Aspect of Weather

Earth’s Energy Budget Just like a family makes a money budget for their home, Earth makes a solar energy budget for it’s overall temperature. An energy budget is vital to the sustainability of earth, as temperatures that are too low or too high can have a devastating impact on Earth’s Biosphere (area that houses all living things).

How it works: Earth’s atmosphere and crust absorb heat to maintain earth’s temperature (incoming radiation) and emit heat back into the atmosphere (outgoing radiation) Pg. 14 ~ Figure 1.4 Important Budget Values: 49% of the incoming solar radiation is absorbed by land and ocean. 42% of incoming solar radiation is absorbed, reflected, and scattered by clouds, gases, and aerosols in the atmosphere. 9% is reflected by Earth’s surface.

Factors Affecting Absorption of Energy COLOUR Dark surfaces absorb light Light surfaces reflect light ALBEDO: reflectivity of a surface or how much energy it reflects. Snow has a high albedo Field crops have a low albedo. TYPE OF SURFACE: different surfaces absorb energy at different rates. water heats up and cools much slower than land while air heats up and cools much faster than land and water.

Specific Heat Capacity The property of a substance that involves how (and how quickly) it absorbs and/or releases energy. Water has a much higher specific heat capacity than land and air, meaning it can absorb a lot of energy and release it slowly.

Heat Sinks Any substance that can absorb and retain a “pool” or reservoir of energy without undergoing a change of state. Water is a better heat sink than land. As a result, our oceans have a great influence on weather. Example: coastal areas have cooler summers and mild winters.

Summary of some key concepts Please copy down the following summary organizers on the next three slides…

Incoming RadiationOutgoing Radiation Shortwave radiation as Longwave radiation Emitted by land, water High concentration of thermal energy (heat) Low concentration of thermal energy (heat) Emitted by the Sun as Absorbed by land, water, atmosphere, And some gets reflected back to space. Absorbed by atmosphere and moves up to exit the atmosphere. vs.

Dark and Dull SurfacesLight and Shiny Surfaces Great absorbers of energy, heat up quickly. (low albedo) Do not absorb energy well, reflect a lot of energy, heat up slowly. (high albedo) Example: Downtown of cities are hotter because of their dark surfaces (lots pavement, buildings). Example: In the winter, more energy is reflected away from our surfaces because of snow. vs.

LANDWATER Low heat capacity (does not need to absorb a lot of thermal Energy to rise in temp.) Land heats up quickly and cools quickly! High Heat Capacity. (needs to absorb a lot of thermal energy to rise in temperature. ) GOOD HEAT SINK!!!! Water heats up slowly and cools slowly. As a result of this….As a result of this… vs. Example: In the summer, at a beach, sand (land) is hotter than water! Coasts lower temp than inland areas Example: In the winter, the water is warmer than the land. Coasts higher temp than inland areas.

Your Task: Complete the handout “Heat Sinks & Heat Capacity” Refer to your PPT note and summary diagrams you just copied down.