GEOG 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Sea Surface Temperature, Walker Circulation, Thermal Equator
Document Summary
Effects of elevation and altitude on the range of temperature between day and night. Land in high altitudes: gets warmed by the sun, but the sun isn"t overhead. Depletion of solar energy much cooler than lower altitudes. Tropopause: lid on the air from troposphere (limits the growth/height of hadley cell) Height of tropopause varies from equator to the poles. Highest height in the tropics colder tropopause for tropics. Temperature decreases with height (due to gases absorbing shortwave radiation (uv)) In the troposphere, temperature decreases as altitude increases primarily because earth"s atmosphere is heated upward from the lowest level. Although sunlight passes through the higher altitudes to reach the surface of the earth, the surface is much better at absorbing the solar heat. Range of temperature in tropics is the smallest in the world. Equator always has 12 hours of daylight. Larger temperature ranges in the higher latitudes (polar) Amount of energy received per unit area decreases towards the poles.
