CURRICULUM | SCIENCE | TECHNOLOGY | ENGINEERING | MATH
“Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of, who do the things no one can imagine.” - Alan Turing
CIRCULATION ON OUR EARTH
CLIMATE PRODUCTION
WATCH THE SECOND HALF!
FOR YOUR NOTEBOOK:
Notes:
Our Atmosphere is heated like this:
The sun's rays hit the Earth's Surface through radiation.
The radiation converts to thermal energy in the surface material. (Can be water or land)
The surface CONDUCTS thermal energy into the air.
The air CONVECTS around in patterns due to hot air being less dense than the air above it. It moves like a lava lamp.
SPECIFIC HEAT is why the coastal cities don't fluctuate in temperature as much as the inland cities. Water has a high SPECIFIC HEAT, so it's hard for the sun's radiation to change the temperature of the air above or near it.
Unequal heating of the Earth causes circulation of air in our atmosphere.
Hadley Cells - Large cells of air that convect upward at the equator due to direct radiation of the sun. This warm moist air generates a lot of storms and weather near the equator. This air cools and drops back down around 30 degrees north and south of the equator with a lack of moisture, because it lost it's water in the form of rain. These areas end up dry, forming deserts and dryer climates.
Ferrel Cells - Where Hadley cells stop (30 Degrees North or South) Ferrel Cells begin. The air comes down at 30 Degrees N or S, and rises back up at 60 Degrees N or S. This creates more weather at the 60 Degree Latitudes. This weather may be filled with more snow due to the unequal heating of Earth.
Polar Cells - These are the last cells to move up the latitudes. Air rises at the 60 Degree Latitudes, and sinks at the Poles. The air is very dry at the poles.
