SEW - Energy in the Atmosphere Lesson

 

Energy in the Atmosphere

When you think about the weather in the Caribbean do you think of snow, wind, or sunny skies? Most people when asked what the weather in the Caribbean is will say that it is sunny, blue skies, and hot. These generalizations can be made about the weather based on the location of the Caribbean, 21.4691° N, 78.6569° W. See star below:

The latitude and longitude of a location gives its placement on the Earth's surface, which greatly impacts the weather. Weather is the state of the atmosphere at a place and time as regards heat, dryness, sunshine, wind, rain, etc. Scientist can use locations (latitude and longitude) to predict the weather in a specific area.

Think about this:

Uneven heating of the planet also happens because of the Earth's shape. The planet receives most of its energy near the equator where the Sun's rays are most intently hitting the planet. As you move toward the poles, the Sun's energy becomes more spread out over a greater area. Ultimately, the equator receives more energy from the Sun than it can radiate back into space so there is extra energy (and therefore is warmer). At the poles, the planet radiates more energy out into space than it receives from the Sun so there is less energy in these regions (and therefore is colder). The purpose of weather is to transfer the heat from areas of higher concentration to lower concentration. Latitude has the biggest effect on weather because it controls how much solar energy a location receives.

In order to try and balance the extremes of the poles and the equator, heat needs to be transferred around the planet. Heat is transferred four ways, conduction, convection, latent heat, and radiation.

View the presentation below to learn more:

 

Practice your vocabulary for this unit here:

 

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