Temperature variations- Inversions & Specific Heat

• Atmosphere


  • Affects the amount of energy reaching the Earth's surface depending on the angle of insolation
  • When the Sun is lower in the sky, the Sun's rays scatter over a larger area and have to travel through more of the atmosphere
  • When the Sun is directly overhead, the sunlight does not scatter as much and more radiation reaches the surface
• Clouds


  • Reflect a large amount of energy back into space
  • More energy reaches the Earth's surface on days that are not cloudy than cloudy ones
• Duration of insolation


  The actual length of time that the Sun's rays are hitting the Earth's surface
• Tropics


  • Get 12 hours of daylight every day of the year
  • The sun rises and sets at almost the same time, and the seasons do not change
• Middle to higher latitudes


  • Daylight is longer in the summer and shorter in the winter
• Poles


  • Receive 6 months of daylight in the summer followed by 6 months of the night in the winter
  • Even though they receive 6 months of continuous sunlight, the angle of insolation is so low that they do not receive enough solar energy to warm them like the tropics
• Dry adiabatic lapse rate

  For every thousand-meter increase in elevation, the air mass will cool off by 10°C
• Lifted condensation level (LCL)


  The elevation where the air rises to the point where it condenses and forms clouds
• Temperature inversion


  An increase in temperature in the higher elevations, which can happen when land cools at night quickly or due to a passing cold front or cool onshore breezes
• Smog


  • Large amounts of smoke, ash, and other particulates from factories and car exhaust
  • When the Sun's energy reacts with some of these chemicals, ozone and other harmful chemicals can be formed
  • Ground-level ozone in smog can damage people's lungs and interfere with photosynthesis, affecting agriculture
  • Temperature inversions prevent the convection currents that would carry pollutants up into the atmosphere, trapping them below the warm air
• Albedo


  • The amount of solar energy reflected back into space
  • Light-colored surfaces have a high albedo, dark-colored surfaces have a low albedo
• Water vs land


  • Water takes much longer to heat up, but once it does, it retains its heat longer than the land
  • Water is able to disperse heat throughout by convection currents
  • Water is one of the main means of transporting energy from the equatorial regions to the Polar Regions
• Specific heat


  • The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of a substance 1°C
  • Water has a higher specific heat than sandy clay or wet mud, meaning it takes more energy to heat up
• The land gains heat rapidly and loses heat rapidly, with the Sun's radiant energy only penetrating a few inches compared to several meters in water
• Smooth surfaces do not absorb as much energy as rough surfaces
• Smog is (are) caused by large amounts of smoke, ash, and other particles in the atmosphere.
• A (An) Inversion can form when there is an increase in temperature in higher elevations.
• A temperature inversion prevents the convection currents that would carry pollutants up into the atmosphere.