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EARTH SCIENCE LECTURE
CHAPTER 22
22.1 Characteristics of the Atmosphere
The composition of the earth's atmosphere.
•The study of the atmosphere is called
– The general weather conditions over many years is
•Meteorologists may specialize in a particular area such as
I. Composition of the Atmosphere
•The _________________________________________, is a mixture of chemical
elements and compounds.
–The most abundant elements in air are
–The most abundant compounds in air are
•_____________________________is added to air by ________________________.
–
The percentage of water vapor in air varies, depending on factors such
as ___________________________________________________.
–Moist air may contain as much as
–Dry air has less than
•Because the amount of water vapor in air is variable, the composition of air is
usually given for ___________________________.
•Another important substance in the upper atmosphere is a form of oxygen
called
___________________, although it is present only in very small amounts.
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–Oxygen has
•In addition to gases, the atmosphere usually contains various kinds of tiny solid
particles, which are called _________________________________________.
–Includes mineral particles lifted from soil by
–It may also include particles from
–When tiny drops of ____________________________are tossed into the air
as ________________________, the drops evaporate. Left behind in
the air are _______________________________________, another
component of atmospheric dust.
•All over the earth and up to an altitude of about
__________________________________________, the composition of
dry air is nearly the same.
•Although ______________________________________are always being added
to, as well as removed from, the atmosphere, the relative amounts of these
gases do not change significantly.
II. Atmospheric Pressure
•Due to the pull of gravity, _____________of the total mass of atmospheric gases is
found within __________________________ of the earth's surface.
–
The remaining 1% extends upward for hundreds of kilometers but gets
increasingly thinner at high altitudes.
–The ratio of the weight of the air to the area of the surface on which it
presses is called _______________________________________.
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•Example:
–
A 1 cm2 column of air that reaches from sea level to the top of the atmosphere
has a mass of 1.03 kg and exerts a force of 10.1 newtons (N).
–In other words, at sea level, on every square centimeter of the earth's surface, the
atmosphere presses down with a force of 10.1 N, which is about 2 lb.
A.
•An instrument that measures atmospheric pressure is called a
_________________________.
– One type of barometer is the ____________________________________________.
–
–
–
Atmospheric pressure presses on the liquid mercury in a well at the base of the
barometer.
The pressure squeezes the mercury up to a certain height inside a tube.
The height of the mercury inside the tube varies with the atmospheric pressure.
–
•A reading of __________________is called _______________________________
and indicates average ______________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________.
– Standard atmospheric pressure, _________________________________________,
is sometimes referred to as ___________________________________.
•Official weather maps use another measurement of air pressure, called
_________________________________. One millibar is equal to
about ___________________________________________________________.
•The type of barometer most commonly used today does not contain mercury and is
called an _____________________________________________________.
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B. Aneroid Barometer
– The word aneroid means "_____________________________________."
– Inside an aneroid barometer is a sealed metal container from which the
air has been removed.
– When the atmospheric pressure increases, the sides of the container bend
inward.
–When the pressure decreases, the sides bulge out again.
–These changes are indicated by a moving pointer on a scale.
•The scale is usually marked to show the pressure either in
–
–
Aneroid barometers can be constructed to keep a continuous record of
atmospheric pressure.
An aneroid barometer can also measure _________________________________.
– When used for this purpose, it is called an ________________________.
•The scale then registers ____________________________ instead of pressure.
–At high altitudes, the atmosphere is less dense and exerts less pressure.
–A lowered pressure reading can be interpreted as an increased altitude
reading.
–To accurately measure altitude, an altimeter must be corrected for local
weather conditions.
III. Layers of the Atmosphere
•1)
– This is the _________________________________________________________.
–
The word troposphere comes from a ___________root meaning
"_______________".
–The term describes
this atmospheric layer in which nearly all
_____________________________________________.
–_________________________________________________!!
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–Almost
all of the ______________________________________________
in the atmosphere is found in the troposphere.
•Temperature within this layer ________________ as altitude increases because
– The temperature within the troposphere decreases at the average rate of
_________________________.
– At an average altitude of _________________, the temperature stops decreasing.
–In this zone, called the ___________________________, the temperature
remains nearly constant.
•2)
– This layer of the atmosphere extends upward from the tropopause to an altitude of
___________________.
–Almost all of the ____________________in the atmosphere is
concentrated in the stratosphere.
– At the base of the stratosphere, the temperature is about _______________.
–In the upper stratosphere, the temperature begins to
_____________________________________________________________.
•The air in the stratosphere gets warmer as a result of the __________________
________________________________________________________________.
•The temperature of the ozone layer rises steadily to an altitude of about 50 km,
where the stratosphere reaches its highest temperature.
•This high-temperature zone, called the ________________________________,
marks the upper boundary of the stratosphere.
•3)
–
–
This layer is above the stratopause and extending to an altitude of about _______
In this layer,
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–The mesosphere is the ___________________________of the
atmosphere, dropping to a temperature of ________________.
–The upper boundary of the mesosphere, called the
____________________________, is marked by a return to
_________________________ temperatures.
•4)
–
–
The temperature _________________________________________________.
___________________________________________atoms absorb solar energy.
–This explains the high temperatures in the thermosphere.
–In the very thin air,
•The lower region of the thermosphere, at an altitude of
______________________________, is often called __________________________.
–In the ionosphere solar rays absorbed by _________________________________
cause the atoms of gas molecules to lose electrons and to produce __________
and free electrons.
–
–
The ionosphere gets its name from these ions.
The ions and the free electrons are concentrated into four layers.
The layers of free electrons can reflect ______________________________
back to the earth.
5)
–Above the ionosphere is the region where the earth's atmosphere blends
into the almost complete vacuum of interplanetary space.
–
This is a zone of indefinite altitude extending for thousands of kilometers
above the earth.
• READ THE SECTION ON AIR POLLUTION ON YOUR OWN.
–YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT:
TEMPERATURE INVERSIONS
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22.2 Solar Energy and the Atmosphere
I. Radiation
•All of the energy that the earth receives from the sun travels through space
between the earth and the sun as radiation.
– Radiation includes
–________________________is the form of radiation that can be seen with
our eyes.
–There are many other forms of radiation that we cannot see, such as
__________________________________________________.
•Radiation travels through space in the form of waves at a very high speed –
_________________________________
– The distance from one wave crest to the next is called the ____________________.
–
Example:
–Visible light consists of waves with various wavelengths that you see as
different colors.
shorter than those of visible light include ultraviolet rays,
X rays, and gamma.
–Longer wavelengths include infrared waves and radio waves.
–Wavelengths
•The waves that make up all forms of radiation are called
__________________________________________________
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–
II. Scattering
•_________________________________________________________ in the
atmosphere affect the path of radiation from the sun, causing
___________________________.
–
Scattering means that
–This bending sends the rays out in all directions without changing their
_________________________________.
•In clear, cloudless air, scattering is also caused by the reflection of light
off ______________________________________________.
•Scattering sends some of the radiation back into space.
•The remaining radiation continues downward toward the earth's surface
•Of the total amount of solar energy reaching the earth's atmosphere, about
_______________ is absorbed by the atmosphere.
–About _____________________is scattered back into space or is reflected
from clouds or the earth's surface.
–The remaining ________________ is absorbed by the surface.
–When solar energy reaches the earth's surface, the surface either
_________________________________________________________.
•The__________________________________ on which the radiation falls
determines to a large extent whether absorption or reflection occurs.
–
______________________:
–The earth has an albedo of
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–The albedo of the moon is
•
The Greenhouse Effect
–
Read this section on your own!!
III. Variations in Temperature
•How warm the atmosphere becomes in any region on the earth's surface depends
on several factors.
– ______________________________ is the primary factor.
–
Average temperatures are higher near the equator than lows near the poles.
– The direct rays of the sun striking
•______________________________ is another factor in regional temperature
variations.
– High elevations, such as __________________________________, become warm
during the day, but they _______________________________________________.
–
The thinner air at high altitudes contains less ___________________________
_________________________________________________________________.
–Desert temperatures usually show large changes between day and
night because there is _______________________________________.
–The temperature of water changes less than the temperature of land when solar
energy is absorbed or when heat is given off.
–Water thus has a _________________________________.
– Under similar conditions, regions close to __________________________________
generally have more moderate temperatures.
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– In other words,
•The location of an area in relation to the _______________________ makes a
difference.
–A region that receives winds
•There is also a delay in the heating of the atmosphere both ___________________
and ________________________________.
– The sun is highest and its rays most direct in the Northern Hemisphere on
___________________________________.
–
–
You might expect that this would be the warmest time of the year.
It is usually __________________________before enough heat has been
absorbed and re-radiated from the ground to really heat up the atmosphere.
–For similar
reasons, the warmest hours of the day are usually about
_________________________________, although the sun is
strongest at 12:00 noon.
22.3 Winds
•Because the earth receives more solar energy at the equator than at the poles, there
is a belt of ______________________________________________________.
– The heated air in the region of the equator is constantly _____________________.
– At the poles, the colder air is ___________________________________________.
–This sinking of cold air creates regions of
_________________________________________.
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•Pressure differences in the atmosphere at the equator and at the poles create a
general movement of air worldwide.
–
Air moves from
–In very general terms,
I. Global Winds
•________________________________________________________________ is
affected by the rotation of the earth on its axis.
– The rotation causes surface winds in the Northern Hemisphere to be deflected to
–
the ___________________________
Those in the Southern Hemisphere to be ________________________________.
–This is called the ________________________________
•Winds that would otherwise blow directly from a high-pressure area
toward a lower-pressure area are deflected by the Coriolis effect.
–A low-pressure belt exists at the equator because the
_________________________________________________________
–As the warm air rises, it begins ____________________________________.
•Around _______________________________, some of this air ______________
toward the earth's surface.
–At the surface, the descending air forms a __________________________
from which air flows both ____________________________________.
•At about _______________, air flowing along the surface from the
_________________________________________________________________ .
•This converging air rises, forming a _______________________________________.
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–
The air flowing from the equator completes three looping patterns of flow called
________________________________________________-.
–The Northern and Southern hemispheres each have
__________________________________________________________.
– GLOBAL WIND PATTERNS.
KNOW THIS INFO!!!
II. Jet Streams
•Bands of high-speed winds exist in the _____________________________________
over both the Northern and Southern hemispheres.
–These upper westerly winds are the ______________________________.
•Because the of polar air and middle-latitude air differs so greatly,
_________________________________________________________________.
– The cold polar air is much, denser than the warmer air of the middle latitudes.
–
The resulting pressure differences produce the __________________________.
–These bands
of winds, found at an altitude of _____________________,
are about __________________________and _____________________.
–The polar jet streams may reach maximum speeds of almost
__________________________________________________.
•
These winds do not blow steadily but instead ______________________________.
–The polar jet streams are important because they ______________________
___________________________________________________________.
•
In the subtropical regions, very warm equatorial air meets the cooler air of the
middle latitudes, creating the _______________________________________.
–The subtropical jet streams ________________________________________
•Gentle winds that extend over distances of less than ______________________are
called _______________________________________.
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•Four Types of Breezes:
Know the definitions of these.
–1)
–2)
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