over land sinks

Front 96

Mountain - Valley Breeze

Back 96

Day - warmer air moves up the mountain
night - cool air moves down the mountain
- air is less dense as you go up - at higher elevation air doesnt heat up as quickly

Front 97

Ocean and fresh water distribution

Back 97

-ocean is 97% of all water - not drinkable
-it is not that there is a shortage of water, it's that most of it us salt water
-98% of surface water is frozen

Front 98

Three states of water

Back 98

when water freezes, it expands which is key to life
-if water didnt expand when frozen, oceans would freeze from the bottom up and life under water would die
-water freezes at the top and allows marine life to survive

Front 99

Relative Humidity

Back 99

the ratio of amount of water vapor that is possible