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Atmospheric Circulation (Global Heat Budget (the sun provides all of the…
Atmospheric Circulation
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Global Heat Budget
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without Solar energy, the air that surrounds the Earth would remain still
The sun's energy reaches the Earth's surface unevenly and this causes the atmosphere to move as wind
at the equator, sunlight hits the earth directly
Towards the poles the sunlight hits the surface at an angle and there is less heating because it is spread over a larger area
also at this lower angle, more sunlight is reflected from the oceans and ice
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the sunlight warms the surface of the earth which then radiates at the infrared wavelength up into the atmosphere
some is absorbed by water vapour and other gases
eventually all of the radiation goes back into space but the greenhouse gases slow it down
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Convection
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when air cools, it gains mass and sinks, causing a high pressure cell, and air flows outwards from this
when water evaporates it takes energy into the atmosphere- this is released when the vapour condenses to form clouds.
On earth, air flowing from high to low pressure zones is wind
Coriolis effect
Because of Earth's rotation, no wind can travel over a long distance in a straight line
winds coming from the poles are deflected and end up spinning around the polar regions- Antarctica is the windiest place on Earth and the equator is relatively still and calm
different parts of the Earth's surface are travelling at different speeds- at the equator surface and air are moving at 1600kph ,30'-1400kph ,60'- 800kph ,at poles- 0kph
Storms
at 60' latitude, westerly winds meet the cold polar easterly winds and this creates a belt of storms at a collision zone known as the polar front
the relatively warm moist westerly air rises above the cold polar air, making storms
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