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Unit 5
Seasons and Atmosphere
Standard 1:
Revolution Motion of a body along a path
around some point in space.
Earth’s orbit is elliptical
Earth’s distance from the sun
varies
Perihelion
Earth is closest to the sun
147 million km away
Occurs on January 3rd
Aphelion
Earth is farthest from the sun
152 million km away
Occurs on July 4th
Rotation The turning or spinning of
a body on its axis
Causes day and night
Two kinds of measurement
Mean Solar Day – time interval from one noon to the next (24 hours)
Sidereal Day – time it takes for Earth to make one complete rotation (360’) with respect to a
star other than the sun (23 hours, 56 minutes, 4 seconds)
Seasons are caused by the tilting of the earth on its axis (23.5°)
When the Earth is tilted towards the Sun – warmer seasons
When the Earth is tilted away from the Sun – cooler seasons
Formation of the Universe
The Big Bang Theory
At one time, the entire universe was confined to a dense, hot, super-mass ball.,
About 13.7 billion years ago a violent explosion occurred, hurling this material in all directions.
Marks the beginning of the universe.
VIDEO LINK
Earth’s Motions
Precession
Slight movement over a period of 26,000 years
where Earth’s axis points in different directions.
Points to two stars
Polaris
Vega
Current pointing to Polaris
Has no affect on seasons.
Earth’s Motions
Nutation
Oscillatory movement of the axis of a rotating
body (wobble)
Observed during precession
Occurs about 18.6 years
Earth’s Motions
Barycenter
The point between two objects
where they balance each other.
The center of mass where two
or more celestial bodies orbit
each other.
Barycenter website with animation
The Atmosphere: Structure and
Temperature
Standard 2:
Composition of the Atmosphere
Main Components
Nitrogen – 78%
Oxygen – 21%
CO2 < 1%
Argon < 1%
Pressure and
Temperature Changes
The atmosphere rapidly
thins as you travel away from
Earth until there are too few
gas molecules to detect.
Pressure Changes As you increase in altitude, or
travel away from Earth, pressure
decreases
Temperature Changes
As you increase in altitude in the
Troposphere the temperature
decreases.
Density Changes
Layers of the Atmosphere The Troposphere - the
bottom layer Temperature decreases with an
increase in altitude.
Where weather occurs
Tropopause: boundary of the troposphere
The Stratosphere Above the troposphere
Temperature remains constant, then gradually starts to increase
Contains the ozone layer
Stratopause: boundary of the stratosphere
The Mesosphere Above the stratosphere
Temperature decreases with
height
Mesopause: boundary of the
mesosphere
The Thermosphere: Upper layer of the
atmosphere Temperature increase with
height Auroras occur here
Fades into space
Ozone
• Ozone is a form of
oxygen that
combines three
oxygen atoms into
each molecule (O3)
• Ozone filters and
absorbs harmful
UV radiation by
the sun
Heating the Atmosphere Heat: the energy
transferred from one object to another because of a direct difference in their temperature
Temperature: measure of the amount of heat
Ways Heat Can be
Transferred
Heat transfer from HOT to COLD objects
Conduction
The transfer of heat through matter by molecular activity
Transfer by touching
Convection
The transfer of heat by a mass movement or circulation within a substance
Radiation
Travels out in all directions
Solar energy reaches earth by radiation
Standard 3:
© Air pressure is the pressure
exerted by the weight of air
above
© Exerted in all directions (up,
down, and sideways)
© The air pressure pushing
down on an object exactly
balances the air pressure
pushing up on the object
© Average Air Pressure at sea
level is © 1 kg/cm2
⬜ Barometer: device
used for meaasuring air
pressure
⬜ Unit:
⬜ millibars (mb)
⬜ inches of mercury
⬜ Torricelli: invented the
mercury barometer in 1643
⬜ Wind is a result of
horizontal differences
in air pressure
⬜ Air flows from areas of
high pressure to
areas of lower
pressure.
Low Pressure Centers High Pressure Centers
Centers of Low Pressure High Pressure
AKA Cyclones Anti-cyclones
Pressure
Behavior
Pressure drops Pressure increase
Wind Behavior Winds blow
counterclockwise
Winds blow outward and
clockwise
Weather
Associated
Severe and stormy Fair and Sunny
Symbol “L” that is RED “H” that is BLUE
© The unequal heating of
earth’s surface
generates pressure
differences
© Solar radiation is the
ultimate energy source
for most wind
© Jet streams are
fast-moving rivers
of air
© Speed: 120 and
240 kilometers per
hour
© Direction: West-
to-east direction.
⬜ The atmosphere
balances itself by
acting as a giant
heat-transferring
system
⬜ Moves warm air to
the poles and cool
air towards the
equator
⬜ Coriolis Effect
⬜ Trade winds ⬜ Two belts of winds that blow
almost constantly from east to west
⬜ Westerlies ⬜ Dominate west to east motion of
the atmosphere (Jet Stream occurs here)
⬜ Polar easterlies ⬜ Winds that blow east to west
⬜ Polar front ⬜ Interaction of warm and cool
air masses produces a stormy belt
⬜Direction
⬜Labeled by the direction
from which they blow
⬜Ex: winds blowing from
the Southeast.
⬜Tool: Wind Vane
⬜ Anemometer
⬜ Measures how fast
wind is blowing
Standard 4:
The study of
weather, climate,
and atmospheric
processes
What is Meteorology?
How Does
Weather differ
from Climate? Weather is constantly changing
and it refers to the state of the atmosphere at any given time and place
Climate is based on observations of weather that have been collected over many years to help describe a place or region
Why Do
Temperatures Vary?
Factors:
Heating of land
Heating of water
Altitude
Geographic position
Cloud cover
Ocean currents
Land and Water Temperatures
Land heats and cools more rapidly
and to higher temperatures than
water
Water – heats up longer and will
retain the heat longer
World
Distribution and
Temperatures
Isotherms - lines on a weather map that connect points that have the same temperatures
⬜ Isobars
⬜ lines on a map that
connect places of
equal air pressure
⬜ A pressure gradient
⬜ The spacing of
isobars indicates
the amount of
pressure change
over a given time
⬜ Closely spaced isobars:
indicate a steep pressure
gradient and high winds.
⬜ Widely spaced isobars:
indicate a weak pressure
gradient and light winds.
Standard 5:
What is the
significance of Water
Vapor?
Water vapor - source of
all clouds and
precipitation.
The three states of matter solid, liquid, and gas
(plasma is the fourth)
amount of water vapor in air.
© Ratio of the air’s actual water-vapor content compared with the amount of water vapor air can hold at that temperature and pressure.
© Lowering air temperature causes an increase in relative humidity
© Raising air temperature causes a decrease in relative humidity
⬜ Instrument: Hygrometer ⬜ Psychrometer : a type of
hygrometer consisting of two identical thermometers mounted side by side
⬜ Dry bulb: give the present air temperature
⬜ Wet bulb: has thin wet wick tied around the end
Dew point is the temperature to which a parcel of air would need to be cooled to
reach saturation.
Clouds are classified on the basis of their form and height.
Cirrus (cirrus = curl of hair) high, white, and thin
Cumulus (cumulus = a pile) rounded individual cloud masses that have a flat base and the appearance of rising domes or towers
Stratus (stratus = a layer) best described as sheets or layers that cover much or all of the sky
Clouds form
when air is
cooled to its
dew point
Albedo the fraction of total
radiation that is reflected by any surface.
Daylight Cloud Cover
Clouds reflect solar radiation back to space
Temperatures are lower than on a clear day
Nighttime Cloud Cover
Clouds absorb radiation from land and reradiates some of it back to Earth
Temperatures are higher than on a clear night
For precipitation to form, cloud droplets must grow in volume by roughly one million times.
© The type of precipitation that reaches Earth’s surface depends on the temperature profile in the lower few km of the atmosphere
© Rain: drops of water that fall from a cloud and have a diameter of at least 0.5 mm
© Snow: light, fluffy, six-sided ice crystals
© Sleet: fall of small particles of clear to translucent ice
© Glaze: when raindrops become
supercooled as they fall through subfreezing air and turns to ice when they impact objects
© Hail: form of solid precipitation which consists of balls of irregular lumps of ice produced in cumulonimbus clouds
⬜ A cloud with its base at or very near the ground.
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