GEO 303 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Tibetan Plateau, Northern Hemisphere, Mawsynram
Document Summary
Climatology is the study of atmospheric conditions over periods of time measured in years or longer. Ecology is the study of interactions among organisms and their environment. The variable gasses are water vapor and carbon dioxide. In regards to atmospheric processes, water vapor and carbon dioxide absorb solar radiation. The constant gasses are nitrogen, oxygen, and argon. Stefan- bolzman law is a law which states that the amount of radiant energy emitted by a black body is proportional to the fourth power of the absolute temperature of the body. Solar radiation is the energy emitted by the sun passes through space until it strikes some object. The earth and its atmosphere reflect part of the solar radiation back to space. The blue sky is due to rayleigh scattering when small molecules scatter shorter wavelength are more readily available to be scattered than longer ones. Rayleigh scattering is the scattering of solar radiation by particles in the earth"s atmosphere.
