GEOG 1400 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Planetary Boundary Layer, Humid Continental Climate, Mawsynram
Document Summary
As we have seen the troposphere (or earth"s planetary boundary layer) and the oceans form part of a gigantic heat engine fuelled by solar energy. This is due to the need to make up differences in pressure & temperature. This produces: winds, storm systems, thermohaline system, ocean gyres and currents, these transport heat and moisture to areas of energy. Figure 1: circulation of the earth"s tropospheric atmosphere (in terms of the atmosphere) water deficit: gyres are large scale ocean circulation systems. Warm air is generally associated with lower air pressure because as the air warms it expands, becomes less dense and rises away from the surface. (l up) Cold air is associated with higher air pressure as colder air compresses, becomes denser and tends to sink towards the surface (hp down) High pressure cells are associated with winds blowing in a clockwise direction. Low pressure areas are associated with winds blowing in an anti- clockwise.
