Geography 2152F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Water Cycle, Lake Superior, Dew Point
6 Jun 2021
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Document Summary
There is an equilibrium between incoming radiation and outgoing radiation. Earth intercepts only a small portion of the sun"s radiation. The sun"s energy drives the hydrologic cycle and all weather events on earth. Nearly all of the energy available at earth"s surface comes from the sun. Atmosphere is composed of nitrogen (78%) and oxygen (21%) The remaining 1% consists of water vapor, carbon dioxide and other trace gases. Water vapor can result in cloud development and the formation of precipitation. Water vapor comes from evaporation from the oceans. As long as there is a balance between incoming radiation and outgoing radiation, the average temperature will not change. However, today there is an imbalance because gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane are reabsorbing outgoing radiation. Structure of the atmosphere: troposphere; all weather (clouds and precipitation) is happens, stratosphere; the ozone layer (25km above the surface) protects us from the.
