The Atmosphere
Air is a mixture of gas that is 78% nitrogen, 20% oxygen, and less than 1% of of other substances
Break up the atmosphere in the earth into layers, Troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, exosphere.
Thermosphere (85-480) km, Mesosphere (50-85) km, Stratosphere (16-50) km, and Troposphere (8-16) km
Atmosphere extends 480 km across earth's surface
Everything emits heat waves of electromagnetic radiation
Sun emits short wavelength energy
Snow and ice have high albedos, black pavement does not
Earth, after absorbing the 47% of the radiation given by the sun, emits some terrestrial radiation
Conduction in the Troposphere, Convection in the other layers
Water vapor + Methane + Nitrous Oxide + Carbon Dioxide = Natural Greenhouse
Without the Natural Greenhouse Effect, the earth would be too cold for human life
Clouds give information about the atmosphere and forecast the weather, and gives information about the temperature and the amount of moisture in the atmosphere
Each cloud has its own anatomy, height, and name.
Clouds are also classified into three types, stratus, cirrus, and cumulus
Cirrus clouds are wispy tendrel and white and are made up of ice crystals. They also reflect 50% of the solar radiation, and trap heat going into space, which warms up the atmosphere
Sky is filled with dull gray, flat and horizontal clouds, below 2000 m are stratus clouds
They reflect and scatter about 90% of the solar heat, cooling the atmosphere
Cumulus clouds, 200-2000 m, and can be very thick and high up, they can both reflect the solar energy and reflect the energy going back to space
Cirrus clouds only appear at high levels, while cumulus and stratus clouds can appear how high or high low
Humidity describes how much water vapor is in the air, and the air more above in the atmosphere is naturally colder because of less radiation from the sun, which means it has less water vapor and less humidity. While, other places like the Caribbean have more warm air, more water vapor, and higher humidity
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Humidity is linked to how much energy is available in the atmosphere to produce weather