Solar Energy and The Atmosphere

• Convection - The warm air becomes lighter and rises while the cold air above which is heavier sinks to occupy the space left by warm air.
• 'The sun warms the land, which warms the air'
• Wind - moving air
• During the day, both land and sea are heated by the sun.
• Land heats up faster than the sea
• The resulting motion of air from sea to land during the day is called a sea breeze.
• During night time, the land and sea both cool down
• The land cools down faster
• The resulting motion of the air from land to sea is called a land breeze
• Layers of the atmosphere from highest to lowest

  • Exosphere
  • Thermosphere
  • Mesosphere
  • Stratosphere
  • Troposphere
• Monsoon - is a wind system that blows every season toward either the continents or the oceans because of differences in air pressure and temperature
• The monsoons occur from season to season
• In the Philippines there are two monsoons
• From October to March, the northeast monsoon or amihan
• Northeast monsoon comes from the northeast and towards the south
• The northeast monsoon usually brings rain and cold winds from Siberia and Mongolia
• Southwest monsoon - July to September
• Southwest monsoon - comes from the southwest and moves toward north
• Southwest monsoon - it usually brings lots of rain, having absorbed moisture from the surrounding seas before reaching Philippines
• Intertropical Convergence Zone - is a belt of low pressure that circles the earth near the equator where the trade winds of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres come together.
• Intertropical Convergence Zone - It is the place where winds in the tropics meet or converge
• Ultraviolet Radiation - is a type of energy produced by the sun and some artificial sources, such as arc welders and solariums
• Ozone - is a colorless gas mainly found in Earth’s stratosphere
• greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, ozone, water vapor
• greenhouse - is used to grow seedlings in the late winter and early spring and later, planted in the open field when the weather is warmer
• Greenhouses allow sunlight to enter but prevent heat from escaping.
• .

  A) The sun rays warms the earth

  B) some heat escapes into space

  C) heat trapped by greenhouse comes back to earth