Review Questions

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Stratosphere
contains the jet stream
contains ozone layer 
     Ozone blocks ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun

Thermosphere  contains the Ionosphere which is made of ions, which are electrically charged particles, and free electrons

Exosphere which is the last layer before space.

matter has mass,

therefore Earth's gravity keeps the atmosphere near the surface,

which in turn exerts pressure on you and everything else on the surface.

Layers are defined by temperature.

Atmosphere absorbs energy directly from sun,
reflected and radiated from earth surface,
reflected and radiated from elsewhere in the atmosphere.

14.3  Energy

Energy Transfer

Electromagnetic waves send the sun's energy all the way to earth.

This is what you can feel by facing the sun, and absorbing this energy through you skin.  You interpret this as heat.

Direct contact with an energy source.

This is how you can be burned by a hot stove.

The flow of a heated fluid (gas or liquid) carries energy with it.

The primary mechanism is the change in density caused by temperature differences:
       warm air is less dense and rises
       cold air is denser and sinks

All our water moves from ocean to atmosphere to land and back again.

Diagram....A Simpler Diagram

Primary cause of atmospheric movement (winds) is uneven heating of the earth's surface.

The angle of incidence, that is, the angle at which the sun's rays strike the earth's surface, is greatest in the tropics (within 23 ½^º of the equator) and least near the poles.

Remember:

warm air is less dense and rises, and
cold air is denser and sinks

This causes warm air to rise from the tropics, and move horizontally toward the poles,

and for colder air to be pushed towards the tropics

The deflection of moving fluids by the rotation of the earth.

Toward the right in the northern hemisphere,
and toward the left in the southern.

A high altitude narrow belt of high winds, blowing from west to east.

2 main ones in each hemisphere.

Main directional force behind our surface weather.

Divided into belts of winds that blow primarily from one direction.

[Another Map]

Water absorbs and releases heat slower than land.

During daylight, the sun heats the land up and the cooler air over the ocean moves toward land.

At night, the land cools off quicker than the water, and the cooler air over the land moves toward the water.

In the tropics, the seasonal differences of the sun's angle of incidence causes a variation on the sea/land breeze scenario noted above.

This results in wet/dry seasons.

Weather

  is a description of the current conditions .

Right now, it is hot, or cold, it is raining, or clear.

Factors that determine the weather:

The amount of water vapor in the air.

Directly related to the temperature:

vs. how much it can hold, at a specific temperature.

is the temperature at which the air is saturated and the water in it can condense.

So that's what causes clouds to form!

Earth Science Index