One of the primary factors affecting the unequal heating of the Earth’s atmosphere is latitude. Latitude is the measurement of the distance of a location on the Earth from the equator. The further away from the equator that a location resides, the less sunlight that this location receives. Latitude Effects Temperature Why do location at […]
The amount of energy absorbed by the Earth from the Sun, and the amount of energy radiated into space by the Earth is on average perfectly balanced on an annual or yearly basis. However, some locations are warmer or cooler than others. This is the principal cause of weather. As the gases in Earth’s atmosphere […]
Incoming heat being absorbed by the Earth, and outgoing heat escaping the Earth in the form of radiation are both perfectly balanced. If they were not balanced, then Earth would be getting either progressively warmer or progressively cooler with each passing year. This balance between incoming and outgoing heat is known as Earth’s heat budget. […]
One way that the atmosphere stores heat is in the form of latent heat. With the help of H2O, or water, the Earth’s atmosphere has the ability to store this excess heat. When heat is stored, it is referred to as latent heat. As water evaporates off of the surface of a lake, this stored […]
As air is heated it expands becoming less dense, and as a result, lighter. Because it is lighter, it rises upwards above the cooler air. As it does so, this air continues to expand. This is because there is less pressure higher in the atmosphere, allowing the air molecules to spread out more. In order […]
What happens to that heat once it arrives at a destination depends on a number of factors. These factors include the size of the object receiving the heat, the current temperature of that object, color of the object, and the materials that the object is made out of. As heat reaches its destination it will […]
Before we continue our discussion on how heat affects our environments, let’s explore how heat is transferred from one object to another. There are three natural processes that can be used to transfer heat. These processes are called radiation, conduction, and convection. Radiation All objects radiate energy and heat, even your own body. However, the […]
How does heating and cooling affect the landscape around us? As the seasons change, what changes do you see outside? If you live in a temperate zone, the cooler weather probably brings changing leaf colors and hibernating animals. Later as the warm weather once again returns, so does life. New leaves, flowers, and baby animals […]
A number of factors influence the climates found around the globe. These factors are often referred to as controls. We will discuss these controls in more detail in other articles. Only a brief summary will be provided here. The first of these controls is latitude. Latitude is the angular measurement in degrees of the distance […]
The homosphere is a thick zone of atmosphere around the Earth where the gases of our atmosphere are thoroughly and evenly mixed up. Weather and other influences insure that these gases remain mixed up. The homosphere extends outward to an altitude of about 50 miles (80km). Above the homosphere gases are not evenly mixed. Instead, […]
