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Composition & Structure
ATMOSPHERE Composition & Structure
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Why do we have seasons?
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What are the major gases in the Earth’s atmosphere?
Nitrogen: 78% Oxygen (O2): 21% Argon: 0.93% Trace gases, include carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, CFCs
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Atmospheric gases Some are permanent Some are variable
i.e.: stable concentrations Include neon, helium, others Some are variable Include water vapor, CO2
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Goldilocks principle Venus, Mars: similar gases, but very different: Venus has thick atmosphere; Mars, almost no atmosphere. Earth has pressure intermediate
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Review What are the major gases in the atmosphere?
Why is Venus so warm and why is the Earth as warm as it is?
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Layers of the atmosphere
Most important: Troposphere Stratosphere
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Layers of the atmosphere
Ozone maximum is the stratospheric ozone = good ozone Ozone in troposphere = bad ozone
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Troposphere Our sphere Weather Notice: patterns
Temperature Winds Layer ends when temp. no longer varies with height = tropopause
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Review What are the layers of the atmosphere?
What is ozone and where is it found? Distinguish “good” and “bad” ozone.
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Water cycle Connects ocean and atmosphere Key pt: what happens in the atmosphere depends a lot on what happens in the ocean
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What happens to solar radiation
Energy from sun Some absorbed by gases (O3, H2O) Some reflected by clouds and by the Earth’s surface Last is called albedo
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albedo Notice snow, water, and clouds
What feedback effects would you expect from melting of ice caps?
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Albedo Go to NEO--NASA Earth Observations
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Energy transfer
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Energy transfer Simplified earth: slow rotation to east, no interaction of oceans and land Sun warms equator, air rises, spreads north and south Cold air at poles sinks and replaces Air deflected by rotation, to right in N hemisphere, to left in S hemisphere Coriolis effect Rain at the equator, as the rising air cools and loses moisture Air descends at 30 degrees N and S Result??
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