Download Unit 5 Earth Cycles

 Hydrologic Cycle (water cycle) is the
constant movement and endless recycling of
water between the atmosphere , above and
under the ground
Evaporation
Transpiration
 the process of liquid
• the process of excess
water from plants being
evaporated
becoming a vapor (gas)
 Condensation- the
process of a vapor (gas)
becoming a liquid
 Cooling vapors form
clouds
 Precipitation- rain,
snow, sleet, or hail that
falls to the ground
 Run-Off- when the
excess water from
lakes, streams, and
rivers drain into the
ocean
 Heat from the Sun causes surface water to
evaporate
 As warm air rises the air cools and can no longer
hold vapor this is called – convection
 Carbon is an essential organic compound and an
important ingredient in living tissue.
 Carbon can be found in the atmosphere through plant,
root and animal (including decomposers) respiration,
burning and auto and factory emissions.
 Carbon can leave the cycle by being buried and
turning into fossilized coal or oil. But can be put back
in through the burning of fossil fuels.
 Nitrogen makes up 78% of our atmosphere
 Important nutrient for all living things in protein
formation.
 Nitrogen fixing bacteria found in soil and some plants,
nitrifying algae and lightning can take nitrogen out of
the atmosphere.
 Denitrifying bacteria release nitrogen back into the
atmosphere.
 a sedimentary cycle (unlike carbon, oxygen, and
nitrogen)
 Phosphorus does not enter the atmosphere, remaining
mostly on land and in rock and soil minerals
 Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plants and
animals in the form of ions
 A gaseous sphere and it
envelopes the Earth,
 Consists of a mixture of
gases composed
primarily of nitrogen,
oxygen, carbon dioxide,
and water vapor.
 79% Nitrogen 20% Oxygen. The other 1% is Carbon
Dioxide, Argon, & Water Vapor
 In the troposphere is where all the weather on Earth is
located.
 Responsible for the Earth’s heat through conduction,
radiation, and convection
 All life on earth,
including man, and
all organisms.
 The life zone on our
planet distinguishes
our planet from the
others in the solar
system.
 The Biosphere covers as high as 1,800 m and as low as
8,000 m below sea level
 The biosphere has different seasons
 The Biosphere not only contains living organisms but
dead organic matter.
 The portion of the
Earth's surface where
water is in a solid
form
 Snow or ice: includes
glaciers, ice shelves,
snow, icebergs, and
arctic climatology
 97% of Earth’s freshwater is frozen in the Polar Ice
Caps
 The Cryosphere is not just found in the North and
South poles but all over the world, such as Mt.
Kilimanjaro in Africa.
 Seasonal snow cover can cover 47 million square
kilometers of the Earth.
 All of the water
on Earth
 71% of the earth
is covered by
water and only
29% is terra
firma
 90% of solar radiation is absorbed by the oceans’
surface
 97% of the Earth’s water is found in the oceans
 The hydrologic cycle interacts with the atmosphere,
biosphere, cryosphere, and the geosphere
 The Earth's solid
surface. It includes
continental and
oceanic crust as well
as the various layers
of the Earth's interior.
 The geosphere is
layered because
denser materials
sank towards the
Earth’s center as the
hot, molten was
Earth forming over 4
billion years ago.
 Responsible for plate tectonics; volcanos, earthquakes,
and mountain ranges
 Every couple million years the North and South poles
switch, magnetically
 Currents play a critical role in how oceans affect
weather and climate by transporting heat from warm
areas to cool areas.
 Currents moderate climates- without the currents
moving heat, the world’s climates would be more
extreme.
 One of the deepest
surface currentscarries heat
 Powerful, warm, swift
 Starts at the Gulf of Mexico, crosses the Atlantic Ocean
 Influences the east coast of N. America and the west coast
of Europe
 Moves warm air from
over the Gulf Stream inland
 Florida and N. Europe-
milder winters
 S. California- mild climate due to the moderating effects
of the Pacific Ocean
 The southerly current along the Calif. coast brings cool
water from the north, keeping it cooler than it normally
would be in the summer
 Cold ocean current flowing
north from the Antarctic along
the west coast of South America
to southern Ecuador, then west.
 It reduces the coastal
temperature, making the
western slopes of the Andes arid
because winds are already chilled
and dry when they meet the
coast
 Wind
 Transfers energy to the water it blows across by
the force of friction on the water’s surface
 Causes both surface currents and waves
 Land Masses
 interrupt the flow of ocean currents creating closed
circular current systems called gyres.
 Coriolis Effect
 influences the wind by giving it a circular flow
pattern
 the air deflects toward the right in the Northern
Hemisphere and toward the left in the Southern
Hemisphere- same with currents
 Christopher Columbus reached the new world
thanks to the Coriolis effect
 Note: If the Earth did not rotate and remained stationary,
the atmosphere would circulate between the poles (high
pressure areas) and the equator (a low pressure area) in a
simple back-and-forth pattern. But because the Earth
rotates, circulating air is deflected.
 Earth’s rotation- adds an apparent
sideways motion to objects moving
over the Earth’s surface.
Pilots need to correct their flight
path based on the earth rotating
under the airplane, which is the
Coriolis effect.
In the inertial frame of
reference (upper part of
the picture), the black
object moves in a
straight line. However,
the observer (red dot)
who is standing in the
rotating frame of
reference (lower part of
the picture) sees the
object as following a
curved path.
 Convection currents
 Vertical movement of currents caused by temperature
differences
 Temperature divides layers of water
 Deep sea vs. surface currents