GEOG 102 Lecture 4: GEOG 102 Tropical Climatology: Lec #4
Document Summary
Process where heat energy is transferred from earth"s surface to atmosphere by conduction and convection. Heat energy then can move horizontally y atmospheric circulation. Sensible heat flux can be expressed by the amount of heat transmitted per unit of area per unit of time. The heat required to convert a solid into a liquid or vapor, or a liquid into a vapor, without change of temperature. Energy absorbed by or released from a substance during a phase change from a gas to a liquid or solid (or vise versa). Top of atmosphere: i = o, atmosphere i > o. Radiatively the earth atmosphere system is not in balance. There is need for another form of energy/energy transfer to keep a balance. This is fulfilled by the convection and conduction of latent and sensible heat. Latent heat is the driving force behind hurricanes. The graph describes how diff. forms of energy are used in systems.
