Environmental Systems Midterm 1

Front 1

meridian

Back 1

connects along a given longitude

Front 2

parallels

Back 2

connects along a given latitude

Front 3

ice melts---anarctica vs arctic

Back 3

if antarctica melts, sea levels change

if floating ice in arctic, less is reflected

Front 4

transmission

Back 4

passage of energy by molecules and conversion to different wavelengths

reducing transmission=greenhouse effect

Front 5

refraction

Back 5

change in speed and direction of light

Front 6

particle size and scattering

Back 6

small--may be missed by light
large--cause significant scattering

Front 7

rayleigh

Back 7

longer wavelengths (red) scatter less than shorter (blue)

Front 8

radiative fluxes

Back 8

shortwave radiation

summarized by "net radiation"

Front 9

turbulent fluxes

Back 9

longwave fluxes

driven by wind

Front 10

sensible heat

Back 10

convection

driven by difference in temperature between surface and atmosphere

desert environment

Front 11

latent heat

Back 11

absorption

driven by difference in vapor pressure between surface and atmosphere

Front 12

emissitivity

Back 12

relative ability to emit heat by radiation

estimate total emission from a black body using Stefan-Boltzmann's Law

Front 13

conduction

Back 13

molecule-to-molecule transfer

Front 14

convection

Back 14

energy transformed by vertical movement

Front 15

advection

Back 15

horizontally dominant movement

open door on cold day, warm air leaves

Front 16

evaporation

Back 16

energy directed away from surface, absorbs energy

Front 17

condensation

Back 17

energy directed toward glass surface, water gets warmer

Front 18

snowmelt

Back 18

surface is moist, air is warm and dry, energy flux is away from surface

Front 19

sensible heat

desert day v night

Back 19

desert during day--surface heats up, energy flux towards surface

desert at night--energy flux away from surface

Front 20

asphalt (radiation)

Back 20

increases net radiation, sensible heat flux

Front 21

why a decrease in heat over water?

Back 21

water absorbs the energy because moisture is available, latent heat flux

Front 22

cosine law

Back 22

the way energy changes the angle, increasing angle increases the area illuminated at the surface and therefor per unit area decreases

Front 23

beer's law

Back 23

if light travels further, more is absorbed

Front 24

solar constant

Back 24

quantity of solar energy at normal incidence outside the atmosphere at the mean sun-earth distance (~3700)

Front 25

pressure v altitude

Back 25

pressure decreases with altitude due to gravitational pull on gases

Front 26

order of atmosphere layers (starting at surface)

Back 26

toposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere

Front 27

troposphere

Back 27

surface to 18 km

90% of mass atmosphere

Front 28

stratosphere

Back 28

18 to 50 km

temperature inversion

Front 29

mesosphere

Back 29

50 to 80 km

Front 30

thermosphere

Back 30

80 +

roughly same as heterosphere

Front 31

homosphere

Back 31

inner atmosphere

gases evenly blended

Front 32

heterosphere

Back 32

outer atmosphere

layers of gases sorted by gravity

Front 33

ionosphere

Back 33

absorbs cosmic rays, gamma rays, X-rays, and some UV rays

Front 34

ozonosphere

Back 34

absorbs UV rays, part of stratosphere

Front 35

most abundant gas in homosphere

Back 35

nitrogen

Front 36

winter solstice

Back 36

dec 20

tropic of capricorn

Front 37

spring equinox

Back 37

march 20

equator

Front 38

summer solstice

Back 38

jun 20

tropic of cancer

Front 39

fall equinox

Back 39

sept 22

equator

Front 40

perihelion

Back 40

earth closest to sun--jan 3

Front 41

aphelion

Back 41

earth farthest from sun--july 4